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KnightShadey
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Joined 6 years ago
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Re: MMS forwarding
Ugh, just typed out long reply explaining MMS messages getting stuck in-flight / in-queue on the network, and webpage refresh cleared the reply. Anywaaaayy.... it happens more often when you swap devices or move between heterogeneous networks, or send big or complex msgs. When you call support, ask them to see if there are any message stuck on the network, there used to even be a dedicated button for this, but now the system automatically flushes every so often. It's not as big a problem as it was (especially in the dumb phone days and even early iPhone & Android days). It still happens, and it's easy for support to check & clear. While it is possible to forward SMS/MMS traffic it is a software solution either on device or in the cloud, no longer offered as a network option for consumers (used to be offered via special request, and was also user selectable on Mike/iDen). While the cloud solution solves the moving around device issue, it doesn't fix anything stuck enroute, so it can still get stuck if it's because of msg content/format issues. There are dedicated msg forwarding services, and both Samsung and Apple offer message forwarding via their cloud networks via Apple's iMessage and Samsung's Call & Text service, but that essentially has them act as a clearing house for your messages. It's free, unlike a dedicated msg service, but can be glitchy sometimes, The on-device software options including Google Messages relies on you and the sender spreading the delivery/receipt, and requires active phones on your end (easier if you have two active TNs with one that can always forward to your swapping device number/sim. Again can have it's own glitches. Another option, that costs a bit more money though, is using a VOIP service as your msg/call clearing house. Telus use RingCentral for their Business Connect, and you can see some of the scripting there to make it work.4.3KViews1like1CommentRe: Poor Network in my home area
Unfortunately, that likely also means that much of your nearby towers will still be predominantly Bell towers that Telus shares so Bell would maintain and configure them and Telus would need to pass along coverage issues, as most of Telus owned hardware would be in downtown T.O. or possibly in the highest traffic parts of Brampton. You can still see what towers are in you neighbourhood via that map link above. The issue with urban areas is bldg obstacles in addition to antenna angle placement. Also a lot of towers had 4G gear removed and redeployed to other locations to make room for 5G hardware sometimes causing little coverage holes where none existed before. Also there are other thing like signal bounce and freq overlap but those are rarer issues and usually in the densest of urban areas or near large emf generators. Unfortunately consumer Femto cell deployment never really took off in N.Am, even in the US it's still mainly businesses that get that option even offered. The consumer side even for early advocates like AT&T (which I first saw a consumer option at CES in 2011) have offered, then discontinued, then offered solutions on&off with mediocre support or success, the 5G hit and the focus pivoted there. The Big3 in Canada played around with consumer femtocells around 2015/16/17 but it never took off, because ironically consumer coverage was good enough, and the gaps were mostly in areas where even internet was unavailable to fill that gap. Commercial solutions also didn't translate to consumer well. Whereas the US' patchwork offered a possibility of better adoption, but still didn't translate to it's widespread use. Again, I would recommend looking at what hardware is near you and who owns it, whether or not a booster would help would depend on why your urban coverage is bad. A directional antenna & booster might help, but it still needs some signal to provide better signal, it doesn't work well on barely a single bar unless you have very clear line of sight.6.4KViews2likes1CommentRe: Help with poor device.
Telus is providing you with network access, not device support unless you specifically pay for it as mentioned. This isn't a network access, availability, coverage, or similar issue; it's a battery issue on a manufacturer's device with either their apps or apps from their play store, so that's where the responsibility lies, with Google. That goes double for a known issue across carriers as Nighthawk's second link shows, further reinforcing that it's a Device issue (Google), NOT a network issue. It would be like you blaming the power company because your Computer, TV, or Washing machine isn't performing as expected. Pretty straightforward for most consumers. As for a number to contact Google, good luck, even dealers don't have a "call Google" number, and the limited resources that are available are guarded because the general public would use it to complain about issues not related to them, similar to you complaining to Telus about Google's device. You can follow Google's warranty contact procedures that came with your Pixel or available online, which are deliberately obtuse. But.. again... that is not a Telus issue, it's a Google issue,3.7KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Poor Network in my home area
If it is a tower issue you may be out of luck. That likely means you are in an area of low density where it cannot be bridged by micro/pico cells. You will likely need to address it with a small booster, preferably with a directional antenna. My cottage is in between two towers that are not ideally situated (distance and antenna angle)), so calls ping-pong off towers and data is slow, but the number of people in the area isn't worth improvement for the few of us at the edge of the TWO TOWERS of Mordor & Isengard's coverage. If Telus support are aware of the coverage weak spot and they have captured your connection details then it is added to their list of hardware/tower updates/upgrades. Just make sure if you call back to have them capture the data from your phone. They likely have already, just make sure if you bother to call and wait again. In the meantime, you can check for towers in you area from different providers and the frequencies the towers cover via this online mapping tool: https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html it will also tell you if another carrier might have a closer tower, which may provide coverage not available from Telus (and Bell) in your area. Also know that lower frequencies (600/700/800mhz) tend to go further and penetrate obstacles a bit better, but also depends on power too, however usually freq is the best indicator of potential distance. The commercial geomatics versions will show you the angle, frequency, and install height of the antenna components of the tower, along with terrain, obstacle, and fresnel zone implications vis-a-vis your gear's line of sight. Sometime a tower may seem close but without anything pointed in your direction ir some terrain impediment. In dense metro environments there are other considerations, but it sounds like your scenario and their response that it is a single source issue with a single identifiable tower. Again, likely a cell booster is required, and if you go to a dedicated dealership that sell Wilson or SureCall , they likely have the commercial geomatics tool at the ready to quickly check (in a few seconds) your house location vs tower characteristics and even tell you the compass direction and height to install any booster antenna.6.4KViews1like3CommentsRe: Help with poor device.
Outside of the initial return period, why do you think it's Telus' responsibility? If you paid for additional device insurance, then you can file a claim for battery or device replacement. Otherwise they fulfilled their requirements as a vendor selling you a Google phone with Google software that carries a Google warranty. It is most definitely Google you need to chase. Nighthawk has provided some good starting points.3.7KViews0likes3CommentsRe: Samsung Galaxy S21+ prepaid
If you're just trying to put a new (well new to you) S21+ on a the Koodo network with your existing Koodo SIM card, you should be able to, although if you're moving from a 4G phone to 5G, you may need a new SIM for 5G speeds. Plus, if it's a Exynos version of the S21+, just know that it's a slower modem to start with (despite slightly theoretical higher specs) even before it's non-NAM carrier focused BAND support. Meaning it will still support the basics to work, but might not be accessing the best BAND/TOWER available. To check if your phone works on Koodo; https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/phone-compatibility It'll take you to a Telus page, then click on the "Check if your phone is supported" drop-down and enter your IMEI2.4KViews2likes0CommentsRe: S22 Security Patches/Updates
Yeah, definitely. I already stated that in a post that has now been deleted.... errrr..... "archived"; https://forum.telus.com/t5/Mobility-Devices/OTA-Software-Firmware-updates-still-horrible-Need-to-decouple/m-p/150117#M14074 https://forum.telus.com/t5/contentarchivals/contentarchivedpage/message-uid/150117#M14074 However, thread is still the TOP result on google if you search "Telus OTA" , and can be viewed with Google's cached copy. Also, that thread, along with this and the other thread, knocking the official Telus OTA Schedule out of top 3 spots. 🤣 Brilliant, somehow we've made the issue worse by discussing it. 🙃🤦🏻:male_sign:😜 It seems like there is more activity deflecting/hiding the shortcomings, and more effort to control the complaints than just getting someone to type the following: " Sorry (very Canadian opening, but could use 'Unfortunately'), an issue was discovered in our intended release, we(telus) / they(samsung) are preparing a fix, we will update with a new ETA ASAFP..." (* hopefully at least a day BEFORE the update Dumps on people, so you can prepare your KNOX deployments). Of course this update dropped Tuesday night WITHOUT WARNING after work while out watching hockey.... so not an ideal time to manage things, to say the least. 🤬 These seem like basic customer service items in a CRUCIAL area of SECURITY that is getting more and more high stakes. It's like an afterthought, until they want to sell you Telus Security or Samsung Knox, and then wonder why the feedback is " Do NOT recommend". 🤔 I don't want apologies, I just want sincere commitment to "Do Better". 🤙6.7KViews0likes0CommentsRe: S22 Security Patches/Updates
SF, already did that last missed update in April, both with Business support (not just single phone issue but MDM deployments) and via 611 (speaking with tech support), and this isn't the first time (there is no OTA discussion thread) but this is a long-time TELUS issue. Ticket just changes who tells you "It's Samsung's fault". When ALL we want is an HONEST Update of Status , even if it's "Sorry, it'll be delayed [REAL TIMEFRAME]" , not just the obvious 'No News means No Update". Their solution "We don't know, you should contact Samsung (already did that similar to PowderJockey)" and then advised to "visit a dealership" , who continued the circle-twerk with "we have no information... you really should be contacting 611 & Samsung..." Corporate dealers are no longer what they used to be either, just glorified consumer dealerships selling the latest flavour-du-jour modems, VOIP and security. The frustrating thing is that with the OTA discussion thread gone from the neighbourhood [dead link], and the OTA schedules usually being published AFTER the fact... and even then not being correct, there seems to be less effort in Software updates, at a time when security patches are more and MORE Critical. This isn't just wanting feature updates (for some people that's definitely it with the One UI 6.1 AI update), but this is now 3-4 MONTHS without security updates or even an accurate status update. And this isn't the first time BY FAR. The lack of even an advisory "this batch of updates have been delayed, but is still coming / isn't coming..." ANYTHING, shows a lack of respect and understanding of the importance of software for mobile phones. The OTA Update schedule is treated like a pass-time instead of the customer-facing side of a vital product. Perhaps it needs to be moved inside the Telus mobility site to be treated like s product. Not that Bell or Rogers is much better at this. There's enough blame to go around, but it just reinforces the TRUTH that carriers need to be removed from the process. Apple's model works (beta test to a subset of users, then release to everyone), the current Samsung model will be worse once AI security exploits increase, having people in between just makes it a bigger problem. Security updates should happen ASAFP, whereas feature updates can wait and get the whole TELUS wallpaper treatment. With the knowledge that the FAILURE there are a TELUS product as much as any bragging about network speed/coverage/etc "Contact 611" at this point is like "please continue to hold, we value your business... your call is important to us.."7.1KViews2likes3CommentsRe: S22 Security Patches/Updates
Yes, this is a TELUS issue. Other carriers have received updates after the fact, but TELUS instead just dumps an update if they see another one coming and that leaves devices unpatched for months instead of just weeks late. Many devices are still running January or February security updates instead of the serious March and April updates, let lone the critical May one. Meanwhile the exploits are spelled out in black and white on Samsung's site. To Samsung's end, what's the point of promising monthly updates if you can't deliver on them 2 years later, and they want us to believe they can provide 7 years? LOL ! 🤪 They are at LG levels of poor OS updates. I'd say Google is better but you're still stuck with TELUS in between you and your required updates. Only Apple (with all it's own drawbacks) at least it avoids the carriers' interference, and pretty much ALL of North America gets updated the SAME DAY (from iphone X to iphone 15), whereas Samsung can't even update all Top tier Snapdragon 8Gen1 devices the SAME WEEK because of carriers in the way. The Telus' OTA schedule at this point is a joke more misses than hits.7.1KViews2likes5Comments