Question re: coverage issues

**sweet_thing** · 10-15-2011, 06:52 PM

Back at the end of June, my boyfriend and I signed up for phones with Rogers on a family plan. I live downtown Cobourg (Ontario) and I had a couple of friends who experienced service issues down here but we asked at the Rogers store and were told that coverage here is great, and that a new tower was going up in a month or two and it would be excellent so we signed up.

Forward to 3 1/2 months later. Our phones do not work in our condo. We have at most 2 bars of service, and generally emergency service only. I called Rogers to complain, and they honestly didn't seem to care... their attitude was "well what do you want from us?" I want someone to realize and care that we are paying $150 a month for phones that we can use on wi-fi to check our Facebook accounts at home. Even in the rest of the town, service is sketchy at best. I finally got through to a technical support guy who told me that he visited Cobourg and had the same issue! But what are you going to do about it. We shouldn't be trapped in a 3 year contract with phones that don't even work.

Does anyone have any experience with living in an area where service just doesn't work? Just looking for advice and to see whether anyone has gotten any assistance or retribution in situations such as this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

**Howmander** · 10-15-2011, 07:25 PM

Sorry to say, but had you cancelled your service 15 days or less into your contract, you could have gotten out of it but since you waited so long, you've gone past your time limit to get out of your contract. Even if it was just a phone issue you would still have had the "30 days or 30 minutes (of usage)" to be able to get a different phone but unfortunately since you waited so long (since June) you lost your window. You can always buy out your contract or transfer your plans to someone else in the area who does get good coverage, but I don't know what else to do. Sorry, but this is really something that should have been done within a few days of getting it, not four months. I realize that people don't always see the issues within the first few days of getting a new phone or service, but there's only so many options one has.

**ircu** · 10-15-2011, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by sweet_thing

Back at the end of June, my boyfriend and I signed up for phones with Rogers on a family plan. I live downtown Cobourg (Ontario) and I had a couple of friends who experienced service issues down here but we asked at the Rogers store and were told that coverage here is great, and that a new tower was going up in a month or two and it would be excellent so we signed up.

Forward to 3 1/2 months later. Our phones do not work in our condo. We have at most 2 bars of service, and generally emergency service only. I called Rogers to complain, and they honestly didn't seem to care... their attitude was "well what do you want from us?" I want someone to realize and care that we are paying $150 a month for phones that we can use on wi-fi to check our Facebook accounts at home. Even in the rest of the town, service is sketchy at best. I finally got through to a technical support guy who told me that he visited Cobourg and had the same issue! But what are you going to do about it. We shouldn't be trapped in a 3 year contract with phones that don't even work.

Does anyone have any experience with living in an area where service just doesn't work? Just looking for advice and to see whether anyone has gotten any assistance or retribution in situations such as this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

try locking your phones to Rogers. Sounds like they are rotating between the Belus 3G and the Rogers.

Outside of that not much you can do, there is no promise of phone service indoors. And by you admitting you get 2 bars you can't claim the service does not work.

**BellVictim** · 10-15-2011, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by ircu

And by you admitting you get 2 bars you can't claim the service does not work.

bars ≠ service
service = service

ergo:
!service = !service

Elementary, my dear Watson.

**sweet_thing** · 10-15-2011, 09:32 PM

2 bars at most. They last a few seconds and then disappear. I don't get any calls or texts on this phone. And it doesn't work anywhere in the downtown area, even outside. And I know that we had the 30 days but we were told by the associate that the tower would solve any problems and it would be up and running in 1 to 2 months.

**BellVictim** · 10-15-2011, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by sweet_thing

2 bars at most. They last a few seconds and then disappear. I don't get any calls or texts on this phone.

Rog does have a policy of letting cx's who cannot get outdoor service (maybe limited to: at their billing address) cancel@ECF=$0.

Your situation sounds like an ideal candidate for this.

TTBOMK you should call Rog, explain those above points, and ask what Rog is willing to do. FYI: You might have a 30-day lag time while they bumble about. But in the end you should be able to cancel@ECF=$0.

**iridescence** · 10-16-2011, 12:30 AM

Depends on what technical support can do. I would ask them to investigate and have it escalated to tier II, and in the meantime ask them for a $10 credit on each line so you can purchase a new sim card. Also test these sim cards in other phones. Reason being then you can tell them a) it's not the sim and b) it's not the phones.

To get out of the contract with ECF = $0 tech support has to state that the coverage is non existent / poor enough that you should be able to cancel, so that is why these steps are necessary.