Poor cell service

[zavtra]

I live in Cardiff, a small residential community just outside of St. Albert/Edmonton Alberta, and have never gotten better than two bars of LTE in home, and lately I've been down to three bars of 3G. What is the problem?

[RogersAsif · Accepted solution]

HI @zavtra Welcome to the Community

One thing to remember is wireless signal will degraded once indoors. The signal needs to penetrate through the walls, building materials etc to provide coverage indoors. This would cause it to become weaker opposed to being outside where the signal can travel freely without objects affecting the strength.

Depending on how close you live to the tower and the way your house is built the signal strength will vary indoors. How is the signal outdoors?

LTE uses a high frequency wave to provide fast data connection speeds, you don't need 5 bars to fully utilize the service. Having 2-3 bars on LTE is generally not an indication that their is an issue. How is browsing while on LTE with 2 bars? have you conducted any speeds tests? You would have live pretty close to the tower to receive 5 bars on LTE.

Are you experiencing degraded service on 3G or LTE all of a sudden(dropped calls,unable to browse etc)? This could indicate we need to get a report out to the network team so they can check things out in your area.

With some more information the Community will be able to further assist and provide some suggestions on what can be done

Hope this helps!

RogersAsif

[zavtra]

The poor coverage doesn't get any better outdoors, and has caused dropped calls and slow to nonexistent web browsing. Here is a link to a screen grab of a speed test that I just did: http://imgur.com/tpJK2O4

[RogersAdam1]

Hey zavtra,

Sometimes the connection between the device and the network "stagnates", causing a gamut of connectivity problems. Have you tried doing a full reboot or a battery-pull (if possible) of the phone? 

Perhaps you could tell us what kind of phone you have? That would also help in trying to help you fix this.

[zavtra]

I have an iPhone 5s, and I fairly routinely have to do a "soft reset" (press and hold the home and unlock buttons until the start up screen appears) so while it could be the device, I have my doubts. I kind a hope that it isn't because I really don't want to have to replace it.

[RogersAsif]

I understand, having to backup then restore all your content to a new phone can be quite frustrating some times

Do you know if anyone else in your area on Rogers is experiencing the same issues? Also is the device still under warranty?

Have you tried resetting the network settings? We could do some network refreshes on our side as well to see if it helps.

We could always put in the ticket first to have the network team check out your area as well. I wouldn't want you to factory reset your device/swap the device if that's not the solution to the problem.

Let us know, as i could have a member of our @CommunityHelps reach out to you via Private Message so we can begin things on our end.

RogersAsif

[jmanchuk]

I live in the center of Edmonton.  At my home (both indoors and outdoors), I am AT BEST 1 bar of LTE coverage.  If I go indoors, it drops to 3 bars of 3G and repeatedly drops my calls, and my browsing is at a near standstill.  Sometimes it is even at the E level of speed.  This is in a large urban center, but am surrounded by residential communities.  The poor service makes absolutely no sense.   I can no longer make phone calls or use my cell phone inside my own home!  Whats up Rogers?!

[RogersAdam1]

Hi jmanchuk,

What kind of phone is it, and how long has this problem lasted? Being in Edmonton should give you full LTE, especially outdoors. 

[jmanchuk]

My wife and I both have iPhone 6 and are on the LTE network.  This problem has lasted for 2 years since we moved to our current location near the University of Alberta.  The problem was first noted May 2013 and we thought it was our old iPhone 4 that we were still using.  We have since upgraded to the 6 and the issue still persists.  Perhaps reviewing your network coverage in the area is necessary as we are looking at changing providers so that we can actually use our mobile phones in our home without dropping calls.  If we are in the basement, we get no service whatsoever.

[RogersAsif]

Hi @jmanchuk

I understand

We would need to put in a ticket to have the Network Team check out your area. Has this been done previously?

I will have a member of our @CommunityHelps team reach out to you via Private Message. Please check your inbox

RogersAsif

[jmanchuk]

This continues to be a very serious problem.  We received an e-mail with a link to click for service, but nothing has changed since this happened.  I cannot make a single phone call without having a call failed.  I cannot use the LTE network, it is constantly switching to 3G.  We work from home and this business is unacceptable.  I cannot understand how this poor network coverage even exists on a university campus.

[RogersArthur]

Hi @jmanchuk,

Thank you for your patience, I understand how frustrating that can be with not being able to take full advantage of your service due to your device switching from LTE to 3G and dropped calls. Iv'e had member of our @CommunityHelps team reach out to you via Private Message. Please check your inbox

RogersArthur

[veedeltess12]

I have been with rogers for awhile now and I recently moved and i have no cell service at all here, I know there is extended coverage but my phone is prepaid and I wouldn't like buying a whole new phone when its perfectly fine, i live in Alberta and not much coverage as much as rogers says there is.

[RogersPrasana]

Hi @veedeltess12

Thanks for posting on the Community Forums!

Prepaid plans are not eligable for Extended Coverage.  Have you check out the Network Coverage for your area?

What type of device are you using?

@RogersPrasana

[KyleJorundson]

Good Morning;

After reading above, I seem to have the same problem: poor service both indoors and outdoors consistently in most areas.

I have an iPhone 5 with Rogers and the data service is horrible, please send out a report to a network team for area: Saint James; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, specifically in the Sturgeon Creek area.

Thank you in advance;

Kyle Jorundson.

[Gavinrow]

Our family of 5 iPhones has serious issues with dropped calls, ever since we moved. We have to go outside to talk. We live in Chilliwack bc, the signal is great all around us. Seems like we’re in a dead zone too. Any suggestions?

[toolcubed]

If the competition (Bell/Telus) has service there, then you should consider switching carriers. If you truly are in a Rogers dead zone, and a new tower needs to be installed to fix the problem, it can take years before that happens. Applications need to be filed with the city, approvals have to be done, construction permits have to be pulled, etc. It’s a very lengthy process. And for some reason, Rogers always seems to have more problems getting approval for new towers than their competitors do...I can tell you that based on what I’ve seen around here. For example, there are three neighbourhoods closeby where Rogers has been trying to install new towers for years (or so they tell me) but apparently face “resistance from the town” yet Bell has managed to get new towers up and running in the same locations.

[Gavinrow]

Hey thanks for that reply. Ironically we had a telus tech in today - to fix a broken fibre cable. I asked him what signal he got, and he said 3 to 4 bars! I get 1 bar in the same location.

Unfortunately, I have a couple of phones on a plan, and it will cost me a fair bit to transfer to telus, Hopefully Rogers will join the free unlocking offer that some other providers are now doing. That will help if I do decide to switch.

[gp-se]

---

@Gavinrow wrote:

Hey thanks for that reply. Ironically we had a telus tech in today - to fix a broken fibre cable. I asked him what signal he got, and he said 3 to 4 bars! I get 1 bar in the same location.

Unfortunately, I have a couple of phones on a plan, and it will cost me a fair bit to transfer to telus, Hopefully Rogers will join the free unlocking offer that some other providers are now doing. That will help if I do decide to switch.

---

@Gavinrow

In Canada all cell phones are eligible to be unlocked for free!

However before you switch providers, have you tried to enable WiFi Calling on your phone? Since the reception issue effects you at home, you can use your home WiFi to make cellular calls. 

https://www.rogers.com/customer/support/article/wi-fi-calling-everything-you-need-to-know

[Gavinrow]

We tried the wifi option, which isn’t available on iPhone 5, and it didn’t work on an iPhone 7. Now feeling helpless on this issue.

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @Gavinrow

I can certainly appreciate your position, a poor signal can be inconvenient. The city of Chilliwack, BC has quite a number of cell towers in the close vicinity. Since the issue is indoors it would be difficult to troubleshoot as the signal penetration is impacted by factors like the structure of the building, building materials and other interferences. Sometimes it helps to disable the LTE, have you tried disabling the LTE? 

I also suggest using the "Report an Issue" feature in the NetworkAid to report the poor signal issues. Our technical teams will review your feedback to identify and resolve service issues.  Your feedback will also be reviewed by our planning teams to prioritize future network enhancements. 

Thanks,

RogersMoin