Poor to Non-Existent Reception

[stevendrowe]

We live in a pretty built-up area of Surrey, British Columbia.

The reception in our part of Surrey is virtually non-existent. This is the same for other suppliers with the exception of Bell.

Over the years Telus suggested putting up a tower in our area, however, they recently told us they are now not interested in having anything to do with it.  Rogers might be interested in putting up a tower. The lack of signal is affecting approx 400 homes.

We are using our Telus wifi for our phones but even the reception over that is pretty poor unless we stand close to the device, which really means sticking our heads in a cupboard, most unglamorous.

Does anyone have any suggestions on improving that Wifi/mobile experience?

If not, I guess our alternatives are 1) get a landline, which I don't really want to do, or 2) change to Bell.

Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

[Nighthawk]

Changing to Bell won't solve it since Bell uses Telus' towers in BC. Surrey is also huge. Are you able to narrow down the area a bit? I'm curious about which towers are nearby.

[stevendrowe]

I can't tell where the nearest Tower is. It's affecting Newton near the library. I can walk 10 minutes into the town and there is a better signal. Some of the emergency services use cell phones now and they have complained about the poor service here too which is interfering in them expediting their duties.

[Nighthawk]

Here is a cell tower map. http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

There are a rather large number of towers in the area. Some of them clustered really close together are for 5G service. The towers that list 4 or 5 frequencies on them are the primary ones that have 3G/LTE/5G. The only downside for some is they are on top of buildings. One close to the library is on the roof of a building on King George and about 69 Ave. There's another on a nearby building at 7337 137 St. There shouldn't be any gaps in coverage in the area.

Talking with tech support is probably a good idea as well. If they know there are issues in an area, they are more likely to look into the problem sooner. Especially if reports from multiple people come in.