There are several things that can affect how good your cell phone signal is. Things that you might not automatically consider when a call drops or when your phone shows no bar. If you know and understand the type of things that can affect signal strength, you’ll be in a better position to make sure your calls all get through. So let’s undergo 5 major reasons of What affects your phone signal
Table of Contents
5 major reason that affects your phone signal
Let us go through them one-by-one:
1. Terrain:
Your mobile phone communicates using simple radio waves and these travel in a straight line from your phone to the nearest visible cell tower. Anything that gets in the way can cause loss of signal strength or even signal failure. For example, if your nearest cell tower is a mile away but hidden behind a hill and the next visible tower is five or ten miles away, your phone will be forced to connect to that one, rather than the much closer tower. In this case, distance will also begin to have an effect on signal strength. If you lived in a valley and all of the cell towers were outside the valley, you’ll effectively be in a Dead Zone.
You might think that living in a city would be like being in an unnatural valley all the time but there are usually smaller radio towers or antennas placed all over cities. So the signal never has to travel far. Radio signals can also bounce off buildings and round corners, so you might not even need a line of sight with a tower to get a signal.
2. Weather
Just like terrain, weather can be one of the reasons that affect your phone signal. Just how much effect the weather has on your signal depends very much on the type of weather. For example, a heavy cloud can cause problems like radio propagation and signal reflection. Heavy rain can really get in the way of radio waves and even light rain will have some effect, particularly if your device is using high-frequency ranges used by 4G.
In general, water in any form will reduce how far radio waves can travel and in particular the high-frequency waves used by mobile phones. Water vapor will absorb energy from radio waves, converting it into heat, removing its strength.
3. Distance:
The distance they need to travel is always a factor with any radio waves and your phone signal is no different. The atmosphere is full of particles and even in perfect conditions, i.e. no dust, rain, or snow, the furthest distance from the nearest down will need to be less than 25 miles. Theoretically, a radio wave from a mobile phone could travel 45 miles. But it also depends on the network carrier, compounds used, and the receiving equipment. The real-world distance could be as low as 20 miles.
The more powerful the transmitter, the further the radio waves will travel but there’s a limit to how powerful a smartphone can be. In a city, distance is rarely a problem but in rural towns and villages, this is probably the biggest factor affecting the quality of your mobile signal.
4. Speed:
To make a call, your phone needs to be able to send and receive signals to a tower. This back and forth happens incredibly quickly, so if you’re standing still or even moving slowly, there is no problem. However, as soon as you start to move at a faster speed (in a train for example), the constant change in position can begin to cause issues. Travel at over 60mph and you’ll probably notice a distant drop in call quality. And over 100mph the calls will drop completely or at the very least, filled with stuttering and interference. Of course, you also have the added problem of potentially moving behind something that obstructs the radio waves as you travel.
5. Building object:
Being inside a building will affect the signal quality to some extent. Commonly used building materials like concrete, steel, brick, plaster, etc. are great at blocking radio waves. Walls of steel or concrete walls with a lot of steel-reinforced bars will have the worst effect on signals. This is especially true in rooms such as basements, due to the lack of windows.
If you want a better signal inside your building, it’s worth investing in a signal booster. It is a fairly simple device that receives the signal inside the building and passes it through a cable to an externally places antenna. It can then be sent to the nearest mast. But if you don’t even get a good signal outside the building, a signal booster won’t help.
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