Long way from the cell tower?

[Chris142]

We have been having phone issues at home lately. I checked on what tower We are using and I'm guessing its roughly 9 miles away. The tower we usually use must be broken?

Whats the average distance to a tower? Any other input? Thanks.

 

[Lubener]

Your not the only one with local cell connectivity issues. Mine started a few weeks ago. Must be a bad tube.....

 

[atikovi]

Can't you use your landline service?

 

[JHZR2]

I don’t know about mileage, but ATT started to be useless in multiple locations that I would be at. Some suburban, some fairly rural.

Thus why I went to t-mobile.

Yesterday my work cell went to entirely useless despite showing bars. This is on the supposedly reliable Verizon network.

For now, t-mobile seems the most reliable with very few exceptions. But it seems like all of that can change in an instant. Tomorrow it might be another carrier.

 

[4WD]

I put a Z-boost at the camp - game changer - neighbor would walk out on his deck to make calls - I laughed bcs my tackle room is continuous windows and my Z-boost was in that room for that reason …
(it was grabbing his phone too) …

 

[Chris142]

Can't you use your landline service?

lol whats that? seriously they stopped maintaining the landline wires years ago. It was not even usable.

 

[Chris142]

I don’t know about mileage, but ATT started to be useless in multiple locations that I would be at. Some suburban, some fairly rural.

Thus why I went to t-mobile.

Yesterday my work cell went to entirely useless despite showing bars. This is on the supposedly reliable Verizon network.

For now, t-mobile seems the most reliable with very few exceptions. But it seems like all of that can change in an instant. Tomorrow it might be another carrier.

we are on metro and they use T mobils service

 

[Nukeman7]

Can't you use your landline service?

lol whats that? seriously they stopped maintaining the landline wires years ago. It was not even usable.

Perhaps atikovi was suggesting that you enable the cell phone on your home WiFi network for calls and data connectivity when you are in range of your router? That is worth a try if it is practical.

 

[Chris142]

Perhaps atikovi was suggesting that you enable the cell phone on your home WiFi network for calls and data connectivity when you are in range of your router? That is worth a try if it is practical.

Our internet setvice comes from even farther away,26 miles! So far that every time a train passes theough Hesperia,Ca which is about every 12 minutes it blocks the signal!

 

[atikovi]

lol whats that? seriously they stopped maintaining the landline wires years ago. It was not even usable.

Don't you get electricity from a power line? Don't phone cables use the same power poles?

 

[Chris142]

Don't you get electricity from a power line? Don't phone cables use the same power poles?

same poles yes but the phone wires on those poles are no longer usable. We had to switch to cell service 10+ years ago due to this. The phone company no longer services or repairs the phone wires so when they break the phones no longer work

 

[Chris142]

here

 

[Doc8404]

Perhaps atikovi was suggesting that you enable the cell phone on your home WiFi network for calls and data connectivity when you are in range of your router? That is worth a try if it is practical.

iPhone WiFi calling is crap.
Or st least it is with spectrum here in NY

 

[Hall]

Whats the average distance to a tower? Any other input?

Average distance isn't relevant. Over flat ground, cell signals can reach a lot farther than people think (typically 20-30 miles). A tower 9 miles away shouldn't be a problem unless closer towers were down and the one you connected to was simply overloaded because of the other issue.

 

[Chris142]

Average distance isn't relevant. Over flat ground, cell signals can reach a lot farther than people think (typically 20-30 miles). A tower 9 miles away shouldn't be a problem unless closer towers were down and the one you connected to was simply overloaded because of the other issue.

That makes sense. the area between me and the tower is the center of town with 100k people in it.

 

[SHOZ]

If you have a budget carrier the actual carrier will throttle your connection based on their load. I have consumer Cell and the ATT tower is 8 miles away. In the morning it's 5 bars, late afternoon sometimes no text or calls. Still somehow get data though.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

If you have a budget carrier the actual carrier will throttle your connection based on their load. I have consumer Cell and the ATT tower is 8 miles away. In the morning it's 5 bars, late afternoon sometimes no text or calls. Still somehow get data though.

Absolutely correct! And now with T-Mobile having more MVNOs on their network than any other carrier, it is only going to get worse.

 

[skyactiv]

Says no longer available, but?

4G LTE Signal Booster setup & help

Signal boosters are discontinued and no longer available for purchase. If you want help with signal booster setup or connection issues we have you covered.

www.t-mobile.com

 

[Danno]

I installed this unit from Amazon on a new build house. The exterior foam insulation is covered in tin foil, which crushed the cell signal from 4 bars to 1 bar. With this installed, 4 bars inside the house.
It might help your situation.

 

[4WD]

Says no longer available, but?

4G LTE Signal Booster setup & help

Signal boosters are discontinued and no longer available for purchase. If you want help with signal booster setup or connection issues we have you covered.

www.t-mobile.com

There are several on eBay - same principle:
An external antenna and coax between the box/antenna …
Another antenna frequency between the box and phone …