Find Out What Blocks YOUR Cell Phone Signal

Are you having issues with your wireless signal? Learn what EXACTLY is impacting YOUR wireless signals and how you can fix it so you can get the most out of your 4G LTE network. For diagnostic check for poor cell phone reception, the first few sub-titles below list each possibility, and then the sub-title, "Finally, how to determine which issue is causing your poor reception?" will help you determine exactly which factor causes YOUR weak signal - and how to fix it for good!

External factors can negatively affect your wireless experience.

Although wireless carriers generally provide reliable networks, there're external factors that can negatively impact your experience, causing issues such as slow data speeds, dropped calls or other audio issues. These external factors include network congestion, weather and nature, buildings and physical barriers, or an obstructed view of the cell tower.

Congestion or densely populated areas.

If many people are using the network at the same time, and in the same place, your service may be impacted. For example, if you're near a location like a stadium with tens of thousands of other people, it is a good possibility that there're thousands of other wireless customers on the same carrier's mobile network using their smartphones at the same time. In those situations, data speeds may slow down and calls may fail.

Bad weather plays a huge role.

Severe weather and seasonal conditions like heavy snow, storms or even trees in bloom can also affect your coverage. These seasonal changes can make it harder for the radio signal to reach you. Heavier the snow or rain, worse the wireless reception on your cellphone.

Physical barriers.

Physical barriers such as mountains, hills and buildings also block the signal greatly. In addition, building materials like metal panels, concrete walls or certain types of glass can absorb or reflect signal. This is why your experience may be impacted in basements or other interior rooms, or large buildings such as hospitals with large amounts of electronics.

Can't see the cell site.

Performance issues can also occur when your device doesn't have an unobstructed view of the cell site. This could be because you are too high, too low, too far or even too close to the tower with transmitters pointing far out. Please note that tower antenna transmitters are positioned to provide coverage to the largest population possible and may not be aimed in your direction so if you're on other side of tower, you're out of luck. In addition, current wireless technologies have varying broadcast ranges which determine how far the signal can reach. Is your mobile service provider's tower within the range of your location?

Finally, how to determine which issue is causing your poor reception?

Now that you know all possible factors, let us find out which SPECIFIC factor is responsible for weakening YOUR cell phone signal. If you're experiencing performance issues only during certain times of the day or year, your issue is likely caused by heavy network usage or seasonal trends such as large gathering events that overloads tower capacity. However, if the same issue always occurs at a specific location with a specific device, the location is likely affected by physical barriers or an obstructed view of the cell tower.

Solutions for solving all or any of these issues.

To help improve your experience, we recommend that you enable HD Calling on capable devices. Because of obstructions, indoor service can also be impacted. In these cases, we suggest enabling Wi-Fi Calling on capable devices. Lastly, using a cell phone booster or network extender should most likely improve your cell phone talking experience.

Which cell phone signal booster is best?

Consumers report that the best cell phone signal booster is the one that covers most area because it most powerfully expands maximum coverage area. Here're Good, Better, Best, Excellent and Extreme boosting options:

The good booster covers minimal areas up to 2,500 sq. ft. The better booster is the one that covers medium sized homes of up to 4,000 sq. ft. The best booster extends coverage spaces of up to 7,000 sq. ft. If your spaces are of commercial nature, i.e., 20,000 sq. ft. or if you live in a very remote and very rural country area with very weak signals, an excellent booster option would be the perfect solution.

For buildings and larger establishments that require large swaths of areas up to 100,000 sq. ft. covered, an extreme booster would be required to provide wall to wall in-building cellular coverage. This latter signal booster system would require careful planning and system design which we provide, in addition to professional installation.