In today’s world, cell phones are everywhere. However, despite the huge demand for and wide adoption of cell phones, signal coverage still seems low. Some areas tend to have a much worse signal than others.
What can interfere with cell phone signals? Your signal can actually be affected by many things beyond proximity to a tower. Use our list of the top 5 conditions and materials blocking your cell phone signal to start diagnosing the cause of your bad cell reception—and begin dealing with it.
1. Strain On Bandwidth
The most common thing blocking your cell phone signal are the technical limitations of the phone itself. The more mobile apps you install on your device, the more bandwidth it will require. Apps often stay open in the background when you try to close them, eating up bandwidth needlessly. Games and free apps can be a particular drain on your bandwidth since they are typically filled with advertisem*nts. Additionally, notifications from apps also take away from your signal. All of this put together means that having too many apps drains your signal quite a bit. So, before you try to locate cell towers, try to cut down on some unnecessary apps on your phone. Or, at the very least, try to make sure they are correctly shut down after using them. Most modern phones have the option to shut down background apps built into them.
FYI, your cell phone case is likely not blocking your cell signal. As long as the phone case doesn’t contain materials that conduct electricity or block the phone’s internal antenna, the signal should get through just fine.
Having a lot of apps might be useful, but you need to keep in mind that it can slow down your signal quite a bit.
2. Geography, Vegetation & the Weather
Nature itself can be another source of cell phone signal interference.. Mountains, hills, bad weather, and heavy vegetation may negatively affect your cell phone signal.
How exactly does weather affect cell service? Which types of weather are most likely to disrupt a cell signal? Wet weather is the worst culprit—rain, snow, and even fog can act as a reflective surface that causes the cell signal to bounce rather than travel smoothly between the tower and your cell phone.
Because they contain a lot of water, leafy trees are another reason rural and suburban areas tend to have a lousy cell phone signal. And in extreme situations, a combination of bad weather and heavy vegetation can even kill your signal completely.
Unfortunately, most other things on this list you can actually deal with, but there's not much you can do about nature. You can’t make it stop raining or remove your neighbor’s trees. If you live in a wet and wooded area, a home cell phone signal booster is a smart investment.
3. Glass And Windows
When your signal gets spotty inside a building, you might be tempted to walk up to a window. This isn't an ideal solution, as most windows these days are made from a type of glass called Low-E glass. Low-E glass is made to reflect light more, thus keeping it out of the building. However, the disadvantage of this is that it also reflects cell phone signals. Unless you can open the window, standing next to one while trying to use your phone is a fairly bad idea if you are looking for a better signal. Of course, factors such as carrier coverage are still significant. Stronger signals are less likely to get blocked entirely by Low-E glass. Still, it is better to avoid being near a window when using a cell phone. If you manage or work in an office building with lots of windows, consider adding a cell signal booster to your workplace.
Most windows today are made out of a type of glass that repels cell phone signals.
4. Network Traffic
Another common issue blocking your cell phone signal is a technical limitation of the cell tower infrastructure. In today’s world, we might assume that there is plenty of cell phone coverage. However, in densely populated areas,this often isn’t the case. When too many people use their devices to call, upload and download, and send text messages, the network gets much slower.
And you might wonder, do some smartphones get better reception in these scenarios? Unfortunately, having the latest device likely won’t matter if the network is overloaded with requests. If there are too many people competing for network bandwidth in a small area, the only way to deal with it is to take a stroll to somewhere less populated. Unfortunately, bad cell reception is a pervasive problem in large cities and at big events. And while there is no magic way to boost your priority in the network, people do report some success with making their signal better when using signal boosters like the Fusion Professional, for example.
5. Fiberglass Insulation
Most construction materials affect your cell phone signal. Concrete, brick, wood, and steel are all dense and will block some of your cell phone signal. However, you might find it strange that the most effective signal killer is fiberglass insulation. While fiberglass is nowhere near as dense as other building materials , fiberglass fibers are particularly effective at repelling signals. Much like it keeps out heat and cold, fiberglass can keep some cell phone signals out of your home. While fiberglass alone is usually not strong enough to completely kill your cell phone signal, you might experience poor or disrupted service in bad weather or other poor conditions. You may want to consider another insulation material at home if you rely on your phone a lot.
Fiberglass insulation is great, but it also negatively affects your cell phone signal.
How to Boost a Bad Cell Signal
While you can sometimes attribute a bad cell signal to one of the materials or conditions on this list, other times it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what has interfered with your cell signal. If the problems persist, it’s probably time for a signal booster. Read our complete guide to how cell signal boosters workto learn more.
