What can be done about bad cell reception?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › What can be done about bad cell reception?

PaulZA

314 posts

Ultimate Geek

#141016 27-Feb-2014 10:05

Hey guys,

I'm with Telecom XT.

Lately, the bad cellphone reception at our house is really bugging me.

We live surrounded by trees, so that could be understandable, but even at the top of the driveway in the road, I still get two bars, and it cuts out frequently.

I live a semi rural area, (Henderson Valley), which borders on urban Henderson, so reception shouldn't be an issue.
Throughout the house, reception is really bad, I can get reception, but it cuts out, almost frequently.

I got disconnected from a fairly important call, because of Telecom's signal cutting out.

I don't know why reception is so bad, and what can be done about it?

When we were on the old CDMA network, we never had an issue.

The reason why I deceided to get XT, was because of Telecom's claim, that there was more reception then Vodafone, and since Vodafone's reception was bad, I decided to go with telecom, and their reception is even worse.

2Degees is slightly better, however I want to stick with a mainstream provider. 2Degrees is still too new for my liking.

Thanks

1 | 2

540 posts

Ultimate Geek

#995321 27-Feb-2014 10:27

One person supports this post

Either log a reception fault with Telecom and see what they say, or switch everything to Vodafone (broadband and mobile) and get a suresignal device for your home.

2degrees have been around for a few years now! When will they not be "too new"?

timmmay

15805 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#995329 27-Feb-2014 10:32

2degrees is well established.

Get a signal strength app for your phone, see if you can work out where/why it drops off. Could be something transmitting in your house, shielding because of silver paper in the walls, or just bad luck in a dead spot.

nakedmolerat

4553 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#995342 27-Feb-2014 10:43

One person supports this post

2Degrees is a mainstream provider.

Your options:

1. Go to 2Degrees

2. Move to Vodafone, then get SureSignal - you will need Vodafone broadband connection to do this

I also recommend you to give Telecom a call to see if the reception will be improved in that area in the near future.

1eStar

1542 posts

Uber Geek

#995429 27-Feb-2014 12:17

Have you got a telecom phone? Have you tried a different phone? Is your house made of corrugated steel? There are many factors that can influence cell reception.

Edit. My new zealish england is not too good.

nakedmolerat

4553 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#995432 27-Feb-2014 12:19

1eStar: Have you got a telecom phone? Have you tried a different phone? Is your house made of corrugated steel? There's many factors that can influence cell reception.

Good point!

Make sure your phone supports 850 WCDMA band

Kirdog

202 posts

Master Geek

#997357 1-Mar-2014 23:44

I have strange situation. With Telecom 3 Bars i get 0.50 Mbps connection data speed. With Vodafone i get 7 Mbps with the same 3 bars.

What can be wrong here? Galaxy S3 phone. Have tested on xperia as well, having the same issue.

Sorry about my English guys :>

raytaylor

3435 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#997897 3-Mar-2014 01:12

Signal bars are really useless at telling you the true ability of the phone.

A signal bar will tell you what is recieved but not the signal level transmitting back from you to the cell tower. So even though you have 3 bars of signal, the cell tower might not be able to hear your acknowledgement replies and so has to slow down accordingly.

Also multipath issues

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/01/cell-phone-rece/

Ray Taylor
Taylor Broadband (rural hawkes bay)
www.ruralkiwi.com

There is no place like localhost
For my general guide to extending your wireless network Click Here

SteveON

1917 posts

Uber Geek

#997918 3-Mar-2014 05:45

What is XT?

josephhinvest

www.hinve.st
1306 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#997919 3-Mar-2014 06:57

I was with 2degrees from the beginning but have recently moved house and there is 0 service. Switched to Skinny, solely because of reception, and now good reception at home. Try a different provider.

Cheers,
Joseph

Batman

Mad Scientist
21869 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#997921 3-Mar-2014 07:11

There is enough here to solve op's problem.

Good luck

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

overkill

222 posts

Master Geek

#997926 3-Mar-2014 07:31

Maybe if you plan on staying a few years at the property you could look at boosting the signal within the house, check out the following link.....

[removed URL to devices illegal to use in New Zealand]

"Setting the Standard in Quality and Commitment"

quickymart

4965 posts

Uber Geek

#999029 4-Mar-2014 19:00

SteveON: What is XT?

Was that a joke?

SteveON

1917 posts

Uber Geek

#999064 4-Mar-2014 20:36

quickymart:
SteveON: What is XT?

Was that a joke?

No such thing as XT mobile. The OP must be living in 2010 considering 2degrees is too new and all. /troll

Jaxson

7025 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#999083 4-Mar-2014 21:11

I used to live on Henderson Valley Road, cool flashbacks...

Anyway, as above, the main providers now offer services on a couple of bands, some of which handle countryside type locations a lot better. You need a phone that's capable of receiving these newer bands also...

knoydart

882 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#999107 4-Mar-2014 21:39

overkill: Maybe if you plan on staying a few years at the property you could look at boosting the signal within the house, check out the following link.....

[removed URL to devices illegal to use in New Zealand]

Use of any active device on a nz cellular network must be carried out only with the permission of the carrier. At present only 2degrees have issued a license for these types of repeaters, Vodafone have their sure signal but telecom have nothing. If you install and use without permission, you may incur an infringement notice and penalties

1 | 2