Poor cellular signal in your house?

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Haertig

Haertig

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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!
 
Last edited:
Haertig said:
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!

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!
Click to expand...
We've had to do that at our house at times. It's not usually an issue, but turning off wi-fi does shift over to using your cell. data so if you usually run tight on data, might watch that. It kinda seems to be seasonal for us - like a period of 4-6 weeks annually.
 
Haertig said:
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!
Click to expand...
1) consider changing carriers. Find out who's got the most and closest towers to your area. There used to be a website that had this information based on your zip but my last check the names for the towers we not available?

2) mandate WI fi calling for your new provider and phone. I had the same problem where I live. Far away from everywhere. But a little research and application has me enjoying good WiFi calling service for a fraction of what most people pay and with an appropriate matching phone for the tower with WiFi calling feature used off eBay for $30. Albeit I have difficulty texting pics unless I go to town. I get around that using email for pictures...
 
After a couple of weeks testing this, I can say that turning off WiFi does improve my phones cellular signal strength, does improve its ability to ring for incoming calls, but does not seem to improve the quality of the call. In other words - now the phone rings for incoming calls, but when I answer those calls the sound is sometimes choppy or distorted sounding (just as it was before for the rare occurrences when I knew I had an incoming call in the first place).

So overall it is an improvement - at least now most of the time I know that I have an incoming call. And I know who it was from because of the unique ring tones I have set for everyone that normally calls. But I still frequently have to move to a different area of the house to be able to understand the person on the other end.

The improvement for ringing on incoming calls is not 100%, there are still a few that I am not alerted for. But the majority of them ring through now.
 
Having a PC anywhere near my phone or radio seems to screw with reception even if its not plugged in! 0_0
 
Haertig said:
After a couple of weeks testing this, I can say that turning off WiFi does improve my phones cellular signal strength, does improve its ability to ring for incoming calls, but does not seem to improve the quality of the call. In other words - now the phone rings for incoming calls, but when I answer those calls the sound is sometimes choppy or distorted sounding (just as it was before for the rare occurrences when I knew I had an incoming call in the first place).

So overall it is an improvement - at least now most of the time I know that I have an incoming call. And I know who it was from because of the unique ring tones I have set for everyone that normally calls. But I still frequently have to move to a different area of the house to be able to understand the person on the other end.

The improvement for ringing on incoming calls is not 100%, there are still a few that I am not alerted for. But the majority of them ring through now.
Click to expand...

Just curious if you have experimented with running in airplane mode on your phone, if so any difference?
 
We just recently starting running into the issue of poor cell signal in the house b/c we got a metal roof put on. I was wondering if some sort of booster was available to help?

My phone which typically just sits in my purse unused now has to be charged more often (I assume) b/c it's searching for signal. It used to be weeks on a single charge. That's no longer the case. So I might just turn it off at home from now on which I don't really want to do b/c I do get a rare call on it.

I'm thinking this is just going to be a nuisance we will have to deal with. Hubby will just have to use the land line more often, I guess. But that doesn't really help him with texting issues. He uses his phone a lot.
 
Sorry if I missed this but what's wrong with connecting your phone to the WiFi and use WiFi for everything instead of a cellular signal?
We get little to no cell signal from a tower in or around our house. We just connect all the cell phones to WiFi and everything on the phone works just fine. The WiFi signal is strong enough to cover an acre or 2 outside as well.
 
Curmudgeon said:
Just curious if you have experimented with running in airplane mode on your phone, if so any difference?
Click to expand...
Airplane mode would shut off all communication to/from the phone. Both WiFi and cellular. I think some phones still allow Bluetooth to operate in airplane mode. But cellular service is totally out in airplane mode.
 
zoomzoom said:
Sorry if I missed this but what's wrong with connecting your phone to the WiFi and use WiFi for everything instead of a cellular signal?
Click to expand...
My cell phone and/or my service provider does not support WiFi calling. I read somewhere that service providers will not supply WiFi calling to unlocked devices - i.e., a phone you bought from Best Buy rather than from the service provider themselves. I don't know if this is true or not. All's I know is that my phone - a Motorola G5 bought locally, not at my AT&T provider store - does not have any option to turn on WiFi calling. I do not know if it is the phone software, or the service provider that has turned this off (maybe the phone itself doesn't have the hardware inside to support this).
 
Haertig said:
My cell phone and/or my service provider does not support WiFi calling...
Click to expand...

Have you considered doing a 'Bounce-to-VoIP' approach? 🤔 Ergo: Get a 'VoIP' service, ie: https://www.magicjack.com (..and, there are Lots of others, ie: 'Vonage', etc, but we found 'MJ' to be Just fine, and the Cheapest, overall..) ..And then, you can use a 'Real', land-line phone (cordless, or whatever, just like back in the 'Caveman-days' ;) in yer office, that plugs into the Phone-jack of the 'dongle'..

'How it works', is, once you've the VoIP-line / dongle, etc set up, you simply Forward All Calls To that VoIP number.. (which, IIRC, with AT&T you should be able to 'toggle on/off' with Star (*)-Something..) So, anyone calling yer "cel number" - Does so - but You get it on yer internet-fed VoIP-line, lickety-split..

..Then, any 'signal-strength / call-quality issues' on the Cel-side, are irrelevant. Did this for Several years at my old Office down in El Salvador (US-side Cel-calls would seamlessly 'forward' to my VoIP, down there.. Avoiding $$$$ "international" cel-calls, etc) and it worked just fine. :cool:

Fwiw..
jd
 
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