I have been plagued with a poor cellular signal in my house - especially my downstairs office where I am located many of my waking hours. My stupid smart phone shows low signal strength and usually drops completely off of cellular shortly after entering my office. My cell phone/cellular provider does not support WiFi calling, so that's not an option for me. So I have been missing incoming calls quite a bit. And having to move outside and even reboot my phone to make calls.
As I'm looking around my office, I see four computers, two routers, and a bunch of WiFi enabled devices. These are all really close to where I sit, maybe four feet from my cell phone. Hmmm, I wonder if I shut off WiFi on my phone that would help? Could be a lot of really close strong radio signals causing interference. Well guess what? My cell signal strength has improved from zero bars (and usually an "X" over the icon) to three or four bars. Well that's encouraging! I tried leaving WiFi on on the phone and switching it between the 2.4 and 5.0 WiFi bands, but that didn't seem to help. Turning the phones WiFi totally off is what helped.
Now I'm going to have to try this over a couple of days to prove that I've actually come up with a solution here. I rarely use WiFi on the phone while in my house. I use my real computers rather than the phone when I'm home. So turning off WiFi when in my office should not be a problem for me.
I was looking at buying one of those cell signal boosters. Those can be iffy. They work for some people, but not for others. And they cost hundreds of dollars to over a thousand. If all's I have to do is turn off the stupid WiFi on the phone ... I'm good with that! I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. I mean, I have a degree in Electrical Engineering and a HAM radio license. It's not exactly like radio signals and interference are new concepts to me. But I never put two and two together I guess. Cell problems in the house have been getting progressively worse over the years. Gee, I wonder if that may be because I've been adding new routers, new access points (one router cannot handle all of the connections), and a ton of WiFi enabled devices. If I look at my router's DHCP reservation assignments ... 76 devices to be exact! Everything is not connected and online all the time, but I'll bet at least 50 of them are. I've got phones on Wifi, computers and laptops, printers, tablets, every light switch in the house, Roku's and Fire TV's, TV's themselves, DVR's, cameras, the lawn sprinkler system, alarm sensors, even the Sleep Number bed in the master bedroom is connected via WiFi! Wow, lots of devices! [edit] Oh I forgot, even the air fryer is connected to WiFi. I can say "Alexa, cook french fries" and she knows what time and temperature to set the air fryer to and starts it up! I don't have to find the original package for the fries to check, or try to remember the cooking details myself. [/edit]
So, if anyone is like me and experiencing poor phone cell service inside their house, try turning off WiFi on the phone if that's something you can live without. Who knows, turning off Bluetooth might be beneficial too (I never have that turned on, so I don't know). Time will tell if this "solution" is really a "solution" for me. Of if it's just a freak occurrence that won't repeat tomorrow. That's how radio interference goes sometimes - what works one day may not work another day. But I have my fingers crossed, things look good today!
As I'm looking around my office, I see four computers, two routers, and a bunch of WiFi enabled devices. These are all really close to where I sit, maybe four feet from my cell phone. Hmmm, I wonder if I shut off WiFi on my phone that would help? Could be a lot of really close strong radio signals causing interference. Well guess what? My cell signal strength has improved from zero bars (and usually an "X" over the icon) to three or four bars. Well that's encouraging! I tried leaving WiFi on on the phone and switching it between the 2.4 and 5.0 WiFi bands, but that didn't seem to help. Turning the phones WiFi totally off is what helped.
Now I'm going to have to try this over a couple of days to prove that I've actually come up with a solution here. I rarely use WiFi on the phone while in my house. I use my real computers rather than the phone when I'm home. So turning off WiFi when in my office should not be a problem for me.
I was looking at buying one of those cell signal boosters. Those can be iffy. They work for some people, but not for others. And they cost hundreds of dollars to over a thousand. If all's I have to do is turn off the stupid WiFi on the phone ... I'm good with that! I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. I mean, I have a degree in Electrical Engineering and a HAM radio license. It's not exactly like radio signals and interference are new concepts to me. But I never put two and two together I guess. Cell problems in the house have been getting progressively worse over the years. Gee, I wonder if that may be because I've been adding new routers, new access points (one router cannot handle all of the connections), and a ton of WiFi enabled devices. If I look at my router's DHCP reservation assignments ... 76 devices to be exact! Everything is not connected and online all the time, but I'll bet at least 50 of them are. I've got phones on Wifi, computers and laptops, printers, tablets, every light switch in the house, Roku's and Fire TV's, TV's themselves, DVR's, cameras, the lawn sprinkler system, alarm sensors, even the Sleep Number bed in the master bedroom is connected via WiFi! Wow, lots of devices! [edit] Oh I forgot, even the air fryer is connected to WiFi. I can say "Alexa, cook french fries" and she knows what time and temperature to set the air fryer to and starts it up! I don't have to find the original package for the fries to check, or try to remember the cooking details myself. [/edit]
So, if anyone is like me and experiencing poor phone cell service inside their house, try turning off WiFi on the phone if that's something you can live without. Who knows, turning off Bluetooth might be beneficial too (I never have that turned on, so I don't know). Time will tell if this "solution" is really a "solution" for me. Of if it's just a freak occurrence that won't repeat tomorrow. That's how radio interference goes sometimes - what works one day may not work another day. But I have my fingers crossed, things look good today!
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