topic Re: Phone and reception/signal relationship in Get Support

Phone and reception/signal relationship

b777 — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 21:03:25 GMT

Alright here's an interesting topic... i just recently moved to PM and started to notice something with my reception. My phone (galaxy s6) almost never has full reception when indoors in most places i've been too and including my own home (I'm located not far from a telus and bell tower in etobicoke). I'm usually sitting at around 3/5 or 4/5 bars but I have seen as low as 1/5 bars while on 4G/LTE network. On the other hand, my galaxy s6 when I was with wind always had 5/5 bars at my house and in most locations indoors on their 3G network. My mom's phone (moto G 2nd gen) always has full signal on the 3g network indoors with PM. I have yet to keep my phone on 3G only to see what reception is like indoors but given that with wind it was usually always 5/5 and my mom's phone is usually 5/5 I suspect mine will be 5/5 aswell on 3G. I know the galaxy s6 is said to have a weak antenna design leading to poor reception, but while in Europe I was using Vodafone in Romania and I virtually had 5/5 signal everywhere I went (indoor or out) on their 4G/LTE network and on 3G (unless i was in a basement which makes sense). What i'm getting out of this is that telus/bell network which PM runs off of isn't the greatest indoors when it comes to 4G/LTE? Anyone else expirience this? By no means am I complaining because I do have reception, I just find it odd so my only conclusion is that 4G/LTE strength isn't the greatest indoors.

Re: Phone and reception/signal relationship

PhoneSeeker — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 03:13:26 GMT

@b777 wrote:
Alright here's an interesting topic... i just recently moved to PM and started to notice something with my reception. My phone (galaxy s6) almost never has full reception when indoors in most places i've been too and including my own home (I'm located not far from a telus and bell tower in etobicoke). I'm usually sitting at around 3/5 or 4/5 bars but I have seen as low as 1/5 bars while on 4G/LTE network. On the other hand, my galaxy s6 when I was with wind always had 5/5 bars at my house and in most locations indoors on their 3G network. My mom's phone (moto G 2nd gen) always has full signal on the 3g network indoors with PM. I have yet to keep my phone on 3G only to see what reception is like indoors but given that with wind it was usually always 5/5 and my mom's phone is usually 5/5 I suspect mine will be 5/5 aswell on 3G. I know the galaxy s6 is said to have a weak antenna design leading to poor reception, but while in Europe I was using Vodafone in Romania and I virtually had 5/5 signal everywhere I went (indoor or out) on their 4G/LTE network and on 3G (unless i was in a basement which makes sense). What i'm getting out of this is that telus/bell network which PM runs off of isn't the greatest indoors when it comes to 4G/LTE? Anyone else expirience this? By no means am I complaining because I do have reception, I just find it odd so my only conclusion is that 4G/LTE strength isn't the greatest indoors.

This is because Telus/PM usually uses higher band spectrum for LTE such as Band 4 (1700/2100 Mhz) so that is why it isn't as good indoors. Additionaly, Wind may have had a tower closer to your house giving you better reception.

PM/Telus uses lower band spectrum for 3G such as 850 Mhz so that means it can travel farther into buildings.

Re: Phone and reception/signal relationship

b777 — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 03:17:45 GMT

@PhoneSeeker I'm not versed and don't exactly understand how the frequencies work but using the frequency check website and like you mentioned Telus uses band 4 (1700/2100). While in Romania on Vodafone they use band 3 (1800 +) and band 20 (800 DD). I guess this is why LTE signal was much better there?

Re: Phone and reception/signal relationship

PhoneSeeker — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 03:25:17 GMT

Yes, the smaller the number (the shorter the wavelength of the signal) the better reception you will get.

Re: Phone and reception/signal relationship

nishufan — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 03:33:04 GMT

The signal strength and signal quality of LTE and 3G are different.

Signal Strength

RSSI - Received Signal Strength Indicator (3G, CDMA/UMTS/EV-DO)
RSRP - Reference Signal Received Power (4G LTE)

Signal Quality

ECIO (Ec/Io) - Energy to Interference Ratio (3G, CDMA/UMTS/EV-DO)
RSRQ - Reference Signal Received Quality (4G LTE)
SINR - Signal to Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (4G LTE)

It is important to identify what cellular technology you are using when examining these metrics.

For 3G cellular connections, RSSI and EC/IO is what to look at.

For 4G LTE, RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR are the metrics to check.

Reference:

http://blog.industrialnetworking.com/2014/04/making-sense-of-signal-strengthsignal.html