Known Issues and Limitations
Below is a list of known issues and limitations with the MTEL Connect app. This list is not exhaustive, and we are continually working to resolve these issues. In some cases below we recommend user make changes to their settings.
MTEL is unable to show users how to make changes to their mobiles in this document for the simple reason that their are too many models and operating systems to display the full set of changes.
However with the development of AI technology MTEL recommends using simple sentences on any of the topics below to get directions to make the appropite settings change for their mobile. Where possible MTEL will direct the user to a website or make a AI suggestion.
Note
The mobile is a wireless device and is totally dependent of network coverage and data connectivity to the carrier. This can be affected by factors such as building construction, network traffic, age of the mobile and operating system.
General
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5G connection issues
The mobile now in Australia can operate on two network types, 4G and 5G. 5G coverage at this point is in the greater population centres. This is a deliberate intention by the carriers. One of the great advantages of 5G networks is the ability to service a very large numbers of users; think of a football stadium in a city CBD.
4G is prefered for the greater coverage area, think of rural and remote towns and highways.
The problem with this is users in 5G networks will regularly move from 5G to 4G and vica versa when travelling in the larger populated areas. This means the mobile is constantly checking the coverage between the networks and changing the connection. This can be a few tenths of a second to tens of seconds for the mobile to complete the change and allow apps to rebuild connections to servers. During this time the app can be unrespoonsive or miss an alert.
If a user does experience this, then its possible to change a setting in the mobile to prefer a network type e.g. 4G.
MTEL recommends users in coastal towns to force the mobile to 4G to avoid these connection issues.
The carriers all have maps indicating the relevant coverage. These are
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QFD Wi-Fi connection firewall
The QFD Wi-Fi at all stations has router blocking on all ports except those relevant to QFD. For security MTEL uses dedicated ports for the communication from the App to the MTEL Servers. This means the ports used by MTELConnect V3 are blocked by the QFD router. In general this is not a problem as most users are not connected to the station Wi-Fi. However if a user has ever connected to the station WEi-Fi then the mobile will remember the connection and automatically connect to it when in range of the Wi-Fi.
MTEL recommends going into the settings of the user mobile and removing the Wi-Fi connection from the list of known Wi-Fi connections.
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General Wi-Fi connection issues
When the user is at home the mobile connects to the users home Wi-Fi. This is normally a reliable service. The ports are not blocked and MTEL even operates on Star-Link Wi-Fi based routers.
However if a user receives a notification alert, then remain in the home Wi-Fi and respond before leaving the house. If a user starts moving from the house to the car whilst trying to respond to the alert, there is a high possiblity that the user will fall out of the Wi-Fi range.
At this point the mobile has to decide to connect to the 4G or 5G network and this will take time. During this interval the app will be unable to communicate to the MTEL servers.
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SMS overrides notification
In general, mobile manufactures design their mobiles with the SMS sound as the dominant sound. This means that when the SMS message arrives, the SMS sound will overide any other sound including the MTEL Notification sound.
When the Communications Centre sends an alert message, it is collected in a central server in QFD, Brisbane. The server then diseminates an alert message to the SMS carrier and the same message to the MTEL system.
MTEL and the SMS carrier will then send a notification and SMS message at virtually the same time. If these arrive on the mobile at the same time the SMS alert will overide the MTEL notification sound.
This is a problem if the notification tone is required to wake the user. However the second notification should alert the user but it will be one minute later. MTEL are investigating delaying the notification by 5 seconds to remove the chance of this clash.
Apple Specific
iPhone Mute Button & Focus Mode
Users looking to silence notifications during specific times of the day should use the Focus feature, particularly the Do Not Disturb mode. MTEL has observed that some users combine the physical mute switch with Focus settings. However, it's important to note that when the mute switch is enabled, iPhones will always suppress notification sounds, regardless of Focus mode settings.
🔇 Best Practice
To manage notification sounds effectively, we recommend using Focus > Do Not Disturb rather than relying on the mute button. This allows for scheduled quiet periods while still enabling sound alerts when appropriate.
Android Specific
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Pixel(android mobile) notifications
Pixel unfortunatelly has grouped notifications for the same app starting from android version V13 (2022). This means the alert sound activates once for the first notification and any new notifications arrive but are silent. If a notification is present from a previous turnout it will not activate the alert tone.
The workaround is cumbersome. Every time a notification arrives tap on it or clear it so that any new notifications will activate the sound.