Help Why does my signal keep dropping?

[metroidRoid2]

When I'm at home near my computer, after calling somebody, the signal always drops.

Recently I've noticed that when I go outside away from home, sometimes the signal drops while I'm talking to someone.

What could be causing the signal to drop after I've connected to the person I'm calling? What can be done to fix this?

Edit: When I say my signal drops, I mean the other person can't hear me, but I can hear them. So maybe I shouldn't say signal dropping.

 

[Hadron]

Do you mean drops as in "signal strength decreases" or drops as in "drops out"?

One thing that can affect this is whether you are using VoLTE (Voice over LTE): if you are not then your phone will have to switch bands to take a call, and it's quite common not to have the same signal strength in different bands, so if you end the call and the phone switches back to 4G then the signal strength will change.

Another factor might be whether you are using WiFi calling.

And as for dropping when you are away from home, see above: if it is changing band then signal can go up or down, so sometimes it will go down.

This is all just speculation: there's not enough information to say. But that's my first guess.

I'd also say that it makes a big difference whether it is "dropping lower" or "dropping out". Dropping out matters, but the number of signal bars decreasing probably doesn't.

Signal bars are only a very rough guide, and generally shouldn't be taken too seriously: they vary between phones, and they don't mean the same thing between different bands on the same phone. They can even change with a software update - and I don't mean that the reception actually improves (though that's also possible), there have been several cases where manufacturers have "fixed" complaints about bad reception by changing the levels at which it shows 2, 3, 4 bars or just changing how long it averages over before updating the bars. Such playing about makes the signal bars "look better" without changing the phone's reception at all, but this is generally enough to make complaints go away. So there are many things that can change the number of bars displayed, and beyond "more bars means higher signal" they don't mean anything much. So if it can make a call or download some information then it's working and I don't worry much otherwise.

 

[Milo Williamson]

Do you mean drops as in "signal strength decreases" or drops as in "drops out"?

One thing that can affect this is whether you are using VoLTE (Voice over LTE): if you are not then your phone will have to switch bands to take a call, and it's quite common not to have the same signal strength in different bands, so if you end the call and the phone switches back to 4G then the signal strength will change.

Another factor might be whether you are using WiFi calling.

And as for dropping when you are away from home, see above: if it is changing band then signal can go up or down, so sometimes it will go down.

This is all just speculation: there's not enough information to say. But that's my first guess.

I'd also say that it makes a big difference whether it is "dropping lower" or "dropping out". Dropping out matters, but the number of signal bars decreasing probably doesn't.

Signal bars are only a very rough guide, and generally shouldn't be taken too seriously: they vary between phones, and they don't mean the same thing between different bands on the same phone. They can even change with a software update - and I don't mean that the reception actually improves (though that's also possible), there have been several cases where manufacturers have "fixed" complaints about bad reception by changing the levels at which it shows 2, 3, 4 bars or just changing how long it averages over before updating the bars. Such playing about makes the signal bars "look better" without changing the phone's reception at all, but this is generally enough to make complaints go away. So there are many things that can change the number of bars displayed, and beyond "more bars means higher signal" they don't mean anything much. So if it can make a call or download some information then it's working and I don't worry much otherwise.

 

[metroidRoid2]

Do you mean drops as in "signal strength decreases" or drops as in "drops out"?

One thing that can affect this is whether you are using VoLTE (Voice over LTE): if you are not then your phone will have to switch bands to take a call, and it's quite common not to have the same signal strength in different bands, so if you end the call and the phone switches back to 4G then the signal strength will change.

Another factor might be whether you are using WiFi calling.

And as for dropping when you are away from home, see above: if it is changing band then signal can go up or down, so sometimes it will go down.

This is all just speculation: there's not enough information to say. But that's my first guess.

I'd also say that it makes a big difference whether it is "dropping lower" or "dropping out". Dropping out matters, but the number of signal bars decreasing probably doesn't.

Signal bars are only a very rough guide, and generally shouldn't be taken too seriously: they vary between phones, and they don't mean the same thing between different bands on the same phone. They can even change with a software update - and I don't mean that the reception actually improves (though that's also possible), there have been several cases where manufacturers have "fixed" complaints about bad reception by changing the levels at which it shows 2, 3, 4 bars or just changing how long it averages over before updating the bars. Such playing about makes the signal bars "look better" without changing the phone's reception at all, but this is generally enough to make complaints go away. So there are many things that can change the number of bars displayed, and beyond "more bars means higher signal" they don't mean anything much. So if it can make a call or download some information then it's working and I don't worry much otherwise.

Thank you for your reply.

1. When I say my signal drops, I mean the other person can't hear me, but I can hear them. So maybe I shouldn't say signal dropping. Does this change anything?

2. Wi-Fi Calling is switched to 'off' so that's not it.

3. Under Settings > Connections > Mobile networks, I have 'Allow 2G Service' turned to the 'ON' position. Do you think this could be the problem?

4. How can I tell whether or not I'm using VoLTE?

 

[Hadron]

If you mean call ending rather than signal bars changing VoLTE is probably not relevant.

If your signal is poor indoors then enabling WiFi calling should help (assuming your provider supports it).

Allowing 2g shouldn't be the problem: 2g is fine for calls, and the phone ought to be able to switch to/from it during a call if it needs to (but will only do it if it does need to).

To be honest it sounds like poor signal to me: you can receive the basestation's (more powerful) transmission but it can't receive enough from your phone. Is your signal weak generally? Was it always like this or just started?

 

[Dannydet]

To me this sounds like poor cellular signal, which is handled by your carrier.
If I were you I'd switch to a different carrier.
But this is all dependent on where you live, cell tower location, etc...
For an example, I tried T Mobile and I had the exact same problem as you, right in my house.
Switched to Cricket wireless and never had those problems ever......

 

[metroidRoid2]

If you mean call ending rather than signal bars changing VoLTE is probably not relevant.

If your signal is poor indoors then enabling WiFi calling should help (assuming your provider supports it).

Allowing 2g shouldn't be the problem: 2g is fine for calls, and the phone ought to be able to switch to/from it during a call if it needs to (but will only do it if it does need to).

To be honest it sounds like poor signal to me: you can receive the basestation's (more powerful) transmission but it can't receive enough from your phone. Is your signal weak generally? Was it always like this or just started?

Initially I did have Allow 2G enabled, but then I disabled it and made a call today and to my surprise I didn't have any issues with the other person being able to hear me. I will have to try a few more times to be sure, but as of now it looks like disabling the 'Allow 2G' feature works.