Why is my cellphone signal so weak?

Question

I have a Razr and my provider is Cingular. Now before everyone says either the phone sucks or the provider sucks, my signal was almost full all of the time. It didn't matter where I was, in a building, a tunnel, anywhere. The last couple of weeks though my signal has been very weak and I'm lucky to have a couple bars when I'm outside in an open area. A solution or atleast an explaination would be helpful.

Answer 1

There are a number of potential reasons why your signal may be weak:

1)You aren't close enough to one of your service provider's towers. This basically means you are out of the coverage area. Just because you see a tower, it doesn't mean you can use it, as it may be another provider's.

2) Your battery level is too low. If your phone doesn't have enough juice, it doesn't matter if you're sitting on a tower your phone can't pick up the signal.

3)Geography..If you're on the subway, or in a basement..those precious radio signals arent strong enough to penetrate rock or cement. This also goes for mountains, valleys, and other natural surroundings. Another nemesis of your cell phone signal?? Wet leaves...I kid you not.


4) Congestion, the more people are using their cell phones the weaker your signal.

5) Equipment malfunction. If there's a problem with the antennae, or to the phone itself (liquid or physical damage, manufacturer defect) the siganl can be reduced or totally wiped out.

6) Your phone has 'forgot' where to get it's signal. Sometimes your phone is attempting to pick up a tower that is out of range, when there is a better tower nearby. This is the easiest fix. Just turn your phone off, and then turn it back on. It will reboot and immediately search for the best closet tower.

7) And finally, there may be an outage in the area. Beyond your control...you just have to wait this one out. Probably the most frustrating, as it may last for days or weeks.

I hope this helps!

Well I hope that helps. Good luck.

Answer 2

There could be more than one reason why your phone signal is weak. It might have to do with where you live. Certain providers have stronger signaling areas in bigger cities. You might want to go to Motorola and get your RAZR checked out as well. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

You might need to update your roaming software... I do this every so often on my Razr. I have Verizon Wireless though. Sometimes I get weak signals where my old phone used to get a strong signal. They told me to dial #228 to update my roaming capabilities once or twice a month. Not sure if that would apply to you but it did help me. Good luck!

Answer 4

Call your provider they could be updating or having problems with the network, if they are you should be able to get something off your bill ($) because they aren't giving you full service 100% of the time. But, also your phone is a pos so good luck with that one!!!

Answer 5

It might be a problem with Cingular's tower service. They may be fixing the nearest tower(s) to you or updating you which could affect the signal.

Im with Verizon who always has crappy cell service.

Answer 6

Having trouble with your cell phone reception? Instead of getting a new phone, try an antenna signal booster

Answer 7

My dad had the same problem with his phone, he took it back to the shop and felt so stupid because they took off the back took out the sim card blew all over everything and it worked. Try that

Answer 8

did they call you and tell you to gt a new sim card? they told me that then when i went in they said i already had the right chip.. basterds. anyways i think they are doing womthign with thier service now that ATT is coming back. call and ask.

Answer 9

check he battery