This tower guy is not happy about 5G

[Glock 40]

So you knowledgeable dudes tell me, why does my cell drop calls when I have 5 bars worth of dB signal? Hit redial until the cows come home and no calls go through until I hit a lower dB area.

There are multiple things that can cause it. We have to play 20 questions. Is it at a certain location/place all the time? Does it happen in multiple places or just the one? Do you have anyone else in your home on the same service? Are they having the same issue at same places? First thing to isolate is it just your phone or multiple on the same provider. When the call drops is it silence or do you hear a beep? As for hitting redial is it just silence then beeps and call ends?

 

[Tanis143]

Have you tried a digital antenna? I bought an antenna and installed it in my attic out of site. We would lose channels at night until I figured out they are directional and must be pointed at the source. Once I moved the direction about 20 degrees. The last time I updated our TV channel presets we were getting about 40 -50 digital local channels. And there really is no digital snow. The channel is either there or not. In addition to the local channels we have Sling, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and some other free channels on the ROKU.

Yep, if I didn't work for Cox I wouldn't have any paid tv service. Its just too expensive. I built an antenna using coated copper ground wire and a 300 to 75 ohm matching transformer (the adapter to go from screw type antenna to coax). Put it up in the attic and was able to get over 50 channels. I had it connected to a digital tv tuner card in my computer and could dvr many of the shows my wife and I watch. I've since given that computer and antenna to a friend since I really didn't use or need it, but it would be simple and cheap to do again.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Yep, if I didn't work for Cox I wouldn't have any paid tv service. Its just too expensive. I built an antenna using coated copper ground wire and a 300 to 75 ohm matching transformer (the adapter to go from screw type antenna to coax). Put it up in the attic and was able to get over 50 channels. I had it connected to a digital tv tuner card in my computer and could dvr many of the shows my wife and I watch. I've since given that computer and antenna to a friend since I really didn't use or need it, but it would be simple and cheap to do again.

So you’re the Cable Guy? I think I found a new friend!

 

[Snattlerake]

There are multiple things that can cause it. We have to play 20 questions. Is it at a certain location/place all the time? Does it happen in multiple places or just the one? Do you have anyone else in your home on the same service? Are they having the same issue at same places? First thing to isolate is it just your phone or multiple on the same provider. When the call drops is it silence or do you hear a beep? As for hitting redial is it just silence then beeps and call ends?

Driving down the highway I can be talking to someone on the cell through the bluetooth radio, three beeps and I get the screen telling me the call was terminated. I look at the signal bars and there are 5 bars. I hit redial and I get the same screen over and over and over. I do a hard reset on the phone, iPhone 6, and I can then talk to Kim Jon Ilk if I want to.

Yep, if I didn't work for Cox I wouldn't have any paid tv service. Its just too expensive. I built an antenna using coated copper ground wire and a 300 to 75 ohm matching transformer (the adapter to go from screw type antenna to coax). Put it up in the attic and was able to get over 50 channels. I had it connected to a digital tv tuner card in my computer and could dvr many of the shows my wife and I watch. I've since given that computer and antenna to a friend since I really didn't use or need it, but it would be simple and cheap to do again.

I did the same thing. I made an omnidirectional antenna out of PVC and coat hangers with the transformer you mentioned and stuck it in my attic. I rotated it until max dB was shown on my setup screen. Lucky I live almost due west of 90% of the stations. I also did a channel reset and have about 6 more channels it sees but won't bring in.

 

[Tanis143]

Driving down the highway I can be talking to someone on the cell through the bluetooth radio, three beeps and I get the screen telling me the call was terminated. I look at the signal bars and there are 5 bars. I hit redial and I get the same screen over and over and over. I do a hard reset on the phone, iPhone 6, and I can then talk to Kim Jon Ilk if I want to.

Does it happen on a certain stretch of road? You could be hitting a tower that isn't your carrier but your phone is connecting to it. Other than that, maybe something the car is doing is interfering with the cell reception. With RF you could have a strong signal but horrible SNR and it will cause issues, I see it all the time in cable issues.

 

[SMS]

I DO know a great deal about radio and I listened to the first 3 minutes of this and it's all WRONG! This guy doesn't know anything! He says current cell phones use 1 to 2 MHz, that's not even close! They are in the 700+ MHz range. He's also talking about power levels and such, pure B.S. The new 5G will use much smaller cell sites than our current setup. They will be located about every block but will be much lower POWER than what we have today and use much higher frequencies. Our data speeds will be MUCH higher, in the 1 GB (gigabit) range compared to 20 to 100 MB now. He also talks about heating up the water in your body, that's what a microwave oven is designed to do, they operate at 2.4 GHz which is the frequency (and ONLY frequency) that water vibrates at. 5G won't be using any frequency near that. But don't let them put a cell site in your yard!

Ditto. 30+ years of experience with RF systems here. That guy is conflating so many terms and dunning-krugering so hard it's almost funny....

 

[SMS]

Driving down the highway I can be talking to someone on the cell through the bluetooth radio, three beeps and I get the screen telling me the call was terminated. I look at the signal bars and there are 5 bars. I hit redial and I get the same screen over and over and over. I do a hard reset on the phone, iPhone 6, and I can then talk to Kim Jon Ilk if I want to.

Biggest thing here is that signal strength, and how many bars you have, is just representative of how strong the cell signal is...but the "cell" can be saturated with users so your call gets dropped because of whatever algorithms they use to prioritize users.

 

[Snattlerake]

Does it happen on a certain stretch of road? You could be hitting a tower that isn't your carrier but your phone is connecting to it. Other than that, maybe something the car is doing is interfering with the cell reception. With RF you could have a strong signal but horrible SNR and it will cause issues, I see it all the time in cable issues.

You know, I'm all over three states and I cannot really give a good pinpoint as to location. I just know I have on several occasions been watching the phone's signal meter and then all of a sudden,
"Thanks for Playing!"

 

[dennishoddy]

You know, I'm all over three states and I cannot really give a good pinpoint as to location. I just know I have on several occasions been watching the phone's signal meter and then all of a sudden,
"Thanks for Playing!"

If your on AT&T, download the app on your mobile called "mark the spot". It reports directly to AT&T. They will ask if your willing to do a signal test. Takes 30 seconds and the results are logged. We are in a fringe area for AT&T, getting lots of dropped calls or having to walk outside to make or take a call. I got feedback from them several times saying their tower was having issues and they were working on it.
We passed that app on to several friends and hopefully they passed it on, but now we have great phone service. I think random dropped calls are just part of mobile device living because of the issues the folks in this thread have presented.

 

[Glock 40]

Driving down the highway I can be talking to someone on the cell through the bluetooth radio, three beeps and I get the screen telling me the call was terminated. I look at the signal bars and there are 5 bars. I hit redial and I get the same screen over and over and over. I do a hard reset on the phone, iPhone 6, and I can then talk to Kim Jon Ilk if I want to.

I am not an Apple fan so I have always avoided their products, so I am no help from that angle. It really does sound like to me its a phone issue. The fact its giving three beeps. A quick google search of Iphone and 3 beeps has numerous hits. Normally when a calls terminate whoever dropped the call will hear a single beep. Sometimes when you try and make calls or do a call back if you can't get a call to go through it will time out after so many retries. This again will give a beep or beep code. The fact that you do a reset and then it starts working again leads me again think its a phone issue.

As for dropping calls while driving. If you said it was the same place every time that could point to an issue with tower handoffs or terrain issues. There are certain places its impossible to keep a call up just because the signal isn't there ie hilly road with deep valleys. The tower will shoot right over it.

Depending who your provider is it may be worth calling into their tech support and opening a customer ticket. They can investigate it and see if they think its phone or tower related. Again the fact that your in multiple places and states with the issues, leads me to think its device related. My personal experience with phones is they are kinda like your brain and concussions. The more times you drop them even though they are in a case the more they start to get a little finicky and show signs of their age.