How to Improve Cell Phone Signal

While telecom carriers are continuing to expand coverage areas and add cellular towers, most cell phone users still experience dropped calls and spotty coverage at times.

Many external factors and things out of your control can inhibit cell phone reception. Fully understanding the variety of factors that can cause poor cell signal may assist you in knowing how to improve a poor cell phone signal.

The following can all impact the strength of a cell signal.

Bandwidth Strain
Recent reports indicate there are more than 307,000 cell towers in the US, the demand has increased and utilization of cell phones have changed. The more cell phone applications attempting to connect for updates adds to the bandwidth strain creating "bottlenecks". Ideally when you are a within a cell network you can automatically connect. In densely populated area where many people are using their cell phones, it’s not uncommon for cell signal to be slow or nonexistent due to bandwidth strain.

Distance
A poor signal strength could be a result of the cell phone's distance from the closest tower. The further a cell phone is from the tower, the more the signal will degrade. Cell phone owners can experience poor coverage if the closest cell phone tower is an extended distance away.

Construction Materials
Construction materials used in your office, building, vehicle or home create obstructions between the cell phone and tower making it difficult for the signal to pass through. Concrete, steel, bricks, insulation and other construction materials can impede a cell phone's signal, making it difficult to maintain a good connection. As you physically move through a building with your cell phone, you may find the coverage and signal strength changes and varies, that often has to do with the amount of obstructions.

Geography
Hills, mountains, bluffs, valleys, canyons and features of the earth's landscape can impact a cell phone's signal. These natural barriers are also obstructions between the cell phone and tower and may hamper a signal's ability to transmit.

Mother Nature
Weather and foliage can also play a role in cell signal strength. Heavy snow, storms, trees in bloom and even a change in seasons can impact a cell phones ability to connect and transmit a signal to the closest cell tower. These natural elements also create barriers between the cell phone and the tower, which diminishes the quality and strength of the signal.

Network Traffic / RF Interference
All bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi signals, microwaves, AM and FM radios, GPS devices, and other smart devices use RF waves and can have an impact cell phone reception. If the area has a high density of devices using RF waves connection issues can occur.

Speed of Movement
A cell phone signal's inherent ability to "jump" from one tower to another is something that few consider. If you are traveling in a car at a high speed, this can inhibit a cell phone signals ability to move through a network from cell tower to cell tower.

Outer Space
Solar Flares have been known to affect electronic communication because their energy stirs up the Earth’s upper atmosphere, making radio broadcasts "noisy" and weak. Solar Flares can interfere with cell phone reception and radio broadcasts.

A poor cell signal may mean slow data speeds, dropped calls or other audio issues. Most reasons a cell signal is faulty or poor is really a combination of factors. While most obstacles or barriers are not easy to remove, and weather is certainly not something you can change, being aware of the various things that can cause cell signal degradation can help you position yourself to improve your cell signal.

Article Date: September 28, 2020


How to Improve Cell Phone Signal

NotePage, Inc.
PO Box 296
Hanover, MA 02339