Signal Strength - Reception inside buildings

[pda96]

Does anyone have problems with getting a signal inside buildings with TMO? My wife, who is on Verizon, has no such problems. Just to give ONE example, we were at the Flamingo (Vegas) one time. In the room, I got no signal at all with my phone. I had to go out to the elevator area to get a weak signal. The lobby, I got a stronger signal. My wife's phone was showing full strength everywhere inside the casino.

I've had similar problems at shopping malls, business bldgs, etc.. Is this a problem with TMO only? If so, why? Why are TMO signals so weak??

 

[gtbarry]

It all has to do with your antennae, your frequency, the nearest cell tower and the building. In this case you probably didn't have a tower as close as she did.

Some cities (or parts thereof) t-mobile is great and Verizon is terrible (San Jose, CA being one example). Overall, Verizon probably has better coverage in more parts of the country though.

 

[jhawkkw]

Verizon and AT&T own better spectrum for building penetration, while sprint and T-mobile have less efficient. Because of this, sprint and T-mobile phones do tend to have trouble picking up signal in some buildings depending on how it is made or designed. Where I work, I tend to only get 1 bar of service, but if I go deep into the adjacent building just 50 feet away, I get full reception.

 

[tube517]

Yeah, shopping around Wally World and going to the pharmacy in the center of the building, my reception goes from LTE to Edge to no signal at all. Walmart needs to put in wifi like Lowe's and Sams Club have.

 

[7Priest7]

Walmart needs to put in wifi like Lowe's and Sams Club have.

You get to walmart, you pull out your phone, you turn on wi-fi, you connect to walmarts unsecured network(and allow the possibility of your user info being stolen), you go through their user agreement front page(which we all know for legal reasons all public wifi will have), You launch GrooveIP or your VoIP app.

Seems like more work than 1 or 2 possible phone calls are worth.

 

[SEMIJim]

.

 

[tube517]

You get to walmart, you pull out your phone, you turn on wi-fi, you connect to walmarts unsecured network(and allow the possibility of your user info being stolen), you go through their user agreement front page(which we all know for legal reasons all public wifi will have), You launch GrooveIP or your VoIP app.

Seems like more work than 1 or 2 possible phone calls are worth.

Not really. I'm usually sitting and waiting or looking around anyways. It's not that much "work". Plus, I need the phone for any work/business calls that come in

 

[7Priest7]

Not really. I'm usually sitting and waiting or looking around anyways. It's not that much "work". Plus, I need the phone for any work/business calls that come in

Even so, Will likely not happen, for two very good reasons.

1. Public wifi is homeless person bait.
2. Walmart is too large to be covered by 1 router.

 

[DILands]

I actually switched, from VZW to TMO. Any of my VZW phones (last was a Samsung GSIII was pretty useless for phone or data @ work. MAYBE would be able to use it 10% of the time without going outside.

Got a Samsung Galaxy S4 on TMO - would say I can use the phone or data like 75%-90% of the time, I THOUGHT GSM was better at penetrating buildings????

 

[jhawkkw]

I actually switched, from VZW to TMO. Any of my VZW phones (last was a Samsung GSIII was pretty useless for phone or data @ work. MAYBE would be able to use it 10% of the time without going outside.

Got a Samsung Galaxy S4 on TMO - would say I can use the phone or data like 75%-90% of the time, I THOUGHT GSM was better at penetrating buildings????

It's all about how and what the building is made/made with, and the frequency you're using. Wireless frequency has a negative correlation between distance traved/building penetration vs possible speeds. Higher frequencies don't travel as far and don't penetrate buildings as well, but allow for higher speeds. Lower frequencies travel further/penetrate buildings better but often have slower speeds.

Verizon operates CDMA on 800 and LTE on 700 and 1700/2100 is on the way
AT&T operates EDGE/HSPA on 850 and LTE on 700 and some locations have 1700/2100
Sprint operates CDMA on 1900, WiMax on 2600, and LTE on 1900 or 2600 and 800 is on the way.
T-Mobile operates EDGE on 1900, HSPA on 1700/2100 or 1900, and LTE on 1700/2100.

Other factors include distance from tower and tower density.

 

[gtbarry]

If you have a really bad signal at home or work, you can consider a cell phone signal booster/repeater. All the carriers have them and will try to sell them to you. But if you know what to say, you can get them for free.

They will boost your local signal and for those near you (think neighbors may be close enough to get a boost also) by utilizing your home/work Internet connection.

 

[mogelijk]

AT&T also uses 1900 Mhz for 3G/HSPA+, not to mention that T-Mobile is refarming part of their 2G 1900 Mhz band, so that AT&T/International phones can work on T-Mobile's network.