What is a Good Mobile Signal Strength and How to Check it

Anyone who’s ever had a phone has been through the typical situation of experiencing a bad network during a call and has instinctively checked the bars to see if things are good. If you fall into this camp, now is the time to stop because this isn’t how to check mobile signal strength. Being knowledgeable in this respect requires you to understand quite a bit about the topic, according to UCtel.

Everything concerning signal strength will be required to be known, which includes anything of high quality. This will ultimately lead to how to check for strength and what measures can be taken if things are bad.

Figuring things out

Strength is directly proportional to quality, so knowing what it is at any given moment, at the very least, gives you an accurate assessment of any situation. It’s typically measured in decibel-milliwatts (dBm), with a -30 value showing the best possible signal and a -120 being the complete worst, and signifies a dead zone. There’s a bit of a scale when it comes to this, and it’s as follows:

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• -30 is the highest-quality signal
• -50 to -89 is between excellent and serviceable
• -90 to -114 is between average and bad
• -115 to -120 is poor to dead

While the above scale is the standard, individual carriers convert dBm to bars in their own fashion, which is why solely using bars isn’t the way to go. Instead, one can easily conduct checks by employing the use of the field test mode on their device, found by going to network settings on Android and using *3001#12345#* for iPhones. These, however, won’t give you precise readings and because of this, expert testers would have to be brought in.

Irrespective of the path you decide to go down, knowledge concerning how to go about testing for strength is necessary. Fortunately, ways of getting accurate measurements of the place you’re currently in exist. These include the following:

Knowing that bars don’t count

This point has already been made but is worth reiterating. The bars seen at the top, right corner of your device won’t give accurate depictions of what the networks like, as it depends on the carrier among other things. This is why you shouldn’t see full bars as a representation of great coverage because it often isn’t.

Testing various areas of the place

Grid testing is the method in which one goes around the place in question and takes dBm readings. With many of these from different areas, you’ll get an understanding of which are the problem spots and with expert help, can address them with better coverage.

Checking each network, one after the other

Because the world is flooded with various network generations, the two latest ones being 4G and 5G, it’s possible that the problem could be the carrier’s coverage in certain places. As such, testing each of them. By doing this, one can find the holes in a place’s coverage, a cardinal thing to do when less strong areas exist.

Gauge other metrics

While dBm is the primary metric, another way of looking at things certainly won’t hurt, and in this case, a key aspect would be radio frequency quality. If you go to a particular area where there is usually interference, simply seek out the cause of it, which is typically trees or other building materials. This test is best handled with a spectrum analyzer, as anything else wouldn’t be helpful.

Seeking expert consultants

Expert help, as the above information has laid out, is a crucial aspect of finding the precise signal strength. A great way to access these experts is by trying to get a booster, which is a device that amplifies weak signals. With the help of these experts, you’re not only given a precise reading, but advice on whether or not boosters are needed.

Sorting things out

Knowing how to find the signal strength is only part of the story, as the problem still needs a solution. If you check signal strength in a designated place, the natural next step is to find what the causes are. Below is a list of some of the causes of poor signal quality and strength:

• Poor weather conditions such as rain, thick fog and cloud cover
• RF interference and Network congestion
• The presence of tall nearby buildings, trees, or landmarks
• Remoteness, or being excessively far away from the closest cell sites
• The network-blocking materials used to construct buildings, such as concrete and glass

Solving the general issue can come in many ways, starting with addressing several possible flaws with your device. These include removing its thick case, which may hinder signal from its hidden antenna, or changing your current position to find a place with a better network. That said, these fixes aren’t going to solve the issues on a large scale and for many people and for that, you’ll need the following:

The boosters

These aforementioned units consist of exterior and interior antennas, with an amplifier connecting them. They are quite versatile and can fit any configuration and network type, provided you lay out your specifications.

Going for 5G private networks

Similarly, these are just as customizable and solve the connectivity issues, while being private, meaning that they’re difficult to hack into. That said, the technology’s adoption isn’t at 100 percent yet, despite being the unquestioned future.

Final thoughts

Uninterrupted communication is quite important in this day and age, so it’s obvious that anything way below average is undesirable. However, before one can even get to fix them you have to identify the exact issue and its cause, something that begins if you inspect mobile signal strength. By making those important discernments, you figure out which solution is most suitable given the situation.

Above are ways of achieving that are, without a doubt, helpful but not enough in the long run. As a result, the aid of a trusted expert will only increase your chances of enhanced signal and that’s a no-brainer.