Are you stuck in a cellular dead zone, or the cellular signal is extremely poor/inconsistent? The situations might be tolerable to urgent, and one voice call or SMS could do a lot. Not getting a good signal on a cellphone is not uncommon but here are the best tips and tricks for you to improve mobile signal reception on your phone.
When you are on the highway, in an extremely crowded area, or where towers are only a few, your phone is likely to get short on decent signal strength. Also, on your trip along the highways, remote and rural, and hilly regions, you may encounter signal fluctuation and inconsistent reception.
Not having a good cellular signal brings various hazards. As your phone keeps searching for a network, it also affects the battery life while obviously, it keeps you out of important voice, SMS, and data services.
So, if you find yourself in a situation without good cellular coverage, there are some easy tricks and trips you can try out. There are some external factors such as the lack of towers or large forests and physical obstructions about which you can’t do much. But also, you can try some hacks to quickly improve your cell’s network reception.
Check out: The State of 4G Speed in Nepal and its Influencing Factors
Things to do to get a better mobile network signal
Here are some tried and trusted tips and tricks to get a better mobile signal ranging from avoiding physical barriers to changing your device’s settings.
Avoid physical obstructions
Physical barriers are between your device and the cell towers. Towers emit radio signals are better in open areas. However, physical objects such as trees, buildings, concrete walls, metal objects, etc. hamper radio signals resulting in poor network coverage. If possible, get yourself in a more open space so that your device’s antenna gets no obstruction to the tower and gets a better signal. Also, avoid metal objects and concrete walls to ensure you get the best signal the tower can provide. If you are inside, go near the windows or outside your home and you might get a better signal reception on your phone for your urgent calls.
Go to a higher position or altitude
Height or altitude can also affect the signal reception. So, if you have a poor signal from a nearby tower, you can go higher up in your home or a higher altitude place to get a good cellular signal. Suppose you have no/poor mobile network in your room and you want to make an urgent call, you can go to your rooftop or higher floor to increase the signal reception.
Change network mode
There are chances that the telecom carrier has a better 2G signal in your place than 4G, which may affect your signal reception for 4G. So, to improve your signal situation in such a case, you need to change the network mode on your phone from 4G (preferred) to 2G. It could also be the other way as 4G tower could be nearby and 2G is a little farther from your place, then you should do the opposite.
However, putting your phone in automatic mode (rather than any specific technology mode) can do the trick for improved reception. In some special cases, you can check the signal level for 2G 3G, or 4G, and voice call quality to decide on which mode to keep on your mobile.
Check out: 4G vs 3G: which mobile network to prefer?
Here is how to change network mode in both Android and iOS.
Use a compatible phone/device
As several devices support several technologies and frequency bands, chances are that the device you use is not compatible with your current mobile network. Take an example: To get a good 4G signal in the basement or rural areas in Ntc, you need to have band 20 (800 MHz) 4G support on your phone. Same with Ncell, your phone needs to support band (900 MHz) 4G.
In the absence of these, your phone could not receive a better signal. So, if your place is only covered with such low band (800/900 MHz) 4G, then you need to have such band supporting phone to get an improved signal. A must-read post here: How to check the 4G/5G band support of your phone?
Try the “Flight mode”
Contradictorily, Flight or Airplane mode can work to restore your mobile’s signal issues. This workaround is helpful when you have a cellular tower and somehow, it’s not connecting to your device. So, to restore signals, turn on and off Flight mode on Android and Airplane mode on iPhones and see if the device gets back the signals.
If not, follow the tips below. This not only works to restore mobile signal, but also calibrates WiFi, Bluetooth, and other connections on your phone. Also read: Is Radiation from Cell Phones harmful? How to Limit the Effect?
To put your phone in Flight or Airplane mode depending on Android or iPhone, just scroll down the screen from top to bottom and tap on the airplane icon to activate it.
Remove your phone case
Removing your phone case could be one of the best tips to get your mobile phone a better signal, only when the area has marginal signal coverage. The radio signals may be struggling to reach your phone because of the phone case more so if it’s heavy and bulky. If the tower’s signal is being blocked by the phone case, this shall eliminate the issue.
Reset your phone’s network settings
You can also reset your phone’s network settings to see if your device starts getting ample network coverage. This rids your device of months and even years of old stored data and settings and reverts it back clean. Sometimes, it could be all that your device needs. However, stay warned that resetting your phone’s network resets WiFi password and settings, Bluetooth, VPN connections, IP setups, etc. Read through this post to learn in detail: How to reset phone network settings on Android and iOS?
Restart your phone
Give your phone a restart to see if that does the job. Sometimes, our phones malfunction and won’t work as it should. It’s made up of systems and they are likely to run into issues. Sometimes, it’s assumable that the malfunction of the device’s software or hardware could cause low signal reception. A quick restart could restore the device’s capacity to receive the signals from nearby cell towers.
Remove and reinsert SIM card
Reinserting your SIM card is another trick to restore the network signal on your phone. That’s because an old, dirty, and misplaced SIM card might be to blame and require some cleaning. Use a SIM ejector tool, preferably the one that came in your phone’s packaging to remove the SIM and insert it again after cleaning. You may also need to clean up the SIM card tray.
Physical damages to the SIM don’t readily cause poor signal reception however, the fluctuating reception could be because it’s not placed properly or just slipped away in the SIM tray, so, you may need to realign or replace the SIM card. Here are your top tips to save your SIM card from physical damages
Likewise, if you are using an eSIM, then you can skip this measure as the eSIM service works on a software level. You can instead contact your cellular service provider to check for any possible issues.
Update your phone to the latest software
Sometimes, updating your phone’s OS to the latest version could be the deal. Android OEMs and Apple send new updates to their phones to make their phones more secure and bring more functionalities. At times, the software may have bugs or come into conflict with the hardware. Check if you have another update available and that could alleviate your poor network reception woes. In a nutshell, always keep your device updated to the latest Android or iOS version.
- For iPhones: You can download and install your phone’s latest software via Settings > General > About.
- For Android: You need to go to Settings > About phone > Check for new OS updates.
The last resort: Contact your telecom service provider
Contact your telecom operator. If none of the above hacks, tips, and tricks won’t bring the precious mobile signal to your device, do convey your issue to your cellular service provider- Nepal Telecom (NTC) or Ncell. Then find out the real reason behind it given that your area has a tower and still, you are not getting the reception. This happens with many users when a nearby tower goes awry with a network outage or other technical glitches.
It’s possible that the telco could not turn on the tower because of temporary glitches in the system or it could be running some tests. Fiber breakage long-time electricity outages or damage to the telco infrastructure by disasters such as floods or landslides can compromise the signal too. Also, while upgrading its network or running maintenance works, companies put the network down for some hours. But companies often relay a notice in such cases.
Anyway, the point is it’s best to stay informed about the root cause of not getting a good signal on your phone than to just search for answers when it’s within the telco.
Tips: Go wired if there’s no cellular tower
The above tips may certainly help you restore the cellular signal on your mobile device. But if there are no cell towers in your area, then it could be beyond you to find any solution. In such cases, fixed or wired broadband services such as Ntc fiber net could be your best option for connectivity. And for calls, you can either use OTT calling or VoWiFi using your own cellular number, in areas with no cellular signal but Wifi.
In conclusion
Not getting a signal and having a poor signal are two different scenarios. If an area where you currently have no cellular tower, you are not in luck. You won’t get mobile services there unless you come close to a cell tower someplace away.
However, if there’s a tower and for some reason, your device is not getting the network, the above tips help you. Devices tend to suffer from poor signals in hilly areas, highways, basement parking lots, and indoors. Therefore, if you run into the issue, then try some of the tips above and see if that works. If you do not have any other solution discussed above and you are sure of another carrier’s network there, you would definitely want to switch your carrier or add an extra SIM.
Check out: Minimum Signal Level for 2G, 3G, 4G Coverage
For more tips and tricks for better mobile signals and information on other topics, drop your queries in the comment section below.
