God damn it, T-mobile..

[Standby]

I'll just cut straight to the chase, i'm trying to talk to a friend via a text regarding what i consider important information and as per usual, my phone refuses to send my text, citing 'no signal', however, upon rotating my phone in there air and retrying about 7 times it magically works.
If my information is correct, texts are sent via satellite, which are wayyy up in space (ok, thats's a simplified explanation but stay with me), and if that's the case, why should it matter if i move my phone 1 or 2 feet to the left?

Point of this thread: Anyone have any explanation to the reason why phone signals can be so tempermental, and has this ever affected you when you really needed a signal? (Text or phonecall).

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I don't know why it happens, but that's why I keep my phone in my right pocket, because there's no signal in my left apparently.

 

[Skreeee]

I've only ever seen people with this problem with T-mobile. I'm sure it happens to those with plans from other companies, but with Mobile it seems to be a constant battle for a signal. So my explaniation would be that T-Mobile either just plain sucks, or doesn't have enough towers to support its own customer base at a satisfactory rate.

I myself have Verizon, and that only loses signal every once in a very great while.

 

[Radeonx]

Thats strange, well ive heard Tmobile is a little dodgy anyway. I have att which is pretty reliable. Although there is a certain spot in my kitchen that rivals the bermuda triangle.

I recently acquired Att, and I think it is very good. Except for sometimes, during storms, I have to stand on a desk next to the corner of a ceiling to get reception.

 

[USSR]

Thats strange, well ive heard Tmobile is a little dodgy anyway. I have att which is pretty reliable. Although there is a certain spot in my kitchen that rivals the bermuda triangle.

I recently acquired Att, and I think it is very good. Except for sometimes, during storms, I have to stand on a desk next to the corner of a ceiling to get reception.

AT&T, making fat people work for their signal =3

I have AT&T, and it's pretty damn good =p

 

[Tav73]

I'm with Orange, I can be lay in bed on the phone and have full signal, then roll over and lose it all.
Also, houses I'm working in seem to have a 50ft anti-signal aura, unless they're in a generally no-signal area, in which case they have amazing signal.

I'm pretty sure physics needs a law entirely concerning mobile phone signals..

 

[Torque669]

Im with Orange and their signal isnt fantastic. I mean its not horrible but isnt great either. About average.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Thats strange, well ive heard Tmobile is a little dodgy anyway. I have att which is pretty reliable. Although there is a certain spot in my kitchen that rivals the bermuda triangle.

Your in America and you have heard of Tmobile over there?, cool, I thought it was restricted to the UK or something.

Its a truely awful network, I had a mobile phone on T mobile a few years back, it was an exercise in futility trying to find the Iron Ore deposits on the ground I stood on to increase reception.

I'm on o2 right now, oh yeah... good times, I get a signal anywhere, in fact i'm gonna try it out now!, I'm going into my closet!.

*several minutes later*, yep, still had signal.
So where else should I go?

edit I just realised what I said, going in the closet, and coming out of a closet.

 

[Chinchama]

I'm in the states and have T-mobile as well. I'm not a huge fan of it considering my house is a complete dead zone.

Soon as this contract is up I am gonna make the switch to Verizon. Better phones and significantly better service ftw.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Oh yea they are one of our big providers. We have Sprint, ATT, Verizon, Tmobile, and an upcoming one called Metro PCS. Its just funny that they are known to be rubbish on two continents.

Haha, nice you put it take way, rubbish on two continents?, brilliant.

There's a reason why T-mobile is rubbish in the UK, the radio masts are based on the old One2One system, which was a small mobile provider that outdid the big boys by having outdated Telefonica systems to provide cheap mobiles to the masses, it worked, they were cheap provided you stayed within your "zone".

When the 3rd generation of mobile tech came out a company called Hutchinsons 3G rented the T-mobile tech to service their customer base, big mistake, since the T-mobile customers got priority during heavy use periods such as important holidays, i.e. Christmas and my Birthday...

 

[Xojins]

I'll just cut straight to the chase, i'm trying to talk to a friend via a text regarding what i consider important information and as per usual, my phone refuses to send my text, citing 'no signal', however, upon rotating my phone in there air and retrying about 7 times it magically works.
If my information is correct, texts are sent via satellite, which are wayyy up in space (ok, thats's a simplified explanation but stay with me), and if that's the case, why should it matter if i move my phone 1 or 2 feet to the left?

Point of this thread: Anyone have any explanation to the reason why phone signals can be so tempermental, and has this ever affected you when you really needed a signal? (Text or phonecall).

Don't worry, you aren't alone. I have T-Mobile as well. It used to work pretty well for me I guess. Which phone model do you have? I have a BlackBerry Pearl and it does that same exact thing. One minute I'll have full bars while texting someone, and then for some frustratingly stupid reason I'll lose all service. Then I just have to wait until my phone feels like having service again. I hate T-Mobile. I don't even get good service in my house

 

[Standby]

If my information is correct, texts are sent via satellite, which are wayyy up in space (ok, thats's a simplified explanation but stay with me), and if that's the case, why should it matter if i move my phone 1 or 2 feet to the left?

Unless you specifically purchased a satellite phone and an associated plan with satellite coverage (cheapest seems to be through Iridium at $1.50 a minute, I believe), your information is incorrect.

For standard cellphones, this site has a simple breakdown.

 

[Standby]

If my information is correct, texts are sent via satellite, which are wayyy up in space (ok, thats's a simplified explanation but stay with me), and if that's the case, why should it matter if i move my phone 1 or 2 feet to the left?

Unless you specifically purchased a satellite phone and an associated plan with satellite coverage (cheapest seems to be through Iridium at $1.50 a minute, I believe), your information is incorrect.

For standard cellphones, this site has a simple breakdown.

Ah, well that pretty much covers it! Still though, just annoying sometimes you know?

 

[koichan]

If my information is correct, texts are sent via satellite, which are wayyy up in space (ok, thats's a simplified explanation but stay with me), and if that's the case, why should it matter if i move my phone 1 or 2 feet to the left?

Your phone doesn't directly connect to satellites AT ALL, for that you need a dedicated satellite phone (which usually have HUGE aerials on them and very expensive)

As for the signal being picky, thats a normal thing for mobile phone networks, the signal level is actually extremely variable over short distances (signal reflections off surfaces and so on), the handsets actually average this out on the signal meter as they thought a wildly changing signal bar would confuse people.

 

[USSR]

Thats strange, well ive heard Tmobile is a little dodgy anyway. I have att which is pretty reliable. Although there is a certain spot in my kitchen that rivals the bermuda triangle.

I recently acquired Att, and I think it is very good. Except for sometimes, during storms, I have to stand on a desk next to the corner of a ceiling to get reception.

AT&T, making fat people work for their signal =3

I have AT&T, and it's pretty damn good =p

Did you just call us fat? Oh its on buddy! As soon as i finish this cupcake...

I lost 50lbs in only 2 weeks while getting my AT&T signal =D

 

[Rascarin]

I'm with Vodafone, and my phone has developed this amusing habit of having full signal before making or receiving a call, and mysteriously losing ALL of it in the journey from being in front of my face (so i can read the screen) to me putting it to my ear. What the hell!?