Person ringing me gets recorded msg that I am not answering or my phone is turned off
Phone does not register that I missed a call
Phone does receive, shortly afterwards, in same spot, an SMS saying that xyz rang and left message abc (or saying that xyz rang and did not leave a msg)
The location is consistent (I am at home). The service by Telstra is inconsistent - sometimes calls get through and sometimes they don’t. There even some times I notice the inconsistency when I go to make an outgoing call - phone tells me that that service is not available at the time.
Using an app that looks at ‘phone for phone calls’ connection as well as data communication connection I sometimes see that there is ‘co connection’. Looking at the signal strength bars on the phone itself is not able to predict whether an incoming call will succeed or fail.
Using an app that identifies nearby cell towers and their signal footprints shows I well in their footprints - but sometimes it also shows no signal when at other times when I am in the same location it shows there is signal.
With a bit of a comms background my theory is that the cell towers that I rely on when in this location are struggling to cope with the demand. Insufficient backhaul capacity or something - unable to cope with the demand of traffic for voice communications for phone calls and data communications using SIM cards in their mobiles/tablets/dongles to access Internet (this area does not have NBN so a lot of people have wireless Internet).
Because it is an intermittent problem (seemingly dependent on traffic volumes and backhaul volumes at the time) it needs technical expertise to fix.
Everytime I report it to Telstra I get an incident number and a promise that they are escalating and a promise that a third level problem solver will contact me within X time. But they never do. Or at least if they do ‘contact’ me they ring my mobile at a time that the intermittent problem is in effect (and hang up as soon as they get the ‘not answering or turned off’ so that I don’t get an SMS saying someone tried to call).
The Checkout recently said something about telco having to pay $40 when they don’t respond appropriately - how does that work? I have logs of the times I have been online or on phone with Telstra support (including the times they have promised escalation and call back by 3rd level support).
Forgot to say - phone is charged, phone is turned on, and typically phone is sitting on desk less than 400mm from me when the person trying to call me gets message that I am not answering or my phone is turned off.
Also forgot to say that this has only started to happen in last couple of years (a gradual ‘build-up’) and before that in the same location with the same telco there was no problem; and as far as I can tell Telstra has not removed any physical mobile phone towers from this area.
You could quite accurately replace “Telstra” with “Optus”. We get that all the time here, and also much delayed SMSs about messages left. A case in point earlier this week I had a missed call SMS and they left a message, but there were 3 new phone messages, the oldest one being left over 3 weeks previously, with no notification about a missed call or message left until the “you have 3 new messages” SMS this week. Sometimes it seems that they let a few accumulate before you are notified.
Same problems with all the resellers that sell those networks services under their own names.
Because of the highly variable signal in parts of my house I have to tell people the mobile can be unreliable but I’ll return a voice message quickly. An SMS has usually been within a minute of the “missed call” that never rang nor registered but recently there have been many SMS of all origins (missed calls, voicemail notifications, and texts) that have taken one or more hours to reach me. Very ordinary.
_Our commitment to quality service is backed by a customer service commitment for our mobile services. Under this scheme, we’ll pay you $40 if you reasonably believe we haven’t met our connection timeframes, or responded to a billing enquiry or a network problem within a set timeframe. If you want to make a claim, you need to phone our general enquiries number for Telstra mobile customers within one month of the incident.
The reason that I have my mobile with Telstra and not with a reseller or with a different network, is that I want the best available coverage.
And until the demands of “data communication over mobile phone network” went up in my locality that was good.
I guess one of my gripes is that the mobile phone network’s primary purpose is for PHONE CALLS and it is failing in that when it is clogged up by traffic that is not phone calls.
And the second gripe is how Telstra support is doing saying they will get back to me with higher level of support personnel/expertise but don’t, repeatedly.
You would get the same coverage with any company reselling Telstra network services.
You might find a section (Locating and ringing the phone) in this interesting. I doubt the problem is anything more than perhaps a new building or few between you and your local tower(s) but could stand corrected.
That is classic Telstra “support” and as long as customers do not vote with their dollars it probably is not going to change anytime soon. You might check this table to see who sells Telstra network services, and might give you better customer service.
That is very true. And the support team of a reseller would not have any resources to fix the coverage service issue - so not sure why some posts are suggesting I switch to a different telco.
I have no problem in low volume locations - even had great mobile phone service from Telstra when flying over Lake Eyre. They do seem to be the best available service when you hit the road, or the sky.
Is there a way that mobile phone networks can be set up to give priority to phone calls above the non-phone call usage of the mobile phone network?
If yes then it would be a good campaign to run - “prioritise the mobile phone network for phone calls”
Thank you to Brendan for the link to the appropriate part of Telstra website.
It looks like their offer/claim (?) to reimburse $40 (in credit) to customer that their support has failed to assist has an interesting caveat on it: “You must make the claim within one month of the incident for which the claim is being made”
that is, a time limit in which you have to get back to them to lodge claim for it when their support fails to get back to you within stated time frame.
The last I heard from Telstra support was their promise that the intermittent problem had been escalated to third level and the third level would contact me within 28 days; which means now that I have waited the 28 days (and they haven’t contacted me) that I do meet the condition of “must make the claim within one month” it is bastardry and all the other words used in The Checkout segment, it is.
Is it possible for a “group action” to the TIO and/or ACCC on this behaviour of mobile phone service?
==> Where the mobile phone service is failing perform its primary purpose (ie phone calls to and from mobile handsets) because it is allowing secondary purposes (eg data communications to tablets/laptops/desktops/data hubs) to ‘go first’ either in the cell footprint or in the cell’s backhaul transmissions.
I have had same problem interestingly only from people on Voda phone and messages they send don’t come through or calls and messages aren’t recorded both telcos seem to be aware of problem but don’t appear to be trying to correct it.
I had this problem constantly when I was on Vodafone (around one in three calls wouldn’t get through), which was the final straw to switch to TPG as their plans were cheap and they used the optus network. But now TPG themselves have switched to Vodafone . Guess it’s time for me to switch again…
We have regular problems with this courtesy of the Optus network (via a reseller), even when there is a reasonably good signal (2 or 3 out of 5 bars on the phone).
We use AldiMobile which uses the Telstra network and we don’t have this problem so maybe it isn’t the actual network but something within the Providers system that is the issue eg software?
. Guess it’s time for me to switch again…