Problems with weak phone signals

[Ross365]

For the past two years I’ve been using a Nokia C12 phone. I never thought it was very good in any respect and I have just bought a Samsung A12. My smartphone needs are very minimal; no games and no great use of the camera.

The Samsung feels much nicer to use but (from my home) it never shows more than one bar on the signal strength indicator and frequently shows nothing The Nokia usually shows 2 bars and sometimes 3. I’m just wonder about how much reliance to place in the signal strength indicator. I do quite often lose connections even on the Nokia. We are just in a bad location for mobile phone use.

I need to decide whether to return the Samsung. Any thoughts?

 

[dobbslc]

You might need to change your supplier, we get reasonable signal on O2 but nothing much on Vodafone at home.
Since 5G came out I've definitely noticed a much poorer signal all round, I can't even get a decent signal in central London FFS!

 

[Ross365]

I have a "chocolate bar" 2G Motorola which gets great phone signal everywhere, but does not cope well with the various demands of the NHS communications I have to deal with

 

[addjunkie]

We are ee only here…

 

[pint]

You might need to change your supplier, we get reasonable signal on O2 but nothing much on Vodafone at home.
Since 5G came out I've definitely noticed a much poorer signal all round, I can't even get a decent signal in central London FFS!

probably the 3g turn off

 

[voipio]

It might be worth checking what the mobile coverage is like in your area for the four main providers. If any providers give better coverage than your existing network, consider changing to them:

Mobile Coverage Checker by postcode for all UK networks with one search | Signalchecker.co.uk

Check Mobile Coverage by postcode for all UK networks with one search

www.signalchecker.co.uk

Coverage indoors is generally worse than outdoors, because of the signal attenuation produced by the fabric of the property. Check the signal strength at various locations around the property and keep the phone in that/those areas that give the best signal strength. The signal strength indicators on mobile phones tend to update only every few seconds, so such a survey can take some time. The side of the property facing the mobile mast will tend to have the best signal strengths, but bear in mind that double glazing windows attenuate the signals quite a bit, whilst the UPVC frames around the glass don't.

If there is a decent internet connection, consider using the Wifi calling feature of the A12. It may need setting up on the phone, and there might be a need to talk to the network provider to enable this on your mobile number. It should improve matters noticeably, as Wifi calling only needs a decent Wifi signal from the internet router.

 

[MattF]

This's why I've had a dual sim phone for years. Both cards are on different networks, it's rare you'll get no usable signal on either card.

 

[gaz1]

i had to upgrade from the samsung s3 mini due to being on the older network 3g whilst the other phones are on a much newer network

internet was ok but it was getting troublesome due to network upgrading and i wasnt getting the speeds i used to get once i upgraded the phone the net speeds was back as just moved the sim card to the new phone

2 networks both at side of each other one shows 2-3 bars whilst the other only shows 1-2 bars unless i move the phone then i get 2-3 bars

yet both use the same mast whilst they are both samsung they are a different phone and i can also use the net on both phones

 

[Ross365]

I think one major reason for poor signal here is that we are in quite a dip in the ground; all roads out of this village go upwards! The local TV transmitter is only 15 miles away, but most people have hi-gain TV aerials on their houses. I also have quite a few trees around me, which cannot help. I'm currently paying a little extra money to keep my landline going.

I'll have to read up on the A12 Wifi calling feature; not aware of it. My account is with Lebara, so it's the Vodafone system.
Thanks for the other inputs.

 

[indy4x]

I believe its one of them 'no one knows' what the bars mean, obviously more is better but how that correlates to signal strength varies

You can get the SNR by delving into the settings (at least you can on Android, not sure about IOS)



Its in negative figures, closer to zero the signal strength value in dBm is the better the signal

 

[Ross365]

Geeeze; there is just and endless amount to learn about smartphones.

Samsung signal strength is dealt with here https://www.samsung.com/ae/support/mobile-devices/smart-phone-how-to-check-signal-strength/

I'm currently getting a reading varying between -120 and 112dBm and then it says 24 asu ...whatever that is

 

[Ross365]

Many thanks to Indy in post 10, I think I've sorted this out. I've been using Lebara which runs on Vodafone and I got hold of a SIM from Lyca which is EE.

When you drive down through Settings to the Signal Strength readings given in -dBm and and in ASU, what I found was;

>the EE signal here is a good deal stronger than my current Vodaphone signal
>the signal strength numbers are about the same on both phones
> the number of bars shown by the Samsung (for either signal) is less than the number of bars shown by the Nokia.

So, the signal indicator is not a reliable indicator in absolute terms; the signal strength numbers suggest are quite consistent and suggest that the two phones perform about the same (hard to very precise cos the signals vary constantly).

So I think my way forward is to keep the Samsung but switch to a provider based on EE; probably Spusu , which I'd not previously heard of and are slightly more expensive than Lebara, but offer more basic and cheaper packages than Lyca.

 

[Turbo]

Why not keep both networks? The A12 is a dual sim phone.
Then if you can't get a signal on 1 network you can try the other.

They are switching off 3g this year so I can see a lot of people having coverage problems.

The online coverage checker is not reliable. According to it I can get 3 mobile at home. I can't, even outdoors!

Vodafone is the most reliable, only 2 bars but a steady 2 bars. With O2 it varies a lot, from a full 4 bars to nothing.

 

[Bravheart]

Seems like the more expensive phones get better signal strength. I've had different phones on different networks and never been quite as good as my wife's signal strength always always on Vodafone. So joined Vodafone with the last one. Now we are both Vodafone with Samsung phones but she still gets stronger signals. Looks like my A model Samsung isn't as good as her top of the range S model.