Nobody can hear me, calls constantly drop

ohnomydatasgone
ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭
edited August 26 in My Mobile

Hi, nobody can hear me and calls constantly drop when I am on Fizz network. I am inside of your service area and using a whitelisted phone. FizzEXT works great. Help!

Best Answers

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭
    Answer ✓

    dBm is the signal strength you get. you want it in the range of -80 ideally. so on both networks your current strength is poor. maybe the issue is you are between two cell towers and they are unequal in the coverage which causes you to switch back and forth between the two and drop the call.

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭
    Answer ✓

    from what people say unless you are streaming a lot of data on EXT for 3 month in a row, even if they get the warning email, fizz didn't do anything. I'd just use as is even if you get a warning email. If they do say they will cancel then you switch (they need to give advanced notice to cancel).

Answers

  • elena code xzi4t
    elena code xzi4t Posts: 8,401 ✭✭
    edited August 22

    hi @ohnomydatasgone

    Can you try to reboot the phone?

    If you can, try to insert the sim in a different phone

    You can always contact the support, https://fizz.ca/en/support , and click on the green bubble on the bottom right of the page in order to chat with them to find the right solution for you.

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    Rebooting does nothing, and I don't want to buy a new phone this phone is on the approved Fizz list :(

  • Mark123_2024
    Mark123_2024 Posts: 4,764 ✭✭

    Contact the support team in this case. Before that you can try if the service is good in a different area with the same phone.

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    I am waiting for chat to get back to me. I need the service to work at home, I am clearly within the coverage boundary but the service is unusable here :(

  • elena code xzi4t
    elena code xzi4t Posts: 8,401 ✭✭

    If you are in a zone with very low signal, it can be the problem. How many bar do you have?

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    Ohh good question! It is 4/5 right now but my phone has switched back to EXT automatically. I will make a note of the signal bars when it switches to Fizz again!

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭

    what phone do you have? is it using 3G or volte?

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    It is a Samsung A54

  • elena code xzi4t
    elena code xzi4t Posts: 8,401 ✭✭

    If the phone is switching to Fizz Ext this means that you have poor signal

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭

    hm likely poor signal then. you could try and check what is the dBm you get on fizz vs fizz ext.

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    -106dBm, 34asu on Fizz

    -110dBm, 30asu on EXT

    Im not sure what these numbers mean but I'm kinda having fun learning about this stuff!

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    I think this is correct, sadly. The funny thing is my phone usually shows 4/5 bars of signal.

    There are many complaints online about the modems in these Samsung A series phones. My signal was awful with my old provider too. Time to shop for a phone I guess!

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭
    edited August 22

    ya. getting to -100 is not great. I'm sitting at average signal strength ~ -90 or so. If it's just your home, you could look into signal boosters. Otherwise a new phone would be better for all around use. But I would suggest to test your sim at your house on someone else's phone before you rush out to buy a new one. it could be you are having issues besides the signal strength that is causing you to drop calls at your location.

    also the bars are signal you see are inflated by the phone manufacturers. dBm is a better measure.

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    Thanks wenhan I learned some new things today, now I need to resist the urge to check my dBm score everywhere I go!

  • BradDoell
    BradDoell Posts: 180 ✭✭
    edited August 23
    RSRP

    RSRP

    Signal strength

    Description

    >= -80 dBm

    Excellent

    Strong signal with maximum data speeds

    -80 dBm to -90 dBm

    Good

    Strong signal with good data speeds

    -90 dBm to -100 dBm

    Fair to poor

    Reliable data speeds may be attained, but marginal data with drop-outs is possible. When this value gets close to -100, performance will drop drastically

    <= -100 dBm

    No signal

    Disnonnection

    source:

    https://wiki.teltonika-networks.com/view/RSRP_and_RSRQ

    Curious tho. My iPhone is reporting an rsrp value of -107 inside my home ( 2 bars which is not a technical measurement).

    I don’t have a problem with dropped calls, and my download speed tested just now at 70 Mbps.

    From a different page:

    −89 dBmExcellent

    -90 to −104 dBmGood

    -105 to −114 dBmFair

    -115 to −124 dBmPoor

    −125 dBmNo signal (effectively)

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    This is getting absurd. Fizz support tells me I will be kicked off the network if my usage is more than 50% on the EXT network for 3 months.

    But, they refuse to tell me if my current usage is 50% on the Fizz network or not.

    My phone, which is whitelisted by Fizz, will never connect to the Fizz network automatically at home because the signal is terrible (-120 this morning).

    So I need to constantly manually go into my network settings and switch to Fizz, where I cannot make phone calls. And I need to do this multiple times per day as my phone will always switch back to EXT automatically.

    Fizz should not be advertising that their service is available in my area. Buyer beware.

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭

    they will send a warning email if you exceed 50% usage for 3 month in a row.

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭

    the first chart is for 3G the second values are for 4G which can go down to -120 dBm for no signal

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    Ok, but they should be able to tell me before then if I'm 50% on EXT or not no? I'd rather switch providers now than have to panic shop if/when they send me a warning email.

    Support is giving me contraditory messages about EXT and whether or not I'm roaming so I have no idea what is going on (and niether do they?)

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    Thanks again wenhan thats exactly what I'll do. I'll just let my phone pick the network on its own (EXT 99% of the time) and not worry about it

  • kokoboko
    kokoboko Posts: 361 ✭✭

    Change the phone

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    Yes, I am working on this! How important is buying a phone on the Fizz volte whitelist?

  • wenhan
    wenhan Posts: 1,158 ✭✭

    it wont have volte if it is not. if you go to the US wont be able to use data. in canada you wont get hd calling. when 3g is phased out in canada and fizz does not include the phone then you will lose access to things.

    for now, it'll be fine.

  • elena code xzi4t
    elena code xzi4t Posts: 8,401 ✭✭

    if you buy a phone now and you plan to keep for years it is important

    The 3G is suppose to start to disappear starting from the end of 2025

    Moreover if you plan to use in USA you must have a certified VolTE phone

  • ohnomydatasgone
    ohnomydatasgone Posts: 50 ✭✭

    Thanks everyone I will shop for a phone this weekend!

  • BradDoell
    BradDoell Posts: 180 ✭✭

    Good morning @ohnomydatasgone

    I am also on the EXT network and have been so so nice I signed up with Fizz. This is my third month. I also live on the edge of the coverage zone, but travel regularly to the center of it, reboot my phone etc and am always in the EXT network. I don’t know why rebooting the phone works for some but not for others, but I don’t worry about it anymore.

    When I contacted support about this, the reply from @Whizz is:

    “I kindly wish to inform you that, as long as you are in the subscription zone there should not be an issue if your phone displays Fizz EXT.”
    Probably you are in an area where we are using mostly the partners networks however, in order to receive an exact answer regarding this, please contact our customer service agents.”

    A new phone is always great to have! Enjoy it and don’t stress over the EXT thing. :-)

    Cheers,

    Brad

This discussion has been closed.