Raising the Bar - manipulating the signal indicator
I think Cingular Wireless has been manipulating the signal indicator in an effort to support their "Raising the Bar" campaign. My phone almost always has a full strength indicator even when my signal is weak and I am dropping calls.
I have had poor reception while talking to land line phones and my signal indicator was full strength. I have seen the signal indicator fluctuate, but I suspect that the fluctuation is part of the scheme -no one would believe they actually had full signal all of the time.
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dave73 said:...
As with any wireless service, if you know you're near a tower that Cingular is on, then you should get full signal bars, regardless of phone. I don't know what phone you have, but from what people have told me, LG & Motorola seems to not always handle weak signal areas that well. I don't know how true that is on Cingular since I have never used Cingular, and when my mom & sister were with Cingular 4 years ago, they always owned Nokia phones. Also if you're in an area with overlapping coverage, then your signal strength will fluctuate. I always get that with Verizon Wireless in certain areas of NW Indiana. As for Cingular, Cingular has never had any problems signal wise, before, or after the AT&T merger.
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SForsyth01 said:GSM/TDMA service is all dependant upon the numbers of users attached to a tower at a given time.
Cite please. I've never heard this excuse before.
littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:GSM/TDMA service is all dependant upon the numbers of users attached to a tower at a given time.
Cite please. I've never heard this excuse before.
Here ya go:
https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=9 »
The more "turns" being taken simultaneously on a tower leads to lower signal strength.
http://phonearena.com/htmls/terms.php?define=GSM »
That is another definition that shows how many users can be accessing a tower at a given time without sacrificing signal.
SForsyth01 said:littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:GSM/TDMA service is all dependant upon the numbers of users attached to a tower at a given time.
Cite please. I've never heard this excuse before.
Here ya go:
https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=9 »
The more "turns" being taken simultaneously on a tower leads to lower signal strength.
http://phonearena.com/htmls/terms.php?define=GSM »
That is another definition that shows how many users can be accessing a tower at a given time without sacrificing signal.
Niether of the links you provided says anything about signal strength being less because of more people acces...
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littlefuzzbear said:...SForsyth01 said:littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:GSM/TDMA service is all dependant upon the numbers of users attached to a tower at a given time.
Cite please. I've never heard this excuse before.
Here ya go:
https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=9 »
The more "turns" being taken simultaneously on a tower leads to lower signal strength.
http://phonearena.com/htmls/terms.php?define=GSM »
That is another definition that shows how many users can be accessing a tower at a given time without sacrificing signal.
Niether of the links you provided says anything about signal strengt
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SForsyth01 said:...littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:GSM/TDMA service is all dependant upon the numbers of users attached to a tower at a given time.
Cite please. I've never heard this excuse before.
Here ya go:
https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=9 »
The more "turns" being taken simultaneously on a tower leads to lower signal strength.
http://phonearena.com/htmls/terms.php?define=GSM »
That is another definition that shows how many users can be accessing a tower at a given time without sacrificing signal.
Niether of the links you provid
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If the signal strength is constant even if the tower is serving maximum customers then it would be understandable that I would have fluctuations in actual signal quality even if my signal indicator shows full strength. This is contrary to how some here have insisted that the technology works.
I do thank you for your reply and I am sorry that SForsyth01 was so rude.
littlefuzzbear said:...SForsyth01 said:littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:GSM/TDMA service is all dependant upon the numbers of users attached to a tower at a given time.
Cite please. I've never heard this excuse before.
Here ya go:
https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=9 »
The more "turns" being taken simultaneously on a tower leads to lower signal strength.
http://phonearena.com/htmls/terms.php?define=GSM »
That is another definition that shows how many users can be accessing a tower at a given time without sacrificing signal.
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littlefuzzbear said:SForsyth01 said:GSM/TDMA service is all dependant upon the numbers of users attached to a tower at a given time.
Cite please. I've never heard this excuse before.
The number of users does not change the signal strength. It determines call completion rates. The closer you are to the tower does increase your chances of successful call completion assuming that there is sufficient spectrum to handle the volume of users...
I am sure one can be right next to a tower and not have a signal due to the number of users of phones in the area. What is not clear is whether the signal indicator on my phone would indicate this.
SmileyBri said:
SForsyth01,
I am sure one can be right next to a tower and not have a signal due to the number of users of phones in the area. What is not clear is whether the signal indicator on my phone would indicate this.
It should, unless there is a problem with your phone. But what you should see is a constant jumping in signal from 5 to none and anywhere in between. If you are not seeing this, there is a problem with the phone, not the network. Cingular, as a company, does not have time to manipulate signal as you accuse them of. They are lucky they can get the entire network to work at the same time (and that is the same for ANY carrier).
It is not an accusation, but a theory. You can't know that Cingular does not do this. Many here have called me crazy for this thread, but I think you are crazy for trusting that Cingular is not doing this.
It ain't my phone. And it ain't just happening to me.
SmileyBri said:
SForsyth01,
It is not an accusation, but a theory. You can't know that Cingular does not do this. Many here have called me crazy for this thread, but I think you are crazy for trusting that Cingular is not doing this.
It ain't my phone. And it ain't just happening to me.
🙄
SmileyBri said:
SForsyth01,
It is not an accusation, but a theory. You can't know that Cingular does not do this. Many here have called me crazy for this thread, but I think you are crazy for trusting that Cingular is not doing this.
It ain't my phone. And it ain't just happening to me.
Hi long time reader, first time responder.I can tell you a couple of things about the indicator on your phone.With yourphone that indicator simply tells you indication of how strong the tower you are nearest to is giving off. With that aside its not an accurate description of the reception you get.
The tower could be a regional tower belonging to local provider, and if thats the case you get to use (it/tower) after...
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It is nice that you found humor in my theory, but I have to conclude that their signal indicator is worthless regardless of any deliberate attempt to manipulate.
The topic deserves more than what any of you have contributed.
Do you have Cingular? IN what area? Do you have a different experience with youe signal indicator?
I understand that you TRUST Cingular Wireless to never do anything like that. I think i have enough evidence of it that it is true or I wouldn't have posted it.
In my local area here I can confirm that on multiple Cingular Wireless accounts the signal indicator is worthless. It seems to always be at full strength even though calls are missed and dropped. I can have very bad reception talking to someone on a land line and have bad static until the call was lost. The whole time I showed a full signal.
I can repeat this in certain areas where Cingular has bad coverage I-95 between I-595 and Broward Blvd.
...
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you also need to assume that you are communicating with the same cell tower for both cingular and tmobile.
SmileyBri said:...
No, I don't think so. And I know it is not my phone because when I put my T-mobile sim in it the signal indicator acts correctly.
I understand that you TRUST Cingular Wireless to never do anything like that. I think i have enough evidence of it that it is true or I wouldn't have posted it.
In my local area here I can confirm that on multiple Cingular Wireless accounts the signal indicator is worthless. It seems to always be at full strength even though calls are missed and dropped. I can have very bad reception talking to someone on a land line and have bad static until the call was lost. The whole time I showed a full signal.
I can repeat this in certain areas where Cingular has bad coverage I-95
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if there was ANY and i mean ANY way to show you or indicate over the air you had 5 of 5 bars when you actually don't then i'm 900% SURE cingular would not give you 1 bar service idiot.
let me guess your an at&t customer originally that's upset because you cant keep the plan you signed up for in november of 2004 and now your sammsung x426 (or nokia) is acting up. and you can't get a new phone without converting because you didn't get insurance. and you free everything merger/buyout promo plan can't be transferred either. SO YOUR REALLY MAD! GRRRRRRR..... pulling the t-mobile card doesn't work. in your area EVERYBODY HAS GOOD COVERAGE!
Get your phone checked out if you aren't happy. Otherwise, ou might try moving this post to the RUMOR forum instead.
SmileyBri said:
To: freedomrep, i can here me now, Kiafice, sowhatsowhat10, dca
It is nice that you found humor in my theory, but I have to conclude that their signal indicator is worthless regardless of any deliberate attempt to manipulate.
The topic deserves more than what any of you have contributed.
Do you have Cingular? IN what area? Do you have a different experience with youe signal indicator?
It is nice that you found humor in my theory, but I have to conclude that their signal indicator is worthless regardless of any deliberate attempt to manipulate.....
I find humor in most conspiracy theories. This one I found pretty amusing. I cant speak for everyone but my myself, my coworkers, my ...
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SmileyBri said:
To: freedomrep, i can here me now, Kiafice, sowhatsowhat10, dca
It is nice that you found humor in my theory, but I have to conclude that their signal indicator is worthless regardless of any deliberate attempt to manipulate.
The topic deserves more than what any of you have contributed.
Do you have Cingular? IN what area? Do you have a different experience with youe signal indicator?
The signal strength indicator is something that your phone is responsible for. More often than not, Cingular isn't going to have the ability to "mess" with your signal strenght unless they turn off towers completely. Signal is signal, nothing can really affect that.
As far as your last questions go...
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RUFF1415 said:...SmileyBri said:
To: freedomrep, i can here me now, Kiafice, sowhatsowhat10, dca
It is nice that you found humor in my theory, but I have to conclude that their signal indicator is worthless regardless of any deliberate attempt to manipulate.
The topic deserves more than what any of you have contributed.
Do you have Cingular? IN what area? Do you have a different experience with youe signal indicator?
The signal strength indicator is something that your phone is responsible for. More often than not, Cingular isn't going to have the ability to "mess" with your signal strenght unless they turn off towers completely. Signal is signal, nothing can really affect that.
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SmileyBri said:
This is a theory and I am looking for supporting evidence. Since so much depends on the area you should know that I am in the South Florida area (Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach).
I think Cingular Wireless has been manipulating the signal indicator in an effort to support their "Raising the Bar" campaign. My phone almost always has a full strength indicator even when my signal is weak and I am dropping calls.
I have had poor reception while talking to land line phones and my signal indicator was full strength. I have seen the signal indicator fluctuate, but I suspect that the fluctuation is part of the scheme -no one would believe they actually had full signal all of the time.
And...
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SForsyth01 said:...SmileyBri said:
This is a theory and I am looking for supporting evidence. Since so much depends on the area you should know that I am in the South Florida area (Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach).
I think Cingular Wireless has been manipulating the signal indicator in an effort to support their "Raising the Bar" campaign. My phone almost always has a full strength indicator even when my signal is weak and I am dropping calls.
I have had poor reception while talking to land line phones and my signal indicator was full strength. I have seen the signal indicator fluctuate, but I suspect that the fluctuation is part of the scheme -no one would believe they actually had full sign
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SForsyth01 said:...SmileyBri said:
This is a theory and I am looking for supporting evidence. Since so much depends on the area you should know that I am in the South Florida area (Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach).
I think Cingular Wireless has been manipulating the signal indicator in an effort to support their "Raising the Bar" campaign. My phone almost always has a full strength indicator even when my signal is weak and I am dropping calls.
I have had poor reception while talking to land line phones and my signal indicator was full strength. I have seen the signal indicator fluctuate, but I suspect that the fluctuation is part of the scheme -no one would believe they actually had full sign
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SForsyth01 said:...SmileyBri said:
This is a theory and I am looking for supporting evidence. Since so much depends on the area you should know that I am in the South Florida area (Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach).
I think Cingular Wireless has been manipulating the signal indicator in an effort to support their "Raising the Bar" campaign. My phone almost always has a full strength indicator even when my signal is weak and I am dropping calls.
I have had poor reception while talking to land line phones and my signal indicator was full strength. I have seen the signal indicator fluctuate, but I suspect that the fluctuation is part of the scheme -no one would believe they actually had full sign
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Anxiovert said:...SForsyth01 said:SmileyBri said:
This is a theory and I am looking for supporting evidence. Since so much depends on the area you should know that I am in the South Florida area (Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach).
I think Cingular Wireless has been manipulating the signal indicator in an effort to support their "Raising the Bar" campaign. My phone almost always has a full strength indicator even when my signal is weak and I am dropping calls.
I have had poor reception while talking to land line phones and my signal indicator was full strength. I have seen the signal indicator fluctuate, but I suspect that the fluctuation is part of the scheme -no one would
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By the way, can any one spare me any change? I accept paypal.
In this day and age we should all know by now that we cannot trust corporate america (corporate world for that matter). Companies lie all the time to try and change their image. Its called propaganda.
I personally think it maybe the cell phone makers that are making their signal idicator show more bars because when people shop phones they compare signal strength among similar phones.
I know with my LG's will constantly show 1-2 more bars than my Moto and Treo and 3 bars more than my daughter's Ampd phone.
I have seen Sprint phones have full signal while the phone is sitting of the table in one spot, move it 3 inches and it will have zero bars.
Some phone companies have a reputation for great RF (Nokia, some motos, and samsungs), some are noted for great features, but bad rf depending on the phone model (Treos, LGs, SE) and much of that depends upon who likes what phone...
That makes sense. My phone is a Treo 600 and although the signal quality is good, I wouldn't think it is among the best.
I will begin to note which phones people use as they give me feedback on the issue here in my local area.
The Nokia blows the Treo out the water in terms of signal strength and call clarity.
The Treo stays around because it has qwerty, but I am sorely disappointed with the resets, RF and call quality.
I have a Cingular 2125 on the way and hopefully it will be as good as the Nokia in terms of call quality and RF
The Treo 650 on GSM is a bad comparison to my problem as that has always been a bad combination in this market. I know Cingular customers who received free Siemens SX66 devices up to a year after the Treo 650 purchase because device never worked right.
I have heard the opposite on Sprint and Verizon. What I get out of all of the feedback I hear is that Treo 600 is for GSM and Treo 650 is for CDMA. If you follow that rule you will find joy with Treo.
I do believe that an updater is available for the Cingular Treo 650 that is supposed to fix the issues.
I know plenty of co-workers (mortgage brokers and real estate agents) that will disagree with that assumption. The lawsuit that was filed was a combination of Sprint, Verizon and Cingular customers.
The T650 and T600 phones were plain and simply bad. Due to a bad design of the sim card tray which in spite of Cingular's objections, was used anyway, the sim card was never able to maintain it's contact point which caused a bunch of resets and periodic shutdowns. Adding 3rd party software to turn a mediocre phone into a somewhat useable device then causes another series of shutdowns, resets, lockups and freezes no matter who the provider is.
Not to bash a good idea that is still workable, just that Palm clearly should have put this...
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I stand by my comments. I have overwhelming evidence via user experience that the Treo 600 works well on GSM. Less so to support the Treo 650 on Verizon, but I know some happy customers with that combo.
The information on the lawsuit is posted all over the net. A quick google will tell you more...
That is a good point, but I don't think it is consistent with my findings thus far.
In another fork of this thread someone remarked that my signal indication could be good because the tower signal is strong in my area, but could be over serving users - thus my poor reception and dropped calls.
So there are at least two explanations for the results I see.
Thanks for your comments.
RUFF1415 said:
SE phones generally have excellent RF. The s710 is likely the best phone (reception wise) that has gone through Cingular...ever.
I second that. 😎
As stated previously, you will see fluctuations in signal strength based on many factors including power fluctuations, RF, downlink, uplink, network configuration. The list is endless..
Also, signal strength will vary by model based on RF. If you work for a carrier, get with your RF teams or engineering. Im sure they would be happy to explain all this to you.
Lastly, Ampd is an MVNO selling Verizon so comparing them is not relevant.
My phone is a Treo 600, but the issue is apparent on my wife's audiovox, and I have polled some friends and clients.
I will start to get more specific data about the phones used by people who give me feedback pro and con. It could very well be an issue with certain types of phones as someone pointed out.
One of the problems behind the SMT 5600 was that it would literally have a full signal when you started the call, but by the time you finished dialing the number it was drop city.
That is not something that Cingular did in order to manipulate signal.
I have gotten to the point that if I am talking to someone that is on sprint, I know the call will drop. If I am on the phone with someone on Nextel, I know that the call will drop. If I am on the phone with a verizon or cingular person, if they are in a urban area, I expect there to be some static but not a lot of drops.
Miami, if I remember correctly has not been fully integrated which might a...
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I understand the logic of the cell phone makers and the different ways the signal indicator is made, but that does not explain the very specific characteristics of what I have posted.
Given that the signal indicator shows full strength almost always even when the signal is actually weak.
And
The behavior does not exist with my T-mobile SIM.
Plus, I have found this with my Wife's phone and other family and friends on Cingular. I have tested my theory in different areas. I must admit that most of my friends don't think it is likely that my theory is correct when I tell them, but when I bring it to their attention they usually come back saying that I might be right.
Other people ...
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t-mobile and cingular in the same area. cingular has more towers than t-mobile and are in the 1900mhz band which is supposedly a little weaker but every place you go it's stonger tha cingular. 😕 i must say you THEORY is stupid. 👿 😛
SmileyBri said:...
Thanks for taking the thread seriously, adilus.
I understand the logic of the cell phone makers and the different ways the signal indicator is made, but that does not explain the very specific characteristics of what I have posted.
Given that the signal indicator shows full strength almost always even when the signal is actually weak.
And
The behavior does not exist with my T-mobile SIM.
Plus, I have found this with my Wife's phone and other family and friends on Cingular. I have tested my theory in different areas. I must admit that most of my friends don't think it is likely that my theory is correct when I tell them, but when I bring it to their attention they usually come back saying tha
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That makes sense, but does not speak well for Cingular. I know they are the largest provider due to the purchase of AT&T, but if this is the issue then it means they have more customers than their towers can handle on a fairly regular basis.
Am I understanding this wrong?
SmileyBri said:
Pardon my ignorance. So when my signal changed due to the number of users attached to the tower and my Bar indicator wouldn't fluctuate?
That makes sense, but does not speak well for Cingular. I know they are the largest provider due to the purchase of AT&T, but if this is the issue then it means they have more customers than their towers can handle on a fairly regular basis.
Am I understanding this wrong?
No, you are understanding wrong. Your signal indicator would fluctuate. Happenes to me all the time. I can go from 5 bars to 2 to 4 back to 1 and up to 5 without moving and all in the span of 1 minute. It is how GSM/TDMA works. It is completely based on the number of users.
...
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Okay, then please let me explain why I think it is not a phone problem.
1. I put my T-mobile SIM card in the phone and drive around and the signal indicator fluctuates in most areas of town (some areas better then others for the most part).
2. My experience with the signal indicator and the signal quality is verified by other customers on Cingular Wireless - all using different phones really.
So, I am back to my theory that Cingular Wireless has manipulated the signal indicator to support their Raising the Bar Campaign.
are you carrying a non carrier branded unlocked phone?
if not get it checked out.
If you are using an unlocked phone (which it sounds like you are due to you having the ability to switch SIMS like that and have your phone work), that may be a part of your problem. Make sure your phone actually has the 850 band, because that could be the source of your problems if it doesn't.
If your phone is a Cingular locked phone, I would suggest having it checked out. If it is unlocked, you must deal directly with the manufacturer. Also, ke...
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It would be really hard to follow this thread now with all of it's forks, so I don't blame you for not understanding the problem. Here it is again:
My signal indicator fluctuates as you expect it would on T-mobile's network. It does not fluctuate much on Cingular's network. You would think that this is a good thing, but in reality the signal fluctuates to the point of bad reception and dropped calls - all with a full strength indicator.
My theory, and comedic genius apparently, is that Cingular has found a way to cause this behavior deliberately. It is marketing genius and goes along with their "Raising the Bar" advertising campaign.
Now for some of the details.
Phone: Treo 600 (850/900/1800/1900)
...
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SmileyBri said:...
SForsyth01,
It would be really hard to follow this thread now with all of it's forks, so I don't blame you for not understanding the problem. Here it is again:
My signal indicator fluctuates as you expect it would on T-mobile's network. It does not fluctuate much on Cingular's network. You would think that this is a good thing, but in reality the signal fluctuates to the point of bad reception and dropped calls - all with a full strength indicator.
My theory, and comedic genius apparently, is that Cingular has found a way to cause this behavior deliberately. It is marketing genius and goes along with their "Raising the Bar" advertising campaign.
Now for some of the details.
Pho
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Forgive me. The almighty and all knowing SForsyth01 has spoken. Please stop posting to this thread everyone! In fact, shut the whole board down! We don't need phonescoop.com, we will all just contact SForsyth01 directly via email for answers to all things cell phone!
Forget email! Face East, get on your knees, and bow your head all the way to the floor. The answer will come before you can even ask your question. Almighty SForsyth01 knows all.
I have read through your replies once again. Although you did indicate similar ideas, it was never clear to me that the signal could fluctuate independent of what the indicator shows.
And as someone who apparently works for Cingular Wireless I find it abhorrent that you would try and kill this thread with "Ok people, can we end this once and for all..." and "end this madness!!" as if this whole forum simply bows to your genius.
The whole purpose of having this discussion on Phonescoop.com is that I can get feedback from people who's only bias comes from their experience, pro or con, with a particular phone or carrier. If you would like control over how long a negative thread gets about Cingular Wireless then I suggest yo...
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Head over to cingular.howardforums.com and do a search for 'GAIT'. There are a few helpful threads with instructions. If for some reason you cannot find it I can send details.
hth,
Pedro
rayban said:
raise the bar indeed 🤣 that wouldnt surpise me at all
🤣 🤣 🤣 cingular sucks