WIfi Calling keeps disconnecting and reconnecting - FIDO support has been no help

[snagger81]

Hi there,

We have been having issues for the past 24h+ where the wifi-calling, on our FIDO bought devices, has been going off and on randomly.  The service has been working for 2.5 years + without any issues, and suddenly started acting up yesterday.  It is important to mention that we have TWO PHONES, a S20 and a S21 that are acting up, at the same time.  Literally, we will lose wifi-calling, and the other phone immediately, at the exact same time, lose it also.  If the signal comes back, it automatically comes back on both phones at the exact same time (maybe a couple seconds difference)

The wifi-calling will go out of service for 5-10-20-30-60 minutes, then comes back randomly for 5-10-20-30-60 minutes, then the whole process starts over again.

We have exhausted all of our options -

- Phones restarted, over and over again, to no avail

- Router restarted, over and over again, to no avail

- Wifi-Calling option in settings turned off and on, to no avail

- Network settings were reset on the phones, to no avail

- Contacted our internet service provider, which was extremely helpful, and ran us through the same stuff we had already done, to no avail

- Reset the router to factory as per our internet service provider, to no avail

- Confirmed with the internet service provider that no devices close to the router could interfere with the signal, to no avail

- Completely reset the phones, to no avail.

- Turning airplane mode on for 3 minutes, then turned back on (as per requested by Fido), to no avail.

- Support sent some kind of reset to the SIM card, to no avail.

Fido has been completely useless in this situation.  When on the chat with Fido, even though we explained that it is randomly, and constantly going on and off, the service would randomly come back and the person would say: It is working now, is there anything else I can help you with?  Clearly, something is not understood, and we kept telling them that the service will drop soon, and it did many times during the chat, but they would keep coming back to say, when the signal would come back:  It is working now, is there anything else I can help you with?   They kept asking me if the device was a fido-bought device, even though the question was answered 3 times before, they kept asking the same question over and over again.

After pushing and pushing with Fido, I asked that this is looked into further by Fido, and they created ticket:  156225846A.  

It seems that the issue may be on the Fido side, but they have been so unhelpful that we have no idea where to go, or what do to now.  This is completely random, and again, started 24h ago.  Since then, we've missed calls, had calls with doctors dropped, etc.

I looked into the forums, and it seems that some people had had issues like that years ago, and a couple persons a couple months ago, but this doesn't seem to be something that's happening often.

Is anyone here, from Fido, that can escalate this further and get this looked into?  If this helps, we are in Riviere-a-Pierre, Quebec.

[snagger81]

Update on this: after spending hours with other agents in chat, I installed TextNow and called Fido directly.  Spoke with an awesome gentleman called Mark with Rogers.

We spent 1h15 minutes on a call to find out that no ticket was created by the agent yesterday.  The ticket number that was given to me was invalid and couldn't be found.

Mark documented everything, asked additional questions, got a manager involved and a real ticket was created.  This is supposed to be sent to a network specialist, and expect an update within 24h-72h.

They linked the ticket to the other account with issues, will try to contact on my Fido number, if not working will try TextNow, and should also provide an update by email.

Will update when more details are provided.

[snagger81]

Second update - 

Didn't receive a call-back, nor an email from Fido after the 72h had passed.

Had to contact Contact Technical Support once again to get an update.

Agent had to reach our to Tier2, and was told that they were aware of the ticket, but couldn't provide any information as the ticket was not updated with what has been done so far.   He confirmed that this was supposedly sent to a Network Specialist.

After being stable for most of Friday night, and the whole weekend, problems started again on Monday the 23rd of October, around 11h50, which is around the same time at which the problems started happening on the 18th of October.  Since 11h50, we have lost the signal 4 times, and it doesn't seem to want to improve.

Not sure what is going on, because as mentioned, it was pretty stable during the weekend, only lost signal a couple times.  But on a weekday, the problems are similar to the other weekdays since the issues happened.

Here are the details of the failures we noticed - 

October 20th - Lost between 18h00-19h00
October 21st - Lost around 17h05, came back within 5-10 minutes, stable after than
October 22nd - Lost at 13h15, came back at 13h50. Lost at 15h38, came back around 15h45.
October 23rd - Lost around 11h50, came back at 12h11. Lost at 12h40, Came back at 12h46. Lost at 12h51, came back at 13h00.  Lost around 13h40, came back around 13h51.

Requested a courtesy call-back from Fido in 24h to my TextNow number, as the wifi-calling is unstabled.

Ticket was supposedly escalated back today, and was told that it would be again in 24h.

Even though I appreciate the support from the agents, I do not appreciate that the ticket is not updated with any information.  Good practises are to update the ticket with what was done or tried.  Not sure if the network specialist even looked at the problem as there are no ways to know.

Will update for documentation and tracking purposes when we get a call-back tomorrow (hopefully get a call back).

[snagger81]

Other update for October 23rd.

Since 11h00AM this morning, this has been completely horrible.  This is the worst day that we have seen so far.  We have lost and got the signal back at least 30 times since 11h00AM.  When it comes back, it only comes back for a couple minutes before dropping again.  At times, the signal was off for 45 minutes +.

Again, this needs to be mentioned, but we hadn't had almost any issues during the week-end.  Only lost the signal once or twice a day, for short periods of time.  Not sure what is happening during the weekdays, but there is a clear pattern that is emerging.

Will keep documenting here as the forum post is linked to the Fido ticket, and it is the best way we have found to communicate direct and detailed information.  Will remind the agents to look at the post when they investigate.

[snagger81]

Third update for October 23rd. The pattern is as clear as water.

On October 18th, 19th and 20th, weekdays, as reported to Fido, the issues started around 10h30-11h00, and continued up until 18h30-18h45.  Once we hit 18h30-18h45, the wifi-calling comes back, and does not drop until the next day around 10h30-11h00.

The same exact thing happened on Monday October 23rd.

This rules out any issue as home, or with our phones.  The problem is definitely on Fido's side.

Not sure what they are doing, or what is happening during that time, but as mentioned, the pattern has now been identified.

Hopefully this information can help them figure out the issue, but I have lost confidence in their ability/capacity to fix this in a timely manner.  Considering that, in 2023, most accounts are secured with 2-factor authentication, and that these are most of the time done by SMS, this is becoming really problematic.

Our next step will be, to confirm without a doubt that the issue is on their end, to move one of our accounts to another provide (e.g. Koodoo/Telus), to confirm that only the phone with Fido is having issues.

Hopefully this thread will help anyone with similar issues, and that they will not have to go through the same problems we had with the online chat, and their agents.

Questions -

- What was done on the network prior to October 18th?

- What updates were done to the systems prior to October 18th?

- What was looked into by the Fido agents since the problem was reported?

- Is this really considered a priority case as it seems to only affect Wifi-Calling?

- What efforts is Fido ready to make to fix these issues?

I should get paid for these investigations and all of the research, testing and pattern identification I have done, lol!

[snagger81]

Update for October 24th 2023.

Wifi-Calling stayed up all day, without any issues.

Got a call from a very knowledgable gentlemen, who was aware of the ticket.  Based on the information provided, even though two phone numbers were provided, they only looked at one.

Provided additional information, and was told that they would look at what happened on October 23rd.  They also mentioned that once this is done, they may need to escalate to Telus, which is something they would do on their end, as everything was confirmed to be working by Telus, after spending hours on the phone with them on my end.

[Cawtau]

Hello Snagger81,

  Sorry to hear you are having issues with Wifi-calling. From what you note, though, it's possible it could also be due to network congestion.

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@snagger81 wrote:

....On October 18th, 19th and 20th, weekdays, as reported to Fido, the issues started around 10h30-11h00, and continued up until 18h30-18h45.  Once we hit 18h30-18h45, the wifi-calling comes back, and does not drop until the next day around 10h30-11h00....

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  Your issue appears to coincide with a possible workday. I understand you had already contacted your internet provider and troubleshooted your home. Are you using your Wifi for other computers, laptops/tablets? Have you verified there isn't excessive interference on the channels your router is using? Perhaps other people in your neighbourhood are heavy internet users with online school and/or meetings etc.

  I'm not suggesting the issue isn't at Fido. However, I haven't had an issue at all with my Wifi-calling during those times (or at any time, for that matter). That could suggest the issue is more localised and not widespread. If it were a Fido issue, I would expect there to be many more people complaining about their Wifi-calling issues. I haven't come across any posts on X (formerly Twitter) on either Fido or Rogers handles regarding Wifi-calling. Yes, if the issue was with your account, that could explain why the issue seems isolated. However, you are able to use the service at times so that would seem to suggest it is provisioned properly.

  Are you able to try to use Wifi-calling at different locations? Libraries, malls, etc all have public access Wifi. If you are able to use Wifi-calling at different locations, that would suggest the issue would be related to your Wifi access at home (network congestion, interference, etc). However, if you continue to have the same Wifi-calling issues at multiple locations, that would suggest the issue might be with your account or somewhere else.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[snagger81]

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate the time you took to write this post

We have already verified any possible interference on our network, and nothing was found.  It is also to be noted that we have two phones that are having the same issues at the same time (roughly within 15-30 secondes, it will drop, and come back around the same time also).

We are in the middle of nowhere, and we don't see any other wifi network other that ours from our house, so this seems to rule this out also.

As far as other devices using wifi, we have shut everything down to run tests during the week, to no avail.  We replugged everything during the weekend, and didn't have any issues during that time, so it seems to rule this out also.

It is unfortunately not possible for us to run tests from another wifi location during the week, only the weekends.  And unfortunately, weekends are mostly okay so this wouldn't confirm or infirm anything.

[Cawtau]

Hello again,

  Fair enough. Thank you for the additional information.

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@snagger81 wrote:

.. It is also to be noted that we have two phones that are having the same issues at the same time (roughly within 15-30 secondes, it will drop, and come back around the same time also)...

---

  That doesn't necessarily mean the issue is on Fido's end. Presumably, both phones are using the same Wifi network so a disruption in internet would affect both phones...

  Since you note you live in the middle of nowhere, what service are you using for Internet? Satellite? WISP? Cable/DSL? As far as I am aware, satellite internet might not be optimal for Wifi-calling due to latency as well as network congestion. If you have cable or DSL, there would still be a node somewhere where you would share bandwidth with thouse around you (even though they might be far away)...

  I do understand you might not be able to test other Wifi internet sources. Unfortunately, that means that nothing has been ruled out. I'm not trying to deny it could be a Fido issue. However, from a troubleshooting standpoint it still could be either local internet issue or Fido issue. As mentioned previously, relatively few people seem to have the same issue you face.

  Regrettably, that would be the extent of my experience with the service.

Best of luck 😀

Cheers

[snagger81]

This is a Fiber network, with fiber directly to the home.

[FidoAlex]

Hey @snagger81, Alex here! 

I'm really sorry to see that you're still dealing with this. We would love to help you here, but it seems like you've already done all the troubleshooting steps that we could possibly go through with you.

Our Tier 2 technical support team is definitely the right people to speak with at this point so you can be sure that they'll do everything they can to help. 

Keep us update and don't hesitate to let us know if we can help with anything else!