Smartphones·1,386 discussions

Phone connectivity and spotty service.

Tags: Cloud, Mobility, Smartphones

Why is it that in some rural areas of the United States, I can have full cellphone services, but less than 1 mile away from a tower there can be none? I understand that various phone services use different towers, but many also rely on satellites, and yet I still experience spotty and inconsistent service.

Topic

Yes, that happens.

In reply to Phone connectivity and spotty service.

Long ago I worked in the design of cellular base stations. So there are many reasons why this happens and a lot of it is the networks are interconnected and not all connections work.

This may amaze folk new to all this but the best you can do is to reboot the phone then consider asking your carrier for a new SIM.

Why? Recently I ran into a spat of T-Mobile phones that had hit or miss services. Turns out that the rollout of 5G meant the SIM wasn’t correct for the tower connections. There was nothing the end user could do but try a new SIM.

Reply To: Phone connectivity and spotty service.

In reply to Phone connectivity and spotty service.

The inconsistency in cellphone service in rural areas

[kees_b]

Reply To: Phone connectivity and spotty service.

In reply to Phone connectivity and spotty service.

Cell Tower Coverage and Capacity, Terrain and Obstructions, Network and Frequency Bands are the main reasons.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by kees_b.

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