Discussions

I've been noticing more and more how slow service on my LTE or 3G (depending what my phone can reach out and get) is... even right in the city. In fact, I've found that in SOME more remote rural areas, it's hard to find bars but once I do, the internet is way faster than I can get in the city of Brandon. Sometimes I can barely connect, even when I'm outdoors and there are very few 'interfering' elements. I have spoken to others about this and have found that this occurs for them to. I know Rogers and MTS share towers, so I doubt it's limited to a specific carrier, but I am on Rogers. I wonder if they need to up the towers to deal with the amount of internet traffic passing through? I wonder if there are plans for expansion? Just a thought... when my phone has 3 bars and says LTE ... I should expect my speeds should be substantially faster than they seem to actually be. And I have an iPhone and find that often what should send as an iMessage goes through as a text as it apparently just can't get onto the data network to get that text out. Seems like its time for an upgrade to keep up with the times!

A resounding yes! We need something for sure. The service seems to be getting rapidly slower and less useful and yet the price stays the same.  
It is time for all the service providers to dump alot of money into better service.  
We camp about 45 minutes south of town and are close to both a rogers and mts towers. My phone will say 4G and yet I cannot respond to a message. It is ridiculous for the service to be so poor when they are more than willing to take full price for their bill.  
Imagine if we could pay our bill by a percentage and decrease it by the percentage of service we are not able to use.

Before cellular companies put more towers inside cities and/or towns which already have great reception, they need to make sure that people in rural areas have cell service. Where I live I can be in one field and be able to use my phone and at the other end of it, I will lose the call, or it will result in a call failed. So, in my opinion, those companies should focus on getting basic calling services to cover the entire province before worrying about how fast someone can download a YouTube video of cats chasing red dots in the city.  
 
Think of it in terms of emergency services. If I need to make an emergency call and the damn phone won't work, what is more important?

Brings the discussion at the link below from this past spring to mind. There are areas of the North Hill that do seem to have weak reception:  
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=891332&cat_id=232  
 
In that discussion I posted this link that shows the location of towers in the city:  
http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html?lat=49.858833&lng=-99.964649&zoom=13&type=roadmap&layers=a&pid=0  
 
 
 
Edited by Adam, 2015-07-17 12:32:48

FarmerMike said "Before cellular companies put more towers inside cities and/or towns which already have great reception, they need to make sure that people in rural areas have cell service. Where I live I can be in one field and be able to use my phone and at the other end of it, I will lose the call, or it will result in a call failed. So, in my opinion, those companies should focus on getting basic calling services to cover the entire province before worrying about how fast someone can download a YouTube video of cats chasing red dots in the city.     Think of it in terms of emergency services. If I need to make an emergency call and the damn phone won't work, what is more important? "

Putting up towers in cities will improve service for many people, but putting them out in rural areas will improve service for far fewer people. Cell providers are profit-driven, so don't hold your breath for a tower to improve rural service. They will target the high visibility areas first.

I heard that they are putting up 17 new towers in rural Manitoba. I heard it some time ago though, and I can't remember where, so don't quote me on that!

One of the problems with putting up more cellphone towers is that not only does it have to go through Industry Canada approval, but also municipal approval. So say that if MTS or Rogers wanted to put up a cellphone tower in the north end of town, now days a meeting has to be called about it. So you will get the "not in my back yard" people who will absolutely object to a tower anywhere near their property, and a few people who are fed up with cellphone service.  
 
Rogers and MTS do need a new tower in the North end of town. LTE cuts out completely right near Barney's Motel.  
 
PS - for those on Rogers who travel to Regina frequently, you now have LTE along the Trans Canada! No 3G though.  
http://www.rogers.com/coverage  
 
Edited by CL, 2015-07-17 16:24:33