Gene Kiernicki has provided information from his contacts with Bell Canada regarding cell service on the lake.
From: Charette, JoAnne
To: gene kiernicki
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:49:21 -0400
Subject: Kiernicki
Hello Mr. Kiernicki,
Thank you for speaking with me this evening. As discussed; here is a link to a press release that may interest you.
If you have any questions after reading this article, please feel free to contact me directly. Have a wonderful evening.
From: gene kiernicki
Date: October 19, 2008 8:49 AM
To: Charette, JoAnne
Subject: RE: Kiernicki
Hi Joanne,
Thank you for the information. Could you find the answer to two more specific questions I have?
What are the specific plans for our cottage area re: improved Bell Mobility service in the Blind River (Lake Matinenda)? What is the wattage for the Motorola M800 cell phone which I bought from Bell Mobility last spring.
I have tried repeatedly to get this answer by carefully reading the Owner’s Manual and by contacting the Motorola website – all to no avail.
Many thanks in advance.
Gene Kiernicki
From: WNSD
Date: November 3, 2008 10:20 PM
To: Charette, JoAnne
Subject: RE: Kiernicki
Hello Joanne,
We need more details:
1st – more details about the location they are asking about, (exact location – address – postal code?) 2nd – what does the customer mean by wattage? Do they mean the radio frequency or the actual power needed to power the phone? Let us know and we will do our best to answer the questions.
Thanks
Network Support Specialist
From: Charette, JoAnne
To: gene kiernicki
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:38:25 -0500
Subject: Kiernicki
Hello Gene,
Thank you so much for your patience. I have forwarded your concerns to our network department and they require a few more details. Please see the message below and provide the required details and confirmation. Have a wonderful day!
From: gene kiernicki
Date: November 4, 2008 7:06 PM
To: Charette, JoAnne
Subject: RE: Kiernicki
Hi Joanne,
Thanks for remembering my questions. Here’s the info requested:
Our cottage is a 2 acre island north of Blind River, ON. Our postal code is P0R 1B0 but more specifically, our GPS is: 46 21′ 727″ N82 57′ 428″ W. I sometimes pick up the Elliot Lake tower or the Walford tower but service is spotty at best.
I am referring to the power used. I understand flip phones to be .6 Watts. Several other owners of the Motorola M800 cell phone have told me that they are either 1.0 W or 3.0W. A pretty thorough search of the owner’s manual and efforts via Motorola’s website have been fruitless.
Your help is much appreciated.
Gene Kiernicki
From: Charette, JoAnne
To: gene kiernicki
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 13:04:20 -0500
Subject: Kiernicki
Hi Mr. Kiernicki,
Thank you for your patience. Our network department has sent the following for further information: Concerning the wattage of the Motorola M800, we have contacted Motorola and they did confirm to me that it is a 0.4W phone. The GPS coordinates given (46 21′ 727″ N,
82 57′ 428″ W) are incorrect. The minutes latitude has to be between 0 and 60. Which means 727″ and 428″ is incorrect. We need correct coordinate so we can pinpoint problem area and investigate. Also we would also need the following questions answered.
- Problem (specify if the calls are dropped or no connection, does voice work)
- Is the problem In building (provide the floor # and on which side of the building they are on (north-south-east-west) or outside
- Date and Time (and when did it start and was it ever working before)
- signal bars on phone (low or high coverage)
- Frequency of the problem (always, everywhere or random or only happened once)
- Are there other devices or Cell Phones that are experiencing the same problem?
From: gene kiernicki
Date: November 13, 2008 9:52 AM
To: Charette, JoAnne
Subject: RE: Kiernicki
Hello again Joanne,
There’s some confusion about GPS co-ordinates I sent you earlier. Here’s my understanding on how GPS co-ordinates are stated: the first set of numbers begins with the “degree” of latitude (either East or West or the Prime Meridian) and the second set of numbers begins with the
longitude (either North or South of the Equator). The second number in each set is the “minute” and is between 0 and 60. The third number in each set is the “second” and is from 1 to 3 digits long. By using the degree, minute and second that I sent earlier, our cottage should be
very accurately located. I am puzzled as to why your technical supporter is confused by the coordinates I gave.
Many thanks for advising me of of 0.4 wattage of the Motorola M800 cell phone. I believe that explains why we are not get the same kind of reliable service we had with our older Motorola analogue bag phone which, I believe, operated with a higher wattage.
Here are the answers to the questions asked:
We usually have a “no service” indication i.e. no signal strength is shown. We do have a yagi antenna (located on our cottage roof) and connected to the phone with a heavy cable. I have spent many hours on the cottage roof doing a “360” to find better signal strength but have not found any antenna direction which gives consistent, reliable service.
I’m unable to give specific times or dates that it didn’t work but my sense is that service is better in the evening when there’s no atmospheric disturbances.
Signal bars are low i.e. one to two bars showing. Three bars are necessary for reliable service i.e. no dropped calls in or out. Nobody has ever had hand-held cell phone service at our cottage. This past summer, we had guests who had a Blackberry and that device also showed that it was “looking for service.”
I don’t know if this is relevant to phone service problem but our cottage is on a 2 acre island with the mainland about 1/2 mile away from us.
Hope this info helps. Reliable phone service is important to us and so we would truly appreciate any suggestions you can offer.
Regards,
Gene Kiernicki
From: Charette, JoAnne
To: gene kiernicki
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:06:42 -0500
Subject: Kiernicki
Hello Mr. Kiernicki,
Our technical service department did get back and confirmed that your area is a marginal service area, which basically means poor coverage. The network team has created an order for area improvement. The order number they have quoted me is MCA ON081119-001. Please keep in mind that any service improvements or upgrades are determined by priority so
we are currently not aware when this will occur since the order has just been created. Generally, greater priority is taken on areas with larger population. There’s a fair chance that on mainland the signal strength is poor as well. If that is addressed there’s a high possibility that the signal will improve on your island as well. I would suggest that your family and friends or anyone you know on the mainland to call us to process trouble tickets. Another suggestion is to petition for
service. As I am sure there are many people on the mainland that do not currently have service with Bell, but would if it were available. More times than not, they would be happy to add a name to a list since they can not complete a trouble ticket process. This is not a guarantee, but
it would definitely work to your benefit and possibly speed up the process.
I am very sorry I do not have better news for you. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Subject: RE: Kiernicki
From: gene kiernicki
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 13:29:14 +0000
To: Joanne Charette-BellMobility
Hi again Joanne,
The report is disappointing but expected. Friends who live on the mainland and are permanent residents have long complained about the poor cell service. I’m not sure if they are Bell or Rogers customers since I understand the cell reception is equally bad. Perhaps our Cottage Association will formally petition Bell for improved service. I will ask the Chair of our Board of Directors to do that so that an, “order for an area of improvement (MCA ON081119-001)” will include our general concern. There’s no doubt in my mind that a reliable cell phone service
would increase Bell’s number of cell phone subscribers.
I want to thank you for your help however. Your efforts have at least given us a direction to pursue.
Best regards,
Gene