Cell Phone Question

[ultrarunner]

Never a fan of cell phones because I always seem to be in areas of no or poor coverage... both in California inside the city limits, Olympia WA and inside the Hospital where I work...

Problems started when work got rid of pagers for Cell Phones.

My newest phone is a smart phone that has an annoying habit of sending calls to voice mail and sometime later I see I have voice mail waiting.

Happens a lot at work... we do have lead shielding that I believe contributes... but even in places like the lobby it can be a problem...

So this is what I have found as a work around.

When I get to work I place a cell call to any number... let it ring once and hang up... sometimes it takes a while for the call to ring through.

However, once I make a call... the cell works fine as long as I am here...

It is as if the provider cannot "Find" my phone until I successfully call out.

Is this simply something I have to love with...

T-Mobil Provider and Moto G5 plus Android Version 7.0

By the way... I can see the T-Mobil store from the Hospital Rooftop...

 

[k0ua]

You need a new provider. Verizon is the best in my area for coverage. No other provider gives as much coverage. The fact that the T-mobile store is nearby, of course means nothing. Where is the nearest tower for T-mobile?

 

[atsah]

Maybe your phone isn't switching from tower to tower. Phone stores always make sure there phones work well near there store or they wouldn't sell any phones in that area..

I would bet if you left your phone off until you got to work it would work without an outgoing call..

 

[JimRB]

At one of the hospitals we have an office in, ATT put in mini cell equipment on the floors to fix no coverage inside the hospital. Not really helpful for you. I suspect the hospital made some deal like we will us ATT cell phones if you give us coverage inside our buildings. Lots of phones will make the deal sweeter for a provider.

 

[RNeumann]

Their are several ways to use your cell phone over WiFi. That may be another option. Several folks in rural areas can get satellite WiFi and will use that to “seamlessly” use the cell phone.

 

[ultrarunner]

You need a new provider. Verizon is the best in my area for coverage. No other provider gives as much coverage. The fact that the T-mobile store is nearby, of course means nothing. Where is the nearest tower for T-mobile?

They say they have a mini tower at the site... it is about a 4 minute walk... directly across the street from the Hospital is the only high rise around... 6 stories and it has a ring of cell phone equipment around the top... maybe I am in the shadow?

So far the Hospital has had PacBell, ATT and for the last 10 years T-Mobil...

Doubt there is a possibility to change.

What strikes me odd is once I attempt a call at any of these problem locations there are no more problems... it is if I have dropped off and now sent up a flare.

What bugs me is that I am always having to explain why calls go to voice mail and I have the phone 24/7. Management has inferred serveral times that my calls go to Voice Mail to often but I always pick up when it rings.

Changed my outgoing message to say "If you are getting this recording it is because I am in an area of poor coverage... please leave a message"

 

[Jstpssng]

"Smart phones" seem more finicky than regular cells. You need much better service for them to work. If I receive a voicemail because I have no service I don't get notified until somebody else leaves a message; I got one message 2 weeks too late because of this. My employer switched to Verizon from USCellular, which is the only company which has towers in my normal area; I can go for weeks at a time without seeing more than one bar on my phone.

 

[ray66v]

T Mobil is of course, not going to have a store with a weak signal.

That doesn't mean it's good, once you get down the street.

They do have internet based service points they can put anywhere, without a tower.

T-Mobil had a great deal on unlimited everything, for 55 and over. So, we switched from Verizon, to T-Mobil for about 4 months.

T-Mobil had okay service in populated areas. But, once I get away from cities, only the main highways have decent service.

I recently drove from northern Ohio, to southern Tennessee on I75. And, there were areas with no service on T-Mobil. There were cell towers everywhere, I just did not have any service on them.

It's not 1990. I'm not used to having to check my iPhone, to see if I have service. That's a problem, I thought was in the past. I went back to Verizon.

Supposedly, when the 5G network is finished, T-Mobil will have coverage in almost the entire country. I'm told this network will not require big towers. It can be done on roof tops, and telephone poles. The T-Mobil CEO promised that network will be able to provide affordable, 960MB internet service to rural areas, that currently have few options. Great, sign me up. It's years away though. I told them to call me when it's done.

All that being said, there are sometimes areas, where for what ever reason, service is quirky. Perhaps you have something interfering with your signal?

 

[Streetcar]

Had t mobile for work. In downtown Cincinnati,I would have 4 bars and try to call someone a block away. Network said they can’t be found, but I could see them. Switched to Verizon

 

[3930dave]

They say they have a mini tower at the site... it is about a 4 minute walk... directly across the street from the Hospital is the only high rise around... 6 stories and it has a ring of cell phone equipment around the top... maybe I am in the shadow?

So far the Hospital has had PacBell, ATT and for the last 10 years T-Mobil...

Doubt there is a possibility to change.

What strikes me odd is once I attempt a call at any of these problem locations there are no more problems... it is if I have dropped off and now sent up a flare.

What bugs me is that I am always having to explain why calls go to voice mail and I have the phone 24/7. Management has inferred serveral times that my calls go to Voice Mail to often but I always pick up when it rings.

Changed my outgoing message to say "If you are getting this recording it is because I am in an area of poor coverage... please leave a message"

Might not be worth trying to explain this to Admin (meaning bureaucrats....) types, but FYI.....

Being packet-switched data, you have no guaranteed live "connection" at a particular point in time.

Example - I worked near a major expressway. I'd take a break, and call my wife - much of the time, worked fine, cell phone to cell phone, same carrier. If I tried to make the call at drive-time (expressway packed with cars), it would often go straight to her voicemail - both phones with strong signals, and her's idling waiting.

What I believe happens is the network has hit local capacity for live-voice connections. Digital storage is almost zero cost today, so it's cheaper/easier to route to voicemail than build more live-voice surge capacity.

What you should get is "Network Overloaded" as a message, but that ain't going to happen...

But yes, many people today have ridiculous expectations around cell phone response. Had one boss give me heck for having my phone in my car, switched off, while I was doing a major presentation in front of customers.

No, he didn't need to get in touch with me re. that customer (or actually anything meaningful really)..... he was just an idiot.

Rgds, D.

 

[atsah]

Before you make a call and then everything is good, what is your cell signal strength? Does it change when you do so..

If after making a call and it's all good that tells me the phone is not switching to the tower you work near. When you make the first call the phone searches for the tower and that's why it's takes time for it to ring..

If you get to work and shut your phone down, restart it I bet it works without making a call..

 

[k0ua]

I would load one of the android Cell signal analyzer applications available on the play store to get an idea of the signal as you move around.

 

[Silvic]

I have an Android WiFi analyzer did not know there was a cell signal analyzer. Will look for that one.

 

[k0ua]

I have an Android WiFi analyzer did not know there was a cell signal analyzer. Will look for that one.

Network Cell Info Lite - Apps on Google Play

 

[3930dave]

Just keep in mind....... Strong RF Signal (at both ends, into incumbent carrier towers) does not always guarantee end-to-end connection.....

INSIDE MOBILE: How to Stop Cell Phone Calls from Automatically Going to Voice Mail

Network congestion at large gatherings is one of the reasons that COWs and other mobile temporary towers exist.....

Mobile cell sites - Wikipedia

OTOH, we are assuming hitting a legit tower to begin with....

Washington DC “awash” with fake cell towers – Naked Security

Rgds, D.

 

[ning]

Try enabling airplane mode briefly, see if that helps. If it does, sounds like a phone problem.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Try enabling airplane mode briefly, see if that helps. If it does, sounds like a phone problem.

Ditto,

Verizon has same issues. I sometimes wont see voicemail indicator till the next day.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Do you have your phone connected to the hospital's Wifi?

Sometimes the wifi can create problems IMO. Sometimes it's great.

I've had a few times in the last few weeks, where it wouldn't call out. Moto G, Republic Wireless.

 

[oosik]

I'm loving it. Out here where I live the cell phone service is so poor - I've learned to just live with it. I turn my cell phone( only phone ) on a couple time a week to see if anybody left a message worth returning. Otherwise its off, Off, OFF.


Plus NEVER being bothered by incoming calls - I only have to charge the cell phone batteries once a month.

 

[Ford850]

I set our iphones to use WiFi for calls and that works great for us. Our basement has zero cell coverage but with our WiFi we can get calls anywhere in the house. Once outside the phones roll to cell coverage. I connect to hospital WiFi when visiting too, and it works the same.