Cell signal strength is key to your cellular communications. Most people refer to the strength of their cell signal in terms of "bars". "I only have 1 bar" or "I have 5 bars". The bar system has been put on the cell phone so that people have a visual representation of what they percieve their cell phone signal strength to be. What do you think if your phone shows 5 bars on your phone? You would think you have the best possible signal available.
Let's see how cell signal strength is measured and show you how you can display the actual digital readout on your phone. Signal strength is actually measured in a negative numeric range of -50 dB to beyond -110 dB. If your cell signal strength is -50 dB you would have a fantastically strong signal, on of the best. In fact almost perfect. If your signal strength is -100 dB then you have a very poor signal and are probably ready to drop the call.
The first thing that you should notice is how much the cell signal changes. You might see it go from -75 to -85 and back to -80. Cell phone signal strength is not constant. You would think that if you stood in the same place that you should get the same cell signal all the time.
There are many variables to cell signal strength. Some of the more common ones are:
Number of phones using the tower
Data load on the tower (3G aircards etc.)
The tower only has so much strength. The more callers, the weaker the signal. This is why you might notice different signal strengths at various times of the day. For example at rush hour on the freeway you may not have as good a signal as late in the evening because there are more callers on the towers during rush hour when everyone is driving and talking on their phones.
Now when someone asks you what your signal strength is you can tell them you have a "neg 75" (-75dB). That will impress them. Most people at the phone store don't even know what your talking about.
