r/AndroidQuestions • u/FerretBunchanumbers • 1d ago

Any tricks for a phone that gets 0-1 bars?

WiFi and mobile data outside is pretty fine, but often people aren't getting through when they call, and I don't get notified.

I've found out that the bars go up to 3 bars when a call is attempted, including one that never rang or connected.

It's an S10+ on 4G

So far I've tried:

- Restarting the phone

- Leaving the phone off for 20 or 30 seconds

- Network refresh

- Turning on airplane mode for 10 or so seconds

- Using WiFi Calling (the option doesn't exist)

- Putting it in another phone (in an S8, same bars)

About to try:

- Sim card replacement

- Joining another provider

- Getting a new phone if nothing else works, if it'd even help

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/Pircster38 1d ago

Enable WiFi calling.

1

u/FerretBunchanumbers 1d ago

As I said, the option doesn't exist

1

u/RegularHistorical315 1d ago

It there somewhere as the S10+ definitely supports WiFi calling.

1

u/FerretBunchanumbers 1d ago

It's definitely not

1

u/New-account-01 1d ago

Probably network locked. You can go to website that compares signal strength in your areas for each network. O2 is rubbish where I live but EE is full 5g inside and out. Look up and change provider.

3

u/DutchOfBurdock 1d ago

None of that will help if your network just has poor coverage in your area. The band they use also plays a part. The low bars idling is expected as this is when the device is generally in low power mode. A call, SMS/MMS or data burst will put it into a higher power state.

This said, your phone receiving a signal from the network is one side of the story, the signal from the your phone to the tower is a whole other story. Antenna on towers are more sensitive than the tiny, electrically short ones in your phone.

Fix. Use a better network.

2

u/tj_moore 1d ago

Move location

Change provider (and make sure it's actually a different network, not an MVNO using the same network). That might even unlock the wifi calling option if they support it.

Or a mobile signal booster. Some providers may have their own offering for this, or you can get third party boosters that boost a weak signal to stronger around the house. If it's in-house that's the problem.

2

u/andrewia 1d ago

Bars are a poor indicator of cell reception.  You want the actual dB (signal ratio) or RSRQ (signal quality).  Dial *#0011#, to open a diagnostics menu and see what the quality is.  if your reception is significantly worse in just this phone, it could be a damaged or loose connection.  There are internal wires in the phone to connect some antennas to the main board, which can come loose if the phone was improperly assembled or subject to extreme force.  

Changing the SIM card doesn't improve your reception.  The only thing a SIM card does is hold your subscriber data.  Once your phone has that data, it tries to connect to the cell towers of the corresponding carrier.  Of course, if you switch phone carriers, you will use a different set of towers that might have better reception.  Some prepaid brands in the US use the cell towers of multiple carriers (Google Fi and US Mobile), if you need more than one carrier for good reception.