Hey, can you hear me now?
In this video I’m going to show you 10 cell phone life hacks, for getting better reception.
Would you believe there’s actually no industry standard for what the bars on your phone mean?
It’s true. 4 bars on your phone could translate to only 2 bars on another phone,
so how can you tell what kind of service you’re actually getting? Well check this out.
If you’re on an iPhone, try dialing *3001#12345#*, then press call. You can see it puts your
phone in a secret “field testing” mode that shows the real strength of your signal,
in the upper left corner of the screen. I’ll show you why that’s important in just a second.
In the mean-time if you’re an Android user it’s even easier. Just go to “Settings”
—> “About Phone” —> “Status”, and look for the “Signal Strength” indicator,
which you may have noticed, is measured in dBm.
dBm stands for “decibel-milliwatts”, and
to put things in perspective, -70 dBm is a really great signal, while anything under
-100 dBm is pretty much a dead zone. The scale’s exponential, which means a boost
from -105 to -95 actually means, the signal on my phone just got 10 times better. And
a shift from -105 to -75 isn’t just 30 times stronger. It’s over 1,000 times stronger.
That a dramatic difference!
Now try walking around your house, and stopping in each of the rooms for a couple of minutes,
to make a map of which areas have the strongest signal, and which areas are the weakest.
This way you’ll know all your ideal calling locations, so you’ll know where to go, for quality conversations.
Speaking of locations, let’s try to find the phone tower you’re connected to right
now. If you have an Android, go to the “Play Store” and download a free program called
“Open Signal”. Open it up and click the tower icon on the left-hand side, and
you’ll see it brings you to a map view, showing all the towers in your area.
Give it a minute, and you should see a red line pops up between your phone, and the tower
you’re connected to, which in most cases, isn’t the closest one. If you click the
tower, you can get GPS directions to it in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
So, why not go for a little walk and make a “real-life” connection, with your cell
phone tower? By knowing exactly which direction it is, you’ll be pointed the right way,
on your quest for clarity.
Quite often your phone will stay connected to a tower, even if there’s a much stronger
signal near by. Of course this prevents you from being tossed around from tower to
tower, but it might be the same reason your call quality is suffering. Try rebooting your signal.
You can easily do that by switching to airplane mode for about 3 seconds, then switching it
back. If you don’t have airplane mode, you can use “Open Signal” to refresh the
network for you, or simply turn your phone off, and turn it back on again.
You know those times when you start getting messages just when you take your phone out
and check it? It might not be a coincidence, but instead, your messages might be getting
delayed, and delivered late. Glance down at your battery level, and check to see if
it’s low. Your phone uses more power to ping the towers when you’re actively using
it, but conserves power when it’s on standby mode. And that might be the reason it’s
not getting updated as frequently. So if you’re suspicious your messages are getting
delayed, the solution could be as simple, as charging your battery.
By the way. Flip it to airplane mode for a few minutes, and it’ll recharge even faster.
Modern day insulations and window tintings are great for keeping buildings and vehicles
cool, but they can be terrible for cell phone signals, because it’s kind of like wrapping
the building in aluminum. Try doing that with your cell phone the next time you’re
on a call, and see what happens.
In a similar way, your vehicle’s nothing more than a big metal box with metallic tint
covering the windows. So if you notice you’re struggling for a good connection on the road,
the simple solution could be as easy as rolling down the window. You’ll probably find
your signal more than doubles in strength, which not only boosts productivity, but will
probably boost your mood as well.
It’s possible that your phone doesn’t work very well because your carrier doesn’t
actually cover your area. Get online and compare your location with the coverage maps for all
the different networks. If you live inside one carriers “dead-zone”, there might
be another network that services your area a bit better. So solving the problem could
be as simple, as switching providers.
Now if you really like your carrier and don’t want to switch, it’s no problem. There
is a way you can keep your network and still boost your signal, and I’ll show you how
that works in a couple of minutes.
In the mean-time, another low-budget alternative is to call your carrier and ask for the “customer
retention department”. You might be able to talk them into sending you a Femtocell,
or a Cell-Spot Router, which is basically a small, low-powered cell phone converter
that connects through your internet. You should be able to get service as long as you have
an internet connection, but there are some drawbacks you need to be prepared for. Calling
through the Internet doesn’t produce the best call quality, and your Femtocell only
works with your carrier. That means it won’t be compatible for anyone with a different
network, and since it goes through your internet, it’ll likely slow your connection as well.
But as long as you're ok with that, a Femtocell or Cell-Spot Router, could be a good way to go.
Another option is “Wi-Fi calling”. If you happen to be near a Wi-Fi hotspot, try
switching your phone over to “Wi-Fi mode”, and just like that you’ll be able to make
and receive calls using your regular phone number, but over the Wi-Fi network instead.
This can be a great way to save on roaming charges, if you’re traveling internationally,
or maybe trying to send a message from 39,000 feet. But keep in mind that not all phones
and carriers will support this feature, and if they do, it’ll still count against your
monthly cell phone minutes, while slowing your internet speed at the same time.
Now if you want to fix the problem, rather than just figuring out ways around it, try
what I did and get a weBoost, cell-phone signal booster. The genius behind a signal booster
is that it can take the weakest of signals outside, and amplify them to full power inside.
Which effectively, is like putting a mini cell-phone tower right inside your room.
This means you'll get faster data speeds, clearer conversations, and since your phone
doesn’t have to transmit long distances anymore, you’ll be saving power as well.
Which means longer battery life.
A signal booster will eliminate dead-zones at the office, and even keep you connected
on the road, which is perfect for anyone making business calls on the go.
And if you’re living way out in the boonies, a booster may be just the right prescription,
for curing, your “weak signal” condition.
By the way the great thing about “weBoost” technology is they work with every network,
every carrier, and there’s really no limit, to how many people can use it.
Well now you know a little more, about how your phone works, and 10 tricks for finding a clearer signal.
So whether you live in an area with terrible coverage, or just have a load of radio-blocking
materials, between you and your tower, remember you’ve still got options to boost your network’s
signal, and get your voice heard.
Well that’s it for now. If you liked this project, perhaps you’ll like some of my others.
Check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com