Cell signal lost at night

[BammBamm]

I'm currently experiencing signal loss from 730pm to 8am daily.  Several days in a row now. 

This is at a remote location where only one tower is close enough. 

Going from 4 bars LTE to zero or 1 bar.

I have no clue what is going on.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[dks]

Thanks for your question. I can think of some possibilities but they would be speculation. I wonder if Bell staff have a better idea. 

[BellAntgio · Accepted solution]

Hey there @BammBamm , 

Welcome to the Community and thanks for your post. 

Like @dks stated, it could be the result of many different factors. However, as you stated being in a remote area and covered by only 1 nearby tower, it sounds like the tower might be saturated in the evening. 

Allow me to elaborate; The signal is strong during the day when people are out doing things/working etc. But at night when everyone is streaming, gaming, surfing, using the mobile internet signal all at once, the available bandwidth drops as more and more people pull from the limited resource.

We invite you to check out our Mobility How To's section for tips and tricks when facing service issues. 

Let the Community know if you have more questions.

[BammBamm]

Thanks for the reply. 

I'm someone who is very tech savvy.  I understand bandwidth can be an issue and I notice it on weekends. 

However,  you could set a clock with the timing of the signal loss. (Will drop out after 7pm to 1 bar lte at best. Usually goes to H+ about 2 bars)

Had a friend over yesterday and the same thing happened to his phone (iPhone) and I have a Samsung. 

We both lost signal a little after 7pm. And both got it back at 8am.

This is also a new issue.   No problems last summer.

 I will get another screenshot after 7pm tonight. 

Cheers

[BammBamm]

I'm actually interested in some of your speculation because I am out of ideas 🙂

[dks]

@BellAntgio’s suggestions make sense. Where I am in the summer has similar issues, especially on weekends. There is also one Bell tower and several hundred cottages. I find things slow down in the evening, but there is still some speed. 

[BammBamm]

At 7:10pm I lose the signal.   Adding a screen shot.

 

And this screen shot from now after signal returned again (8:01am)

 I made a screen recording between 7:58 to 8:02 this morning to show exactly what I am experiencing. 

It's like the tower is on a timer!

Cheers

[BellAntgio]

Thanks for the screenshots @BammBamm ,

We've reached out via private message to review this further.

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Looking forward to hearing back from you.

[dks · Accepted solution]

It is speculation, but you might be right. The cellular network is exactly that. A network. And networks are not unlimited in their capacity. We see that in real time when there is a power outage or natural disaster. If power fails and the cell tower has no backup power, the cellular signal has to shift to another tower that tower can reach signal capacity and you get failed connections. That same is true in a disaster such as a wildfire or tornado. People call family and friends for support or to check on well-being and the system reaches capacity.

This is not new. In the days of copper lines, you could get a network busy signal (rapid beeping) on high call volume days like a Christmas and Mother’s Day.

It is possible that load volume is forcing Bell to balance the network load on your tower at the same time each day. It shows the potential for a new tower, perhaps. That’s a Bell issue that can take months or years to resolve. Most of us don’t realize there is some pretty remarkable technology underlying our cell phone. At least not until they don’t worth as expected. 

[BammBamm]

All valid points!

I remember the days of busy networks on Christmas day...

Thanks for the speculation 🙂

Cheers