cell phone signal

[slag]

How can I be in full 3g mode and have half to full bar strength, but have little to no data access?

This happens at work and its not only me. Work has said they aren't blocking anything, but I'm showing 3g and great signal strength but cant even browse facebook or get emails reliably. I do get pages/texts fine though.

Ideas? Is it a simple case of oversaturation on my tower?

 

[vshah]

what carrier / phone?
try enabling/disabling airplane mode or restarting your phone. sometimes the data connection just dies.

if that doesn't fix it, then it is probably over saturation. try switching to 2g and see if you get connectivity there.

 

[NutBucket]

Probably what you thought, just too many users on the tower.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

This happens fairly often on my att iphone and is infuriating. Stupid circle spinning spinning while trying to get directions or pull up info.

 

[KeithTalent]

It's probably because you are in the wrong forum.

KT

 

[T_Yamamoto]

thats why AT&T sucks

 

[rudeguy]

your display does not reflect your signal.

 

[rudeguy]

to be nice and answer:

Your phone displays what it thinks is your signal strength. Its usually measured in -db. But from the time your phone receives the signal, processes the signal and displays the signal, the signal could have degraded.

Now the more likely cause would be network congestion. Your phone is able, the network is there, its just too busy. Very common for ATT and Sprint customers. The latter to an extreme.

Then there is also the possibility that you are having radio issues with your phone. Does a reboot help? Don't forget that your phone is a very complicated computer with a complicated network adapter (actually multiple network adapters) built in. Sometimes things hiccup and need a reboot, just like your home computer.

So to be able to answer your question, we'll need some more data. Download a signal analyzer and check your actual signal. Run a speed test. But before all that, take 30 seconds and reboot your phone. That will probably fix it all.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

to be nice and answer:

Your phone displays what it thinks is your signal strength. Its usually measured in -db. But from the time your phone receives the signal, processes the signal and displays the signal, the signal could have degraded.

Now the more likely cause would be network congestion. Your phone is able, the network is there, its just too busy. Very common for ATT and Sprint customers. The latter to an extreme.

Then there is also the possibility that you are having radio issues with your phone. Does a reboot help? Don't forget that your phone is a very complicated computer with a complicated network adapter (actually multiple network adapters) built in. Sometimes things hiccup and need a reboot, just like your home computer.

So to be able to answer your question, we'll need some more data. Download a signal analyzer and check your actual signal. Run a speed test. But before all that, take 30 seconds and reboot your phone. That will probably fix it all.

:thumbsup:

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Android phones tend to do better with reboots. It's like people rebooting for no random reasons on their PCs. Well there's sometimes reasons. Sometimes like they can't get the video to output to the projector properly. Or memory leaks, etc.

I've never seen an iPhone that needs a reboot due to network issues.

 

[Rottie]

thats why at&t sucks

shut up!

 

[wirednuts]

congestion.

ie

at my house, i dont get great reception but its usually fine. but it runs usually 700kb/sec, or sometimes like right now its 76kb/sec. i live in an apartment neighborhood though, next to a college, with thousands of people around all the time.

then, today i traveled to another city and sat at a truck stop that had a tower right outside. very few users around, and i had full signal strength. it was like 130ms ping and 2400kb/sec download and 900kb/sec upload!! i was giddy! i tethered via wifi to my tablet and i couldnt even tell i was on a cell signal. it was so freaking fast!

but i almost NEVER see those speeds. its usually 700kb/sec downloads and 100kb/sec uploads. and thats on good days. it has to be network congestion, no doubt.

this is SPRINT on a sero 500 plan with an htc touch pro 2

 

[rudeguy]

 

[dagamer34]

Because signal strength has very little to do with data connectivity if the tower is congested. For example, go to any major sporting event with an iPhone on AT&T and you'll see data connectivity crap out even though you get 5 bars.

 

[wirednuts]

brought to you with a 2gb cap!