Child Item

Site Totals

61366 Questions Answered 267 Categories

Signal Problems, Need Help

When I first got my Motorola Droid it had perfect signal strength in my house. 2 months after now it seems I can't get above 2 bars. I am not sure if this is possible but I remember someone telling about some way to call a certain number and then follow a set of instructions that will fix some signal problems. (something like adjusting it to use a closer tower or something). I really don't know much about it. If anyone knows anything about what I am talking please help me.

Comments

willanaya

Droid_Owner wrote:
When I first got my Motorola Droid it had perfect signal strength in my house. 2 months after now it seems I can't get above 2 bars. I am not sure if this is possible but I remember someone telling about some way to call a certain number and then follow a set of instructions that will fix some signal problems. (something like adjusting it to use a closer tower or something). I really don't know much about it. If anyone knows anything about what I am talking please help me.

*228, option 2

or just turn your phone off for 5 minutes. i was told something like this should be done at least once a week.

bkfist

willanaya is right. Doing that updates your PRL (Preferred Roaming List), but it is not going to make your signal strength any better at home if you are getting a signal from a Verizon tower already.

The phone will know about any actual Verizon tower's location, regardless of the version of the PRL. The updated PRL simply lets the phone know about other companies towers that it can use when there is no Verizon tower available and it must switch into roaming mode.

As to your change in signal strength, Verizon may have moved a tower to a new location, or added a new one and decommissioned an old tower that was closer to your house. It could also be due to a change in your house (Have you added new siding or metal-reflective backed insulation? Any new wireless routers or such that might be generating signal interference?

A power company could have put up new power lines between you and the tower, or even new construction around the tower itself that is reducing signal strength.

I would *guess* if you called Verizon support, they might be able to tell you if they have made any recent changes in your area. It's even possible that a tower is simply offline and they are working to get a crew out to repair it... If there is another tower close enough to cover the area with at least a weak but usable signal, it might get a lot lower priority than if it is the only tower in a given area.

fezzik

bkfist wrote:
willanaya is right. Doing that updates your PRL (Preferred Roaming List), but it is not going to make your signal strength any better at home if you are getting a signal from a Verizon tower already.

The phone will know about any actual Verizon tower's location, regardless of the version of the PRL. The updated PRL simply lets the phone know about other companies towers that it can use when there is no Verizon tower available and it must switch into roaming mode.

As to your change in signal strength, Verizon may have moved a tower to a new location, or added a new one and decommissioned an old tower that was closer to your house. It could also be due to a change in your house (Have you added new siding or metal-reflective backed insulation? Any new wireless routers or such that might be generating signal interference?

A power company could have put up new power lines between you and the tower, or even new construction around the tower itself that is reducing signal strength.

I would *guess* if you called Verizon support, they might be able to tell you if they have made any recent changes in your area. It's even possible that a tower is simply offline and they are working to get a crew out to repair it... If there is another tower close enough to cover the area with at least a weak but usable signal, it might get a lot lower priority than if it is the only tower in a given area.

The PRL list Does a little more than that. It keeps a list of towers that the phone can use and sets your priority on each tower. In other words based on that list you may be moved up or down on signal and bandwidth depending on how many users with the same or higher priority on the list are already there. Part of the reason for it is that there is overlap in towers and a lot of users out there and there has to be a way to manage that. Your PRL may keep you on a tower that is further away because you have a higher priority on that tower than the one whose coverage you are coming into. It waits to switch you and the list controls how that works. In densly populated areas there are sometimes as many as 3 signals converging in some areas. That would be like when you get weak to no signal in one room of a house but when you move to another room you get a strong signal. A combination of location, prioritization, and line of sight will dictate how much of a signal from what tower you are getting. That and laziness are the two main reasons *228 is the first line of defense against poor signal complaints.

Child Item