Is there anyway to stop my phone connecting to a certain cell tower?

[Sue13]

I live in a rural area, and I'm thinking my phone keeps swapping cell towers. Me and my son have the exact same phone and the exact same plan, but we get drastically different data speeds. Sometimes my sons phone will get good data speeds and some times I will get atrocious data speeds. Sometimes I get good data speeds, while my son doesn't. Sometimes we both get good data speeds, and sometimes we both get bad data speeds. The only thing I can think of is, that we are connecting to two different cell towers. So, is there any way for me and my son to only connected to the good cell tower?

[RavingRaven]

@Sue13 

You can select the network you want to connect to....? The 4G LTE network is the default network for Public Mobile. Data and texts automatically use the 4G LTE network and if Public Mobile has provisioned it and you have a VOLTE capable phone then your voice services also automatically use the 4G LTE network.

Otherwise voice calls will switch to the 3G network which can also be used for texts and data. Data speeds are variable depending on network traffic and can go from 0 to 20mbps+.

It's unlikely you are connecting to the 5G network if you are in a more rural location.

You can choose a specific network  in your settings/mobile network/ 5G/4G/3G/2G? Once chosen you can check signal strength under About phone/Sim card status. That should tell you the network giving you signal issues and you can check your local towers to see what network bands are available on which towers.

Edit: Sorry I thought I sent this last night?

[Korth_]

No, there is no way to force your phone to connect to specific cell sites or bands with the software built into consumer phones.

And no, the advice you've gotten about connecting to the closest tower is not particularly useful. Because if you move then the network can handoff your device to a different tower. Indeed, the network can (and does) sometimes handoff users who aren't moving, simply to balance traffic load across local cell sites.

But yes, you can do this with the Opensignal app. It provides a limited trial but you will have to pay if you want to continue using it with full functionality. Also, you may need to root your Android device and you will need to jailbreak your iOS device if you wish to gain full functionality from this app.

And Canadian wireless operators don't seem to like people circumventing the systems they've installed. So no promises no gaurantees, caveat emptor, and your mileage may vary.

https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/force-your-iphone-switch-cell-towers-for-stronger-signal-0186547/

Your better solution might be to buy your own cellular repeater, cellular signal booster, or home node "femtocell". But these things (at least the good ones) can be quite costly. And, again, Canadian wireless operators view consumer installations as inconveniences, they might change their network-side stuff around to make things work the way they prefer instead of the way you prefer.

And your best solution might be to contact Public Mobile or Telus. Simply explain that you are a subscriber, you're getting lousy signal, and you're considering taking your subscription to another network because you basically "have no choice". If Telus already has a network presence (and spectrum license) for your area then they are quite likely to install their own little pole-mounted or rooftop-mounted repeater site within good signal range of your home. (At least that's how they operate in my city, Chilliwack. They seem happy to pay $$$-$$$$ for the hardware if it lets them retain one or more $$ monthly happy subscriber revenues.)

[Cheetah24]

@Sue13: Just my personal opinion; but what I would do in this case is first look at, https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/coverage to see what kinda coverage you are expected to get at your location. And then if you are not getting that, then direct message the service agent and explain the situation. While they will not be able to make a quick fix to this it's good to mention as then over time they can probably improve the situation.

The link to direct message the service agent is; https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

[Handy1]

@Sue13  Now it will always select the towers that’s the closet and has best reception 

[fixin]

@Sue13 - You can turn airplane mode off and on and it will look for the closest towers (Bell, Telus) that is the closest. But there isn't a way to select a specific tower for instance like on a map or keep it to that tower use only, (As far as I know.) There is an app like Opensignal which tells you which tower is closest to you or using this website: https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html?