What do your phone signal bars mean? A simple explanation

The bars on your smartphone represent the signal strength that your phone has received. It could also be used to determine how close your phone is to the nearest telecom tower in your vicinity. The technical term for this is loudness: just like an indicator for how well your device can ‘hear’ the nearest telecom tower. 

Think of signal strength like a Hawker calling out what they are selling. If they are in front of your house, their voices are loud and clear. If they move farther away to the next 2 or 4 houses, their voice gets quieter and harder to understand.

This means that the more bars your phone shows, the stronger the signal. And the lower the number of bars, the weaker the strength.

In addition, some factors affect your phone’s signal strength. They include:

• Distance from the telecom tower: The farther you are from it, the weaker.
• Obstacles: Buildings, mountains, trees, and other obstructions can weaken it.
• Weather conditions: Severe weather conditions, such as heavy rain or wind, can affect your signal strength.

Technically speaking, Signal strength is also called RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and measured in decibel-milliwatts (dBm). The closer it is to zero, the stronger the strength.

• -70 dBm to -80 dBm: Excellent (near tower).
• -80 dBm to -95 dBm: Good
• -90 dBm to -100 dBm: Fair/Average.
• -110 dBm to -120 dBm: Poor/Weak

However, strong bars do not always guarantee a smooth voice call or internet experience. What dictates the pace is the signal quality. This means that having a full bar (signal strength) on your phone doesn’t guarantee a smooth connection. 

Signal bars are not always right, and they don’t present the true picture of an internet speed or quality. 

Imagine the Hawker is standing right at your gate (Strong Strength), but at the same time, your neighbour’s generator is on and making a loud GRRRRRR noise, or a car is passing by. Even though the Hawker is shouting, you can’t understand what he is saying because of the noise. 

Signal strength is about hearing the voice (loudness), while signal quality is about understanding the voice (clarity). 

Factors that can affect signal quality include:

• Network Congestion: During peak hours or in densely populated areas, network congestion can lead to poor quality.
• Strength of the connected site (relating to backhaul connection) 
• Carrier throttling: This occurs when a user has exceeded a data usage cap. In this situation, the network operator activates a threshold, resulting in slow connectivity.

Technically, Signal quality is termed RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) and measured in dB (decibel)

• -3 dB to -10 dB: Excellent.
• -10 dB to -15 dB: Good.
• -15 dB to -20 dB: Poor
• -20 dB or higher: Bad/Dead

The interplays 

Enjoying a strong voice and internet experience is determined by the interplay between your signal strength and quality.

The interplay between signal strength and quality can occur in four scenarios.

1. Normal Scenario: High strength combined with high quality, resulting in maximum data speeds and stable voice calls. 

2. Strong Strength, Poor Quality: This occurs in congested areas or at night when you have a lot of people connected to the tower at once. You may see full bars (high strength), but experience dropped calls and slow data.

3. Weak Strength, Good Quality: Possible, especially in rural areas, where signal strength is clear. You might have only 1-2 bars, but still experience reliable, but a bit slow data transmission.

4. Weak Strength, Poor Quality: Bad signal strength with poor quality, resulting in no connection. 

How to Check RSRP/RSRQ on smartphones 

On iPhone

Step 1: Turn off Wi-Fi to ensure you are measuring cellular data.

Step 2: Open the Phone app and dial *3001#12345#* and press call.

For iOS 14+: Tap the menu icon (top right), select “Serving Cell Meas”. Look for RSRP and RSRQ

On Android

Method 1: Go to Settings > About Phone > SIM Status.

On other Android phones: Go to Settings > About Phone > More information > Phone information > SIM Status 

Look for “Signal Strength” to see values in dBm. Most Android devices only show RSRP, and not RSRQ.

Method 2: Using speed test applications can be used to measure both RSRP and RSRQ

Also Read: Nigeria’s mobile internet speed doubled in 2 years, driven by 4G adoption and data usage. 

Coverage gap

Connecting to the internet is more than just having a full network bar (strength), but it also depends on the quality of such a connection. When connectivity drags, such users are tagged as being technically connected but receive a weak: they belong to an underserved area.

A joint report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Ookla pegged both download and upload speed in those areas to be 40% slower than normal, while latency (Lag) is estimated to be 3 minutes higher.

For Nigerian internet users under this category, web pages load more slowly, and sending photos, videos and files takes longer. 

They also face significant delays in streaming video, making video calls and performing online gaming activities.

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