Poor signal in Vancouver

[AA04]

I’ve been receiving inexplicably low cell signal (particularly in downtown Vancouver) for over a year now. My partner is experiencing same with Telus. We have tried everything including swapping out SIM cards etc. I’ve heard something is currently wrong with Telus towers but have been unable to confirm an ETA on repairs. Surely, this can’t continue. Any help?

[Nighthawk]

If the issue has been going on for a year, there wouldn't be anything wrong with the Telus towers. There would have been a lot of complaints a long time ago and the issue investigated and resolved. Have you called Telus tech support yet? If not, I'd suggest calling.

What do you call low signal? 1 bar? 2 bars? 3? If you do a speed test on cellular, what speed are you getting?

Low signal could result from a few different things.

• The phone.
• Which network you're using (3G/LTE/5G)
• Where the tower is in relation to you. That includes height. 
• Indoors vs outdoors
• How much metal or concrete is around you if indoors.

5G is going to give a weaker signal indoors as it is easier for walls/metal/concrete to block it. If you have a 5G phone, turn of 5G and try again. When downtown I found that I pretty much lost 5G indoors in places. Even on LTE if I was too far above the cell towers, the signal was weak. The nearest tower was on a building close by but I was about 15 floors above it and had weak signal on LTE and nothing on 5G. If I was lower in the building I had full signal and speed. Depending on which tower you're phone is trying to connect to, there may be a building in the way. In some areas 5G repeaters have been installed so outdoors you shouldn't have any issues.

[AA04]

Thanks so much for your reply and thoughts. It’s often one or two bars when I’m standing outside with open skies. There are outdoor pockets downtown that cause the signal to dip (eg. Street level at Seymour and Robson). It’s an iPhone 12 mini so not 3G capable. I often find myself having to toggle between 5G and LTE to get the signal going again so it’s not enough to simply leave 5G off all the time. Someone at Telus told me this was caused by an influx of stay at home workers downtown during the pandemic which caused an overload draw on the towers but I’m not sure how legitimate that intel is. I’m desperate for a solution as I live and work downtown and use my mobile for work.

[Nighthawk · Accepted solution]

I have heard the line about people working from home and overloaded towers but most people at home would be using wifi anyways so I can't see that really being the issue. If you're at home do you use Wi-Fi Calling?

I personally leave 5G off all the time mainly since I don't use a lot of data or anything that would need 5G speeds. Also I found 5G really drained my battery since the 5G signal where I live is quite weak but as of last speedtest was 190mbps. LTE is only about 2 bars also but it still works fine for calls and 50mbps of data if wifi goes out.

If the signal is weak where you live, maybe a signal booster is something to consider if you have a tower that's line of sight. If you are in a condo or strata, or renting, you may not be able to install the exterior models though.