In our always-on, data-driven, 21st century world a reliable cell phone signal is not optional, it’s required. So why does it seem that acquiring and keeping a reliable cell signal is so frequently a hit-and-miss proposition?
It happens to everybody. You’re on a call and the connection drops out. Or maybe you’re using a GPS app to find an unfamiliar address, and it suddenly quits working because the signal has disappeared. Now what do you do? Drive around in hopes of picking up the signal again?
When things like this happen, we tend to blame our cell service providers for the poor coverage. The truth is, most of the time it’s not their fault. The culprit is typically something between us and the cell tower that blocks the signal, so we can’t get good cell reception.
Unfortunately, there are many things that can block cell signal. Here are 5 surprising ones that you may not have known:
Strain on bandwidth. The more apps you have on your phone, the more bandwidth it’ll require. Oftentimes, apps aren’t closed and continue running in the background, eating up bandwidth and signal. Free apps and games can be particularly big bandwidth hogs because they’re usually filled with advertisements. Also, notifications from all of these apps can also drain your signal. All of these factors combined help apps to negatively affect your signal.
Weather. With all of her majesty, maybe Mother Nature doesn’t want anything competing for your attention when you’re in her midst. Or so it seems when you’re out on the open road and find yourself with no signal. Hills, mountains, bluffs, heavy vegetation, and even weather can kill your cell signal.
Glass/windows. When cell phone users lose signal or drop a call inside of a building, it can seem instinctive to move near a window. After all, it would make sense that there would be fewer signal problems through glass than other, more dense building materials. But in reality, most windows today are energy efficient and contain a coating of metal oxide than can repel cell signal and prevent it from coming into a building.
Network traffic. We often assume there’s plenty of cell coverage to go around. However, in densely populated areas where people are using their devices for calling, posting to social media, or downloading files, it’s not uncommon for cell signal to be slowed. If you’ve ever been trying to post a concert photo to Instagram or send an email during a big work conference only to find you can’t, it’s likely because too many people are competing for bandwidth in the area.
Building materials. Common building materials such as concrete, steel, brick and wood are cell signal killers, but you may not expect to find fiberglass insulation on the list of things that could also impede signal. While fiberglass insulation isn’t as dense compared to these other materials, it’s still composed of substances that repel signal. Just as it keeps heat and cold in, it’s also very good at keeping cell signal out.
How can you measure the signal you’re getting to your phone?
If you want to test your cell signal to determine if one of these things are blocking it, it’s helpful to understand how signal is measured in order to accurately determine the signal strength you’re receiving. (Spoiler alert: You won’t get an accurate measure of signal by just looking at the bars on your cell phone.)
Cell phone signal strength is measured in decibels (dBm). Signal strengths coming from various networks range from about -30 dBm to -110 dBm, and the closer to zero the decibels are, the stronger the cell signal. A signal better than -85 dBm is considered to be good cell phone signal strength.
Call quality is actually a far more accurate measure of cell signal strength than the bars on your cell phone because there is no industry standard for what a bar represents or whether it measures your 4G data or 3G voice performance. So, bars will indicate a different level of coverage from carrier to carrier. To find out how to get an accurate cell signal reading on your phone, read more here: Find the signal strength on your Android phone and Find the signal strength on your iPhone.
What can you do to get better cell signal?
If you’re frustrated by poor cell signal, you’re not alone. But the good news is, even in areas with poor reception, cell signal can be improved. Cell phone signal boosters work with existing strong cell signal to capture and amplify it in specific areas. These boosters can be installed anywhere signal needs to be improved.
Check out weBoost’s cell signal boosters that will help boost cell signal for your home or your vehicle (car, truck or RV).
Cell Phone Coverage has improved substantially as compared to 5 or 10 years ago and there are far fewer areas that lack cell phone coverage than there were five or ten years ago. The signals coming from cell phone towers are what connects users with each other but unfortunately, there are many culprits that can block the cell phone signal and interfere with it. Here are some things that can block your cell phone signal:
- Strain on Bandwidth
One of the surprising things that can affect your cell phone signal is the strain on bandwidth or in other words when you have more apps on your phone then all of those apps will require more bandwidth and it will result in your cell phone signal being negatively affected.
Most of the time it happens that once you open an app, you don’t close it and keep on running in the background. When this happens then these apps start to consume the bandwidth and affect the signals.
The main culprits are free apps and games that are usually full of advertisements and they are big bandwidth hogs. Also, the notifications from the apps can also drain the cell phone signals or negatively affect them. So, the more apps that you have on your mobile phone in the background, the more your cell phone signals will be affected negatively.
- Mother Nature
Well you can fight, argue, or remove mother nature out of the picture. Mother Nature is always gonna be there and sometimes, you would find yourself with no signal even on an open road. Well, the problem here is all of the natural landscapes such as mountains, hills, bluffs, cliffs, rocks, heavy vegetation, and even bad weather can kill, interfere or block your cell phone signals. It is one of those things that you can do nothing about.
- Glass Windows
You might have experienced signal drop or signal loss when inside a building and it is instinctive to move towards a window to get better signal quality because there would be fewer obstacles and signal impediments through the glass than other materials, however, that is not the case.
Most of the windows in modern-day buildings have this special type of glass called Low-E Glass that contains a contains of metal oxide and prevents much light from entering in, however, it does have one disadvantage that it also repels and blocks cell signals from coming into the building. It might seem a good idea to move towards the windows but in reality it is not. These “Low-E Glass” Windows are actually the main culprits that are blocking your cell phone signal from coming into the building.
- Mobile Phone Covers
This might also come as a surprise but mobile phone covers can also interfere and block the signals from fully reaching your smartphone. This problem is usually caused by thick, rugged smartphone covers that prevent all the signals from reaching the smartphone.
If you have a normal smartphone cover or case then this might not be a huge problem since a normal smartphone cover is not that thick and allows the signals to enter the cell phone, whereas, if you have a thick, durable, and rugged smartphone case/cover then it might cause some problems.
The solution to this is not to use a smartphone cover as not only will it hide the beauty of your smartphone but also interfere with the signals. For instance, if you have a new iPhone 11 or iPhone 12 then using an iPhone 12 Cover or iPhone 11 Cover then it will mask the beauty of your new smartphone. Even if you were to use a smartphone cover, make sure that you don’t use a very thick smartphone cover to avoid signal issues.
- Network Traffic
One would assume that in this day and age there are plenty of cell phone towers and coverage to go around, however, in densely populated areas where there are many people using the internet and their cell phones network at the same time, it is not uncommon for the signals to drop or be nonexistent.
When the bandwidth is being shared across many users in a single area then it can cause network traffic jams and cause the signals to be of weak quality or even non-existent.
- Fiberglass Insulation
All of the building materials, whether it is concrete, still, brick, or wood, all are cell phone signal killers. But you wouldn’t expect a substance such as a fiberglass to be on this list because it isn’t as dense as compared to other building materials but surprisingly it is one of those things that can repel the cell phone and prevent them from coming into your mobile. Just as the fiberglass keeps heat and cold in, it is also very good at keeping the cell phone signals out.