The only question you need to ask yourself is can I use my cellphone from any or most locations within my building without having to worry about dropped calls or poor voice quality? October 15, Blog. Do you have signal challenges in your home? We can help you determine what you need. The only thing the bars on your phone give you is a rough approximation of relative strength.
Each mobile phone manufacturer — Apple, Samsung, Google and others — uses their own proprietary technology to gauge the strength of available cellular signals. Each also has its own algorithm to measure and compare that signal and present it to you in the form of bars.
You might be sitting in the same location with a friend, each with a different type of phone. You could have two bars and have no problems connecting to the internet or sending texts. Your friend could have four bars and experience issues because his or her four bars are representative of less signal strength than your two bars.
What if you want to know the actual numbers so you can decide whether you need a new phone or need to take action to boost that signal of yours? To accurately measure your cell signal strength, you must take a reading of the signal in decibels or dBm. Even though phone companies all present phone strength measurements differently, decibels are a standard unit of measure. So, when you take a dBm reading, you know the absolute strength of the available signal. Decibels are typically expressed as a negative number such as It may be checking if there is interference present that could effectively decrease the signal-to-noise ratio.
Phones are complex, van Skike told Digital Trends, and internal algorithms dictate what functions take priority at any given moment. And frankly, some phones may not update the bars on the screen very often. It depends on what kind of phone you have. The measure of a good signal differs slightly depending on the underlying technology. You can actually measure the strength of your signal yourself on most phones by accessing the field test mode.
This is a hidden menu on most handsets that offers up radio information. The code to unlock it varies from device to device. How many dB is a good cell signal? First off, the maximum reported distance to receive the signal from a tower is about 45 miles. Since the cellular signal is sent out in a wave pattern, there is a required minimum distance from the source of the signal to use your cell phone.
In other words, if you stand too close to a tower, you might not actually have any signal at all. The first wave of the signal is basically overshooting your position. Since an outage may or may not affect your nearest tower, you may never feel the effects at all. The FCC actually requires cell phone providers to equip their towers with a backup power supply. Occasionally towers do go down, in which case you may have to relocate to find a usable signal. If you are looking for a better signal in your area, finding your nearest tower is your best bet for making a call or text at a given moment.
In general, you will be in town and near a tower with coverage most of the time. However, you might be looking for ways to increase your existing signal to make it stronger or more reliable. To extend cell phone range, there are multiple methods available. We created a list of things you can do or avoid in order to maximize your cell phone signal.
We trust that this answers your most pressing questions about cellular signal strength, tower coverage, and increasing your signal. If you need any further assistance, reach out on our Live Chat or give us a call to get personalized help. How do I check my signal strength?
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