That is rubbish! Just because your phone shows all five bars for a network, doesn't mean it is operating at peak capacity. In a typical scenario, two phones from distinct brands may show different network bars but might perform similarly. In short, more bars or fewer bars do not mean better or poorer quality. The actual network quality is dependent on several factors which includes your phone.
The only thing the bars on your phone give you is a rough approximation of relative strength. Viewing the bars graphic alone doesn’t tell you how strong the available signal actually is, nor how much stronger a four-bar signal is than a three-bar signal. In theory, the network bars show how stronger the signal is based on one thing - how close is your phone to the nearest cellular tower. The Play Store has several apps that show the nearly accurate value of signal strength in the dBm (decibel-milliwatts) value.
The power of your phone’s signal depends on a variety of factors, but it’s mainly related to your proximity to a cell tower and the architecture of your building. For instance, if you are near a mobile network tower, your phone will show maximum network bars but if a lot of people relate to that same network, the quality of the network will be poor which may result in call drops and slow internet speeds. When you focus solely on the graphic display on your screen, you don’t know exactly how strong the signal is. While your phone tells you that two bars are stronger than three, and three are stronger than four, you’re left with no knowledge about how much stronger any given number of bars actually is compared to its smaller counterparts.
Most people have had the baffling experience of being unable to stream videos or send a message despite seeing four or five bars on their display. This is because there are no regulations or standards for the bars on your phone and there’s no consistency across manufacturers. Major companies (such as Apple and Samsung) use an algorithm to sense how strong the signal is and then choose how to display the data, but there’s no communication or cohesion between them.
As such, comparing signal strength between phone models with any level of accuracy is unfeasible. One person’s five-bar display is often different from someone else’s five-bar phone display there’s no way to know which person’s is stronger just by looking at the graphics. Unfortunately, this means the bars aren’t as meaningful as you may have been led to believe.
Luckily, there is a way to accurately check the signal strength on your cell phone. You’ll need to put your phone into field test mode, and the exact process varies between Android and iPhone models. Both operating systems’ field tests take a reading of the signal in decibels. This is a standard unit of measurement, so unlike phone signal bars it provides an absolute reading of the strength of the available signal. In most cases, decibels are written as a negative number, with -50 dBm representing the strongest signal you’re likely to see. The closer to zero the reading is, the better the signal, so -75 dBm is more desirable than -85 dBm. If the reading gets much weaker than -100 dBm, it’s unlikely that you’d be able to make calls, send text messages or use the internet. Be sure to make use of this valuable feature. Though it may be buried in your phone’s operating system, accessing the field test on your cell is the only way to accurately measure the strength of your cell’s signal.
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The information is provided by Tecquisition for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal advice. If you have any feedback, comments, requests for technical support or other inquiries, please mail us by tecqusition@gmail.com.
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