Rural Cellular Signal Strength

[Geobound]

I live in a rural community that is covered with LTE, however the portion of the road I'm on is in a bit of a valley and as such I don't get a cell signal in my home......and quite often poor out front.

I am approximately 6.1km to the nearest Bell tower, and my RSRP readings are between -119 and -123 constantly.

Is there anything that Bell can do to increase the signal strength?

I am currently using the iPhone 11 (so no 5G issues), I use a Netgear mesh network for my wireless (recent upgrade) and even at that I run into problems with Wifi calling.

Is there anything that Bell can do to assist me with these issues?

Thanks.

[BellAntgio · Accepted solution]

Hey there @Geobound, 

Thanks for your post and thanks for all of the troubleshooting that you've completed so far.

Being 6+ Km away from a tower can at times make it difficult for the signal to reach your device especially as you are in a valley as well. As I'm sure that you are aware topography, environmental conditions and line of sight to towers has an effect on signal strength. 

Have you thought of or ever tested a signal booster?

[Geobound]

Thanks for your reply.

I have thought about a signal booster, but wasn't sure if there was something that Bell would recommend as working good with their products?

For what it's worth my home is 2500 sq/ft and I live on a 3 acre property. I can get a signal outside of the home, but even at that it's pretty weak (I've not looked up the numbers yet).

What sort of RSRP numbers would I need to make that work? I'm guessing that those numbers would increase were I to take a reading on my roof, but I'm not prepared to go up there with all this snow.

I have noticed that Rogers has towers in multiple directions around me (6.7km, 6.9km, 8.6km) and have noted that when people who are on Rogers that visit me don't seem to suffer as bad as us........do you share towers or can something be added?

Apart from the one Bell tower that is 6.1km away, the next nearest Bell Tower is 17km away.

I'm surprised that the town about 5km's away from me (with a population of approx. 2600) hasn't been on about this?

Anyway, whatever information regarding a signal booster that you can share would be great. Also if there was somebody that I could speak to about our area would also be helpful.

Many thanks.

[BellAntgio]

Unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to recommend any particular cellular booster or antenna. There are many different types out there, however you would need to do the research to find the one that would best fit your needs. 

[graymass]

I have no service in my area port morien is there a booster that could help?

[Geobound]

Sorry I had lost this thread, and only now have just found it.

I have tried two different signal boosters, and nothing seems to improve my signal at all.

Recently I was talking to my local city councillor about the problem, and they tell me that our entire community is poorly covered by Bell......and Rogers for that matter.

Who can I speak to at Bell (or have my local city councillor speak to) as this is beyond poor.

If local hydro goes out (which it often does) then I am completely without cellular service.

Would it be better for me to reach out to the CRTC to see if there is anything they can do?

Many thanks.

[consumer]

If there is decent internet in your area I would suggest cellular to wifi. Get an IT guy to setup a roaming wifi system in your house and property. I live in a area where cellular signal is weak but I use cellular to wifi no problem.

[Geobound]

I appreciate your help, but I do use cellular over Wifi when the power is on, it’s when the power goes out that I am dead in the water.

380 Mps with a Latency of 16ms, Loaded 35ms, and an upload speed of 15Mbps over a mesh network, but as I said all that means nothing when there is no power.

I have called Bell and scheduled a call with one of their technicians, but no surprise that nobody ever calls you back.

I’m hoping that someone from Bell will see this, and take a chance on providing some customer service by actually reaching out to me.

[GJJB]

The power issue is moot in this post as Bell can't help you (a generator can).  

I'm also wondering how to get better signal strength.  I'm only about 3 kms from the tower and get 96dB which it calls low signal strength.   So the obviously limits throughout, and that's what we ultimately need (and pay for) .

I'll keep my eyes posted on this as I'd love an answer.  Maybe I need to go tweak my antenna. 

A signal booster as a solution baffles me because a transmitter is where we'd need to boost...   Boosting a received signal is just taking a weak signal chokeloint and adding more power, but it's still choked from the source weakness.

[User2505]

I would recommend that you and your neighbours contact Bell support every chance you get. Bell needs to know where there is low or variable coverage. They need more towers but can only build them as fast as their 3rd party installers are able to. Plus all it takes is one person to oppose a new tower and Bell will move on to the next area. It took our community over 5 years and involved all cellular providers, local members of parliament, the CRTC, local police, fire department, etc. but eventually a celluar provider came forward with a proposition. It involved the entire community and required no opposition before the cellular provider would install a new cell tower to cover the low/no signal area. We made a case that the area needed reliable 911 service which it did not have. It also helped that we had a local cottager who also was having low/no cell signal. That cottager was the CEO of one of the major cellular providers. I have thousands of pages of documentation that were required to finally bring better coverage to our area. Good luck to you and your community.

[Kilworthlowsignal]

Hi,  I am a frustrated loyal Bell customer.   I run a small business in KIlworth,ON and have dropped calls all the time.  Approx 5 calls today where the client cannot hear me;  I then stand in my driveway to continue the conversation.  A very professional image would you say ! 

Bell high tech group cannot assist and inform me that they have many customers reported same issues.  Bell has no time frame on when they might offer a solution. Bell does not provide signal boosters or any solution to my problem or others.  So, what does it take for Bell to fix the weak signal issue in our community.  

[dks]

While this is only an interim fix, a cellular repeater may be helpful to you. I have had good success at my cottage with one. Mine was made by Uniden. You can search using that brand, The key is to get the receiving antenna higher than your roof and to point it toward the Bell tower. A cellular tower map app is also helpful.