service bar

hey, can you hear me now? in this video i’m going to show you 10 cellphone life hacks, for getting better reception. would you believe there’s actually no industrystandard for what the bars on your phone mean? it’s true.â  4 bars on your phone couldtranslate to only 2 bars on another phone, so how can you tell what kind of service you’reactually getting?â  well check this out. if you’re on an iphone, try dialing *3001#12345#*,then press call.â  you can see it puts your phone in a secret “field testing” modethat shows the real strength of your signal, in the upper left corner of the screen.â i’ll show you why that’s important in just a second. in the mean-time if you’re an android userit’s even easier.â â  just go to “settings”

—> “about phone” —> “status”,and look for the “signal strength” indicator, which you may have noticed, is measuredin dbm. dbm stands for “decibel-milliwatts”, and to put things in perspective, -70 dbm is areally great signal, while anything under -100 dbm is pretty much a dead zone.â  thescale’s exponential, which means a boost from -105 to -95 actually means, the signalon my phone just got 10 times better.â  and a shift from -105 to -75 isn’t just 30 timesstronger.â  it’s over 1,000 times stronger. that a dramatic difference! now try walking around your house, and stoppingin each of the rooms for a couple of minutes,

to make a map of which areas have the strongestsignal, and which areas are the weakest. this way you’ll know all your ideal callinglocations, so you’ll know where to go, for quality conversations. speaking of locations, let’s try to findthe phone tower you’re connected to right now.â  if you have an android, go to the “playstore” and download a free program called “open signal”.â â  open it up and clickthe tower icon on the left-hand side, and you’ll see it brings you to a map view,showing all the towers in your area. give it a minute, and you should see a redline pops up between your phone, and the tower you’re connected to, which in most cases,isn’t the closest one.â  if you click the tower, you can get gps directions to it inthe bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

so, why not go for a little walk and make a “real-life” connection, with your cell phone tower?â  by knowing exactly which directionit is, you’ll be pointed the right way, on your quest for clarity. quite often your phone will stay connectedto a tower, even if there’s a much stronger signal near by.â  of course this preventsyou from being tossed around from tower to tower, but it might be the same reason yourcall quality is suffering.â  try rebooting your signal. you can easily do that by switching to airplanemode for about 3 seconds, then switching it back.â  if you don’t have airplane mode,you can use “open signal” to refresh the network for you, or simply turn your phoneoff, and turn it back on again.

you know those times when you start gettingmessages just when you take your phone out and check it?â  it might not be a coincidence,but instead, your messages might be getting delayed, and delivered late.â  glance downat your battery level, and check to see if it’s low.â  your phone uses more power toping the towers when you’re actively using it, but conserves power when it’s on standbymode.â  and that might be the reason it’s not getting updated as frequently.â  so ifyou’re suspicious your messages are getting delayed, the solution could be as simple,as charging your battery. by the way.â  flip it to airplane mode fora few minutes, and it’ll recharge even faster. modern day insulations and window tintingsare great for keeping buildings and vehicles

cool, but they can be terrible for cell phonesignals, because it’s kind of like wrapping the building in aluminum.â  try doing thatwith your cell phone the next time you’re on a call, and see what happens. in a similar way, your vehicle’s nothingmore than a big metal box with metallic tint covering the windows.â  so if you notice you’restruggling for a good connection on the road, the simple solution could be as easy as rollingdown the window.â  you’ll probably find your signal more than doubles in strength,which not only boosts productivity, but will probably boost your mood as well. it’s possible that your phone doesn’twork very well because your carrier doesn’t

actually cover your area. get online and compareyour location with the coverage maps for all the different networks.â  if you live insideone carriers “dead-zone”, there might be another network that services your areaa bit better.â  so solving the problem could be as simple, as switching providers. now if you really like your carrier and don’twant to switch, it’s no problem.â  there is a way you can keep your network and stillboost your signal, and i’ll show you how that works in a couple of minutes. in the mean-time, another low-budget alternativeis to call your carrier and ask for the “customer retention department”. you might be ableto talk them into sending you a femtocell,

or a cell-spot router, which is basicallya small, low-powered cell phone converter that connects through your internet. you shouldbe able to get service as long as you have an internet connection, but there are somedrawbacks you need to be prepared for.â  calling through the internet doesn’t produce thebest call quality, and your femtocell only works with your carrier.â  that means it won’tbe compatible for anyone with a different network, and since it goes through your internet,it’ll likely slow your connection as well. but as long as you're ok with that, a femtocellor cell-spot router, could be a good way to go. another option is “wi-fi calling”.â  ifyou happen to be near a wi-fi hotspot, try switching your phone over to “wi-fi mode”,and just like that you’ll be able to make

and receive calls using your regular phonenumber, but over the wi-fi network instead. this can be a great way to save on roamingcharges, if you’re traveling internationally, or maybe trying to send a message from 39,000feet.â  but keep in mind that not all phones and carriers will support this feature, andif they do, it’ll still count against your monthly cell phone minutes, while slowingyour internet speed at the same time. now if you want to fix the problem, ratherthan just figuring out ways around it, try what i did and get a weboost, cell-phone signalbooster.â  the genius behind a signal booster is that it can take the weakest of signalsoutside, and amplify them to full power inside. which effectively, is like putting a minicell-phone tower right inside your room.

this means you'll get faster data speeds,clearer conversations, and since your phone doesn’t have to transmit long distancesanymore, you’ll be saving power as well. which means longer battery life. a signal booster will eliminate dead-zonesat the office, and even keep you connected on the road, which is perfect for anyone makingbusiness calls on the go. and if you’re living way out in the boonies,a booster may be just the right prescription, for curing, your “weak signal” condition. by the way the great thing about “weboost”technology is they work with every network, every carrier, and there’s really no limit,to how many people can use it.

well now you know a little more, about howyour phone works, and 10 tricks for finding a clearer signal. so whether you live in an area with terriblecoverage, or just have a load of radio-blocking materials, between you and your tower, rememberyou’ve still got options to boost your network’s signal, and get your voice heard. well that’s it for now.â  if you liked thisproject, perhaps you’ll like some of my others. check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com