10 Ways to Increase Cell Phone Signal Strength

Check If Your Provider Is Down

If you’re wondering how to improve cell signal on your phone due to your internet data speed suddenly slowing down or cutting off completely, the first thing you should do is check to see if your carrier is experiencing some kind of service outage or restriction. While typically rare, service outages can happen as a result of a technical failure on the provider’s end or even due to a natural disaster that may have damaged mobile towers and phone lines.

Both major and minor mobile service interruptions are usually posted on a provider’s website and social media accounts. If no announcement has been made, you can also try contacting a representative via their official customer support portal.

Call From a Different Location

It may sound a bit silly but one of the most-effective ways for how to get better cell signal on your smartphone is to try making a call or checking apps from different parts of the room or house. Some objects, or even your house itself, could be blocking the mobile signal and, while you can’t move your house, you can experiment with different locations.

All you need to do is keep an eye on your phone’s signal strength via the bars at the top of the screen as you walk around. Try different rooms in different parts of the building and don’t forget to see if the signal strengthens once you go outside.

Turn Airplane Mode On and Off

Airplane Mode is a setting on all smartphones, tablets, and most modern computers that essentially disables all wireless signals so that the devices can be, as you may have guessed, used safely on an airplane. Unfortunately, this setting can often be switched on accidentally, especially when fiddling around with internet settings.

Turning Airplane Mode off can be done very easily on both iOS and Android smart devices. If you’re wondering how to get a better signal due to bad quality phone calls or slow media downloads, you may also want to try deliberately turning Airplane Mode on, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it off again. This will reset your device’s connection to your cellular provider and is a very effective way of getting rid of any weak signal issues.

Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to Fix Your Signal

Turning off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless connections can be an effective way to get better phone signals. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals can frequently cause conflicts between devices and apps and have even been known to cancel each other out. Your new Bluetooth headphones may be great but they could also be the cause of your phone problems.

To see if your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is affecting the strength of your phone’s cellular signal, experiment with turning each one off while trying to make a phone call or downloading data from an app. If your Wi-Fi is the problem, you may need to try increasing its signal strength. If a Bluetooth connection is causing issues, see if you can use another smart device for connecting with your Bluetooth accessory. 

Update Your Phone’s Operating System to Increase Data Speeds

One tip that could potentially increase phone signal and data speeds on your smartphone is to download and install the latest operating system and app updates. Such updates frequently include bug fixes for connection error bugs in addition to adding support for improved cellular network technologies and services offered by your provider.

It can be tempting to put off installing updates due to how long they can take to download but they are usually very important for maintaining device functionality and also to improve security against malware, virus, and mobile hacks.

Reset Network Settings to Boost Your Reception

A 'phone signal down' type of error message or a lack of cellular signal can sometimes be fixed by resetting your network settings on your smartphone or tablet.

Performing a network reset will delete your Wi-Fi usernames and passwords in addition to any VPN settings that you’ve enabled but your phone should reconnect to your provider automatically once the reset if finished.

Manually Choose Your Provider

A little-known way for how to increase mobile network signal in homes and offices is to manually select your network. This option is only available on some Android smartphone models but those who have the setting will be able to choose between a number of network operators.

To check if this option is available, tap Settings > Mobile Networks > Network operators > Search networks. A range of network operator options should appear. If they do, experiment with different ones to find one that gives your phone the strongest and fastest signal.

Improve Cell Signal With a Signal Booster Device

Cellphone signal boosters are incredibly useful devices that can increase the strength of your phone’s 3G, 4G, or 5G connection either when traveling to areas with poor coverage or simply when using your phone in your house or workplace.

Do cell phone signal boosters work? A lot of the time, yes. These devices perform a similar function to a TV antennae in that you place them in a location with prime access to a wireless signal, such as your balcony or roof, and that stronger signal is then made available for your smartphone and other connected devices to use.

The weBoost cellphone signal booster is a popular model but there are a variety of signal booster brands and designs worth looking at that support most major networks such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Get a New Phone With Better Signal Reception

You may not want to hear this, but it may be time to upgrade to a newer smartphone model. New Android and iPhone smartphones frequently include hardware upgrades to their antennae that provide more consistent coverage in addition to having support for faster wireless internet and cellular connections via 4G, 5G, and eventually 6G.

If you’ve just upgraded your mobile phone in the last two years or so, you should try the other tips on this page for how to get better signal strength. However, if your smartphone is several years old, especially if it’s an ancient pre-smartphone model, it may be time to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. Fortunately, there are a lot of exciting new cell phone models to choose from and upgrading can be pretty cheap nowadays if you’ve been with the same carrier for a long time.