1. Check Your Battery Status
You should always start with the basics. The lower your phone is one power, the more difficulty it will have in locating a signal. Mobile devices are typically set up to conserve power as much as is practical and if their charge is low, they will usually devote less power to acquiring a signal. This may result in signal bars.
It should always be a top priority to ensure that your phone is charged. Here are some simple tips for conserving power for longer:
- Using NFC or Bluetooth only when necessary
- Turning off push notifications
- Ensuring that the phone has up-to-date firmware
- Lowering the screen’s brightness
- Ensuring that no apps are running in the background unnecessarily
- Investing in a portable charger to keep the phone charged when you travel.
2. Check the Device Settings
The phone’s settings can be another basic source of problems. You need to check on a few factors, depending on your type of device.
If you aren’t getting data service, check that the phone is not in airplane mode and that its data is actually activated. Ensure that the phone’s time and date are set to your current time zone. A mismatch in this setting can cause a glitch in service.
Ensure that your data and voice are set to start receiving signals from the right generation of network (5G, 4G, or 3G) for the strongest signal where you are located. Check that all the updates from your carrier have been implemented. Resetting all the phone’s settings and restarting it is another option.
If these are not the source of the problem, it could be that the SIM card is either not properly seated or damaged. You can address this kind of problem by removing the battery, using a soft, dry towel to wipe the SIM card, and finally replacing the battery.
If none of the aforementioned measures solve the problem with your signal, you should look for other possibilities.
3. Check for Objects Likely to Generate Interference
Terrain and building material interference are some of the kinds of interference that you cannot do anything about short of physically changing your location. However, there’s one source of interference that you can address, which is electronic devices. It is usually a rare phenomenon, but it still can happen.
Cell phone signals are essentially radio waves transmitted at a certain range of frequencies. Electromagnetic waves, that electrical devices generate, can sometimes occur at frequencies that end up interfering with cell phone service, usually because the cell phone is finding it hard to decide which signal to use for transmitting data packets.
It can also happen with Wi-Fi signal broadcasters. You may sometimes experience slowed text messaging or data connections if your home Wi-Fi is on. The simplest solution here is to either switch off the Wi-Fi or simply run your phone’s data through the Wi-Fi router.
If your home is full of other electrical devices, particularly “smart” Internet of Things (IoT) devices, those can be sources of interference. To avoid this issue, consider clearing such clutter as much as possible in at least 1 or 2 rooms in your house.
4. Try Using a Femtocell
A Femtocell is a kind of miniaturised access point for cell phone signals. Used for expanding cell phone service in a single, focused location, such as a home, these very compact cellular access points are used to provide limited but useful bandwidth for calls, texting, and surfing the internet.
A Femtocell essentially transforms your existing internet connection into usable cellular service, which is useful for people that have high-speed broadband but are unable to access reliable cell phone signals and whose carriers don’t provide Wi-Fi calling services.