This guide is a practical explanation of what affects cell phone reception and why cell phones drop calls from time to time.  Simply put, cell phone reception is effected by up to four factors which are: 1) batteries, 2) transmitters, 3) towers, and/or 4) switches.  Each cause is discussed below in order for you to understand what effects reception and what can be done to improve reception.  If you find the guide helpful, please help others find it by clicking "Yes" below, and thanks for reading.  JustCellular on eBay

The Cell Phone: the Transmitter

Each cell phone has a transmitter that sends a signal to a cell phone tower.  The power of the signal is limited by Federal Law to a little less than one watt of power.  Before we started carrying cell phones around with us, they were mainly fixed in our cars and had 3 watts of power which sent a much stronger signal to the tower.  I had a car phone in the early 90s and it never dropped calls, the reasons are that it had a three watt transmitter and, as explained below, a fully charged 12 volt battery (car battery) powering the transmitter and few people were on the system.   Three watt transmitters are too big and power hungry for small handheld phones (possibly associated with health hazards as well) so handhelds have small powered 9/10ths watt transmitters.   Now all cell phones have the same power amplifier and barring a short in the phone or physical damage, the transmitter is usually not the culprit of poor reception and, as explained latter, rarely the cause of dropped calls.

Battery: The Transmitter's Power Source

Fresh batteries that are fully charged as well as keeping it on a charger (car or wall) when it is convenient to do so, is one of the few things that you can do to meaningfully improve your cell phone's reception.  The reason why is the transmitter is limited to 9/10th of a watt, however, if it does not get ample power from the battery, it puts out something less than 9/10th watts of transmission strength which will effect the clarity of your signal.  Next time you have bad reception in an area you normally get good reception, see if your battery charge is very low.  I notice this at my office, when my reception fades, it is almost always the caused by my battery's charge being low. 

Towers: The Dropped Calls Culprit

Cell Phone Towers do not have unlimited capacity to handle calls.  There are a fixed number of calls that a cell phone tower can handle at one time.  What happens as you drive a long, your call is transferred from one tower to another, the problem arises when you get transferred from one tower to another cell phone tower.  If the tower you get transferred to is full, boom, you get dropped even though you are getting a signal.  Again, I notice I  drop calls on the same spot on the interstate that I drive, however, not every day.  I notice that it is the worst during rush hour when traffic is stop and go.  Everyone is on their cell phones and the towers are full.  You may ask, how can you make a call?   When you call, your phone waits until the tower frees up and connects the call, however, once the call is connected it doesn't put you on hold if it transfer to a busy tower, it just drops the call.  Another cause is that you get to far away from a tower and can no longer receive the signal.  Finally, drop calls are rarely caused by the cell phones, it is almost always the tower and as discussed later, the Switch.

Switches: They Get Busy to

Once your call connects to the Tower, the call is relayed through the MTSO (Mobile Telephone Switching Office) at the central office that controls all mobile calls for the wireless carrier.  Sometimes that switch becomes overloaded and it has to drop some of the incoming calls.  Again, as your call is transferred from one tower to another, the tower may have room, but the overall system is overloaded and the call is dropped at the switch.  That is why cell phone carriers advertise that they have fewer dropped calls.  Again, its rarely the cell phone that is the cause of dropped calls, it is the wireless network including its towers and switches.

I hope you find this guide helpful and helps you understand what effects the performance of your cell phone.  Check me out on eBay at Just Cellular,  Thanks for reading.  JustCellular on eBay