In densely populated areas, cells are small perhaps only a few hundred meters in size , and there are a lot more towers than in rural areas, where there the cells might span miles. When there's influx of people into one cell, cells may actually constrict in size, ostensibly handing off the overload to other nearby towers. This process is sometimes called cell breathing , and it's important in balancing cell traffic loads.
Here's the gist: If the cell you're using shrinks and calls are passed to a tower that's actually farther away from you, well, guess what? You lose your signal. Signal strength is a critical — and critically misunderstood — aspect of cell phones. Those little bars at the top of your phone give you a rough approximation of how strong your signal is, but every phone varies by accuracy, and there's a lack of standardization among carriers, too.
To counter those overly simplistic bars, you can dig into the settings on your phone to get a numerical value for signal strength, which is represented by dBm decibel milliwatts. On Android smartphones, you'll find that number in the network settings menu. With iPhones, you have to do a bit more digging; there are tips for locating signal details on this webpage.
Signals are listed as negative numbers, and in real-world conditions, you'll typically see numbers between and The closer your signal numbers is to 0, the better the connection. You won't often see a signal stronger than , and once the number drops to or so, you'll likely encounter glitches and dropped calls. At , you basically have no usable signal.
Newbie's Guide
George Lamb says that the dBm numbers may only vary by a bit throughout your day perhaps from to , but that these numbers don't represent a straight percentage — they are exponential. Similar to the Richter scale that's used for earthquake strength, just a small change in your dBm reading denotes a very big increase or decrease in your signal. Eking out an improvement of just a few digits by moving your phone to a different part of your house or location may make or break your call.
Apps, like LTE Discovery , can help you determine your signal strength, and will provide a numerical display of your signal strength wherever you go. If you're dealing with a weak signal, toggle your phone in and out of airplane mode to reset your connection.
This process forces your phone to find the strongest signal in the area and can eliminate the tendency of many handsets to hang onto weak signals from less-than-ideal towers. Keep your phone fully charged. A low battery can send your device into power-save mode, in which it may struggle to maintain a connection.
Hold your phone at arm's length. In a phenomenon called head-and-body loss, even your own body can deflect signals, so changing positions and loosening that death grip may help. Or just use a Bluetooth headset and set your phone aside to prevent this issue altogether, keeping in mind that if a lot of other Bluetooth users are nearby, those signals may interfere with headset performance and make you think that there's a problem with your cell signal.
If you're roaming, understand that you're on another carrier's towers — and that they can and often do throttle slow the data connections of any roaming users to maximize the experience for their own customers. The Promoter will use reasonable endeavours to ensure no data will be processed or stored outside the EEA or by third party organisation, except for the administration of the Trade Up services. We reserve the right to modify these terms and conditions from time to time.
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