Cell phone Reception issues

[Anso]

With the recent buy out of MTS ( manitoba telecome service) to Bell is or will there be any network upgrades like extending coverage etc in the future?

[RogersMaude]

Good day @Anso,

Thank you very much for your post!

I can certainly relate; Always having the best coverage is ideal to stay connected at all times.

What we implemented a couple of years ago is the Extented Coverage.

Visit this page for more information on this service.

Are you a Rogers customer and experiencing network connectivity issues in Manitoba? If so, where are you located?

If you are not a Rogers customer and would like to become one, check your coverage by entering your location on our map.

Let us know if you need further assistance or more information!

RogersMaude

[Anso]

I just went to you guys a couple of weeks ago was with MTS now BellMts I have LTE in my area ( i live 15 mins from Teulon Manitoba and about 5 or so mins from Winnipeg Beach...I don't know if its just the house or what...also I have and LG G6 if that helps any..

[RogersMaude]

Thank you for your reply @Anso!

Teulon and Winnipeg Beach are both areas with LTE coverage.

Do you seem to be experiencing issues while physically in your house?

How many bars do you see on the signal reception indicator of your phone?

If this only happens while at home, it could mean that the building materials of your house, or it's structure, interfere with the network reception. If it is the case, think about setting up Wi-Fi Calling!

RogersMaude

[cdb604]

I live in Mission BC and in the last 2 months the reception on my phone is terrible drops every call I have contacted Rogers and they say they can't find a problem but they didn't even try calling so how would they know , they say it might be a device issue but it happens with my wife's phone and my daughter's I phone so it's not a device problem it's a network problem that they will not look into

[Meowmix]

Hello @cdb604

They do check them but internally on their end. They don't call the customers but their systems on the tech support side shows them the reception and bars u get.

Have u spoken to tech support? If so have u asked to speak to a manager since they haven't helped?

If its a signal issue or network issue, there isn't much they can do other then report it and then the department which deals with the networks and towers will look into it.

[callook67]

service problems

I am soooo sick of not being able to use my phone in Port Dover .. the service sucks here soon badly, and why do I not see any way of using My Rogers to contact Rogers directly .. likely blinded by rage ..

[RogersPrasana]

Hi @callook67

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums and thank you for posting!

Poor reception can be very annoying to deal with.

Have you reported the issues you're experiencing through NetworkAid?

It's a feature on MyRogers app or Rogers.com to report issues related to with wireless connectivity.

You can find more information here.

RogersPrasana

[Dylanthalus]

4G instead of LTE in Vanier

I'm currently less that 2km from downtown Ottawa yet I cannot retain an LTE data signal and have an often failing 4G signal with 4-5 bars. I'm on the 11th floor of a tower. Wifi is disabled. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Please help. I just want to watch a YouTube video without constant pauses or the video failing. I'm already watching in the lowest available resolution.

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Dylanthalus

Thank you for posting your concern in the Community. Have you experienced the video buffering issues before, or did it just start happening recently? Is the issue specific to the location you have mentioned?

Poor signal strength indoors can be very tricky to troubleshoot because of variables like building structures, building materials, interferences etc.  

You can check and report the signal strength related issues through NetworkAid available through MyRogers app or on rogers.com. Please see our blog to know more about NetworkAid. 

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[sirmike]

I need the exact location of a cell tower so I can point my yagi antenna at it.

At my cabin in northern Alberta I put a cell booster in my cabin with an omni-directional antenna an I usually can get a few bars.  Enough to maintain a phone conversation and a bit of internet connection at times.  I would like to install my Yagi antenna and point it at the tower I am connected to.  An App I have tells me that I am connected to tower (Rogers Cell ID 29133056 LAC 11234).  A call to a rogers support could not tell me the location.  Does anybody have any idea the coordinates of this tower?

[Datalink]

@sirmike try this locater map:

https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/cell-tower-map-canada/#

 Click, or select the tower symbol that you're interested in to display the pop-up tower details panel which shows a chart, location details and tower transmit details.

[h2obrown]

Recently purchased a cottage on Lac Sinclair, Quebec (near the town of East Aldfield).  It is 65 KM from downtown Ottawa!  I was shocked to find out that from my property (standing on the dock) I cannot get any Rogers, or Bell Cell service.  There are so many people living in the area, not to mention all the cottages around the lake and other lakes and there is no cell service.  I am forced to have installed and use a Bell Land line for any communications.  What does it take to get a tower installed?  petition?  permissions?  I would even allow Rogers to put one up on my property to service the area!  Which ever company puts up a tower in the area they will get a ton of business.  But to the forum.... Has anyone tried and can recommend cell signal enhancers in the area?  Thanks.

[RogersYasmine]

Hello @h2obrown,

Thank you for being a part of the Community and congratulations on your first post! 😀

Although it is definitely important for us to extend our wireless coverage to as many areas as possible, I'm afraid it's not as simple as it may seem. 

Please rest assured, we are always investing in our towers and network to provide better service for our customers. Please keep an eye on our wireless coverage maps on Rogers.com for future updates by selecting Shop > Wireless > Network Coverage (under Help & Support) and the map will be displayed. 

Also quite helpful is the MyNetwork option available through the MyRogers app which allows you to check for wireless coverage for specific locations and get a live status of the network. Once logged in, just select Support > MyNetwork. You can click on the magnifying glass to enter a specific address.

Kind regards!
RogersLaura

[foobar66]

I'm a long-time Rogers subscriber in Victoria, BC. Although the coverage near my home has always been poor, of late it seems even worse. I often get dropped calls in and around my house, and I am sometimes unable to send texts, especially MMS messages.  I know it is due to the tower locations in our area, which is somewhat hilly, and therefore has dead zones.  The poor signal is evident on my phone and on other Roger's phones, so I know it is not something unique to my phone.

Talking to or chatting with Rogers agents on several occasions, seems like Rogers is unable or unwilling to do anything about the lousy coverage.  The last agent suggested I use wifi calling -- however, Rogers will only support wifi calling if you have purchased one of their phones (mine is unlocked Moto).  Or, they also suggested switching carriers, which I may have to do if I can't get reliable service from Rogers.

I find it ironic that their coverage map for Greater Victoria shows full coverage over the whole area, which I know from my experience and that of others to be a very optimistic representation. Also, if one is anywhere near the waterfront area facing the US, one is likely to jump over to a US cell tower.  Also ironic that one gets better coverage from a carrier in another country than from one's own carrier.

[foobar66]

Very helpful to check coverage and tower details at the following web site:

https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/cell-tower-map-canada/#

[b-ry]

@foobar66AS you pointed out, topography does play a significant role in cellular signal quality. Where about's in Victoria are you located? I know I was having issues out near Sidney, but once I got into Sannich/Victoria I was experiencing pretty good LTE/LTE+ speeds (event decent on HSPA+) and that was on my older dtek50 phone, with my Pixel 2, I suspect I would have a better performance.

But ya, the WiFi Calling on my Pixel 2 (bought from Google, not Rogers) has been a lifesaver for me in less quality areas - have you also tried manually switching to Rogers-EXT?
I assume you've also checked the frequencies on your unlocked Moto... it maybe missing some that would give you better quality?
In addition to the tower site webpages, I also like to use the OpenSignal app as it gives a community-built/real-world coverage map - Green=strong, Red+weaker/poorer - A step above the carrier network coverage pages which only show the theoretical coverage.

[foobar66]

I'm in Cordova Bay, where there is a Rogers "dead zone", as their tower is located on the other side of the ridge near the highway.  I have noticed in the past my phone would sometimes switch to Telus (i.e. Extended Coverage) near my home, but more recently it doesn't seem to do that very often, mostly just drops out on Rogers (down to one bar, or sometimes zero bars /emergency calling only), even though I have data roaming enabled.  I don't usually bother trying to manually switch the phone to ROGERS-EXT, but when I do it often doesn't work any better.

According to the Rogers coverage map, I'm supposed to be in a full-coverage area, but as you say the map does not reflect the real world.  Since this area has built up a lot in the past few years, would be nice if Rogers stepped up and extended their coverage with another tower, but I doubt that will happen.

As for wifi calling, that would definitely help, but my phone (unlocked Motorola) doesn't have the wifi calling option unfortunately.

[RogersYasmine]

Hey @foobar66!

Weak coverage or dropped calls can be such a headache to endure! I've driven through parts of Ontario that had dead or weak zones and it's not fun. 😒

At Rogers, we believe in providing our customers with a network experience that empowers them to make more possible and we are continuously investing to deliver that experience.

We are uplifting existing cell towers to provide faster and more consistent data speeds over time and place. We are building a number of new cell towers across Canada for improved faster, more reliable and consistent data experience with better signal overall.

We are focusing on: 

 ◦ Investing in the reliable and consistent network experience that you tell us is important
◦ Delivering a premium LTE and VoLTE experience
◦ Delivering in the places our customers live and travel to
◦ Building the foundation for 5G

You can use our NetworkAid (available in both desktop and app versions of MyRogers) that allows you to check the real-time status of our network for outages. Plus, you can provide feedback on your network experience and get updates on our upgrades in your area!

To access our NetworkAid tool, log in to your MyRogers profile and access the Support tab for wireless services. 

Kind regards!

RogersLaura

[b-ry]

@foobar66Ya, Cordova Bay is definitely a deadzone for Rogers, but it's also a deadzone for Telus/Bell - which would explain why EXT didn't work much better.
It's similar to the site you posted above, but I like to cross reference http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html as it to me is a similar interface to view tower sites. And it clearly shows a need for upgrades -- while it was probably fine a few years ago, as you said the population has  built up, and I believe it's congesting the signals.
One thing that I experienced with network congestion is opting the phone to max out at a lower speed... Where it normally is set to LTE, that means the phone will always try to connect to LTE, even if congested. So telling the phone to only connect to HSPA+ could get you onto a channel that isn't as busy. My best experience of this was during the 2010 Olympics - it was before LTE - I had full coverage of 3G but nothing was working, so I told to phone to revert to Edge and while slower, it was usable and was "faster" then the 3G.

@RogersYasmineWhat I would say is that it's great Rogers is talking about continuously investing in the network, but from an end user POV, especially in British Columbia, there hasn't been an focus/push to expand for more antennas in newly built up areas. There are issues like this all over the province, From Victoria (like @foobar66), to Surrey, Kelowna, and even my hometown of Kamloops BC (our last major new tower was 2012, there may had been a smaller one/share agree in 2014...).

... Anyhow the point I want to convey is that from the end-user, we're not seeing our Rogers services expand fluidly with community growth. But I do understand that the new requirements for community consultation to install towers is onerous and expensive - and I also don't think Telus' approach to blanketing neighourhoods with microcells strapped to streetlamps is an entirely surefire way either in the longterm (more points of failure) - but at least in the meantime Telus customers in those area blanketed with microcells are seeing improvements.

Two other points I would like Rogers to seriously consider...

1) The NetworkAid tool - I don't think I've ever gotten one response back other than something along the lines of "everything appears fine" so ya I report issues, but nothing changes - I do understand the complexity of triaging issues, but I think Network Aid could be vastly improved, and perhaps have a bit more personal followup/explanation. Sure it would require more staffing, but it would give users the sense of belonging.

2) Rogers NEEDS to open up WiFi Calling to ALL eligible Android devices! Not just a select few that are "sold by Rogers" - If a phone has WiFi Calling, let users use it! If it means it has to be a tech support enabled feature thats fine, but most unlocked Android phones support WiFi Calling and enabling such would help customers connect in areas where build-out is lacking

[dswinky]

I live and work just outside of Calgary
Since about March, 2020 the cell coverage in This 10 square mile area has been off. It's like going back to the mid 90's, I can't make calls or receive them
I have told Rogers about the poor service but not much has been done
I know they share towers with other providers but in this case it seems like it's not working