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How To Check Your Cell Phone’s Signal Strength

Updated: Nov 9, 2023


How To Check Your Phone’s Signal Strength

Do you often find yourself struggling to get a good signal despite having bars? This is an inaccurate reading of your phone’s strength. The accurate way of reading your phone’s signal is by checking the decibel-milliwatts (dBm) reading. Begin discovering how to check your phone’s signal strength to understand why you’re dropping calls.


Check Your Cell Phone Signal Strength

Checking signal strength differs from phone to phone, and sometimes you can download apps to do the job for you.


How To Check Signal Strength on iPhone

If you’re an iPhone user, checking your signal is a bit tricky. However, if you have an iPhone with an Intel chipset, you check your signal this by:

  • Dialing *3001#12345#* then pressing call

  • Tapping “LTW or Menu”

  • Tapping “Serving Cell Meas”

  • Finding “rsrp0”

“Rsrp0” is representative of your phone's signal strength. Once you've done this, close out of the tabs. Note that running a field test differs depending on the chipset and model.


How To Check Cellular Signal Strength on Android

Running a field test on an Android is typically the same for all models. Do this by:

  • Going into “Settings”

  • Selecting “About Phone”

  • Tapping “Status or Network”

  • Tapping “SIM Status”

Once you’ve clicked into “SIM Status,” you’ll find your dBm reading.


How To Find Cell Phone Signal Strength on Blackberry

Like an Android, you can check your dBm reading on a Blackberry phone by going into “Settings.” However, the pathway after this is slightly different. To measure your dBm reading on a Blackberry, do the following:

  • Go into “Settings”

  • Tap “Device”

  • Tap “Device Status”

  • Select “Network Info”

After accessing this, you’ll see your dBm reading, and it’s time to decipher what it means.


How To Read dBm

As you begin discovering how to check your phone’s signal strength, the first thing to understand is how to make sense of your dBm reading. The number you find will be between -50 and -120. While -50 dBm is ideal for a perfect signal, -120 is a dead zone.


The range between these is as follows:

  • -50 dBm is the ideal calling quality.

  • -80 to -89 dBm is a good calling quality.

  • -90 to -99 dBm is acceptable calling quality.

  • -100 to -109 dBm is poor calling quality.

  • -120 dBm or lower is horrible calling quality.

How To Improve Calling Quality

There’s an easy solution to improving your dBm reading: a cellphone signal booster! There are cellphone signal boosters for apartments and houses, boosters for commercial buildings, and even antennas for vehicles.


Before purchasing a booster for your home, walk around your property to find where your signal is the strongest. That’s where you should install the cellular booster. A booster will improve your calling quality by amplifying the signal between your phone and the nearest cellular tower.


Shop at SureCall Boosters as you begin searching for the best booster to improve your phone’s performance so you can get back to making calls and receiving texts without frustration!

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