I’m sad to say that this sometimes happens. You’re tired of dropped calls and slow data. You buy a cell phone signal booster from Solid Signal.You install it the way the directions tell you. You power it up, turn it on, and your phone’s signal meter goes from one bar… to one bar. Frustrated, you all Solid Signal wanting to return the thing. We happily take returns, but here are some things you might want to think about beforehand.
Cell phone bar measurements are nearly useless.
I’ve written about this before. The bar measurements on your cell phone are a leftover from an earlier, simpler time. There was a time when people only used their phones to make calls. That meant there was only one signal to measure. Today, your phone could be actively using up to seven different frequencies to make calls. Which one is your phone showing in the bar measurements? It’s practically impossible to know. For a while it seemed like phone makers were starting to show LTE frequencies, but now that we’ve moved on to 5G, it’s not clear what you’re seeing. There are three different frequency ranges for 5G, and it’s not clear which one your phone is using at any time. So those bars can’t tell you much.
It might just be a case of waiting
Cell phone makers know the bar measurements are purely decorative at this point. There’s no standard for how often they’re updated. Sometimes it’s once every few seconds, but I’ve seen cases where the wait is up to two minutes. It’s frustrating to be sure. You can bypass some of this by using a signal meter app on your Android phone, but sometimes that’s just as slow. iPhone users are limited to the phone’s field test mode but as I’ve said before that mode has its own problems.
If it seems like cell phone makers just don’t want you knowing what their phones are measuring… well that’s pretty truthful.
Try going 3-6 feet away from the booster, in the same room
The ideal distance for working with a cell booster is between 3 and 6 feet away within the same room. This is sort of the “reference” location for testing all boosters except the ones that fit in a cradle. Closer than that, and you may not be getting the full benefit since the signal could be too strong to measure properly. Further than that, or outside the same room, and the signal might drop in strength.
If you find the bar measurement looks great in the same room but falls off quickly if you leave the room, this can be a sign that you’ve bought a booster that wasn’t powerful enough for your situation. You can rearrange the antennas, or return it and try a more powerful one.
Or… and hear me out here…
The best solution is to stop worrying about the bars altogether. As I said, they’re meaningless. Make a phone call to someone who’s complained to you in the past. Go to a speed test site and test your speed. If you’re getting clear calls and at least 20Mbps downloads, that’s all you need to know. In fact, speeds as low as 10Mbps can seem perfectly fine unless you’re doing heavy duty work that almost never gets done on a phone.
Because, all the testing in the world isn’t going to get you to the point where you’re either happy with the phone or you’re not. If you are, ignore the bars and enjoy the phone. If you’re not, we can help you figure out why not. Call us at 888-233-7563. Call during East Coast business hours. You can even call us if you bought the booster from someone else. We’re happy to help.
Solid Signal prides itself on white glove service. If you want to know what that’s about, call us! If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.
