Tower choosing band with weakest signal
Alcahuete
Enthusiast - Level 2

Since the Verizon Level 1 and Level 2 techs. can't seem to figure it out, I figured I would ask here.  Maybe somebody has an idea.

My phone was constantly switching to Band 2, which has a horrible signal, and resulted in calls being missed, texts being missed, etc.  Band 4 gets all 5 bars, band 13 gets all 5 bars, yet the phone kept switching to band 2, which very occassionally gets 1 bar...normally 0, and constantly falls off the network.

Verizon claims to have sent people out to the tower and they couldn't find anything.  They had me change settings on my phone, change the Sim card, etc., and none of those things were the problem.  After trying everything they could think of, several techs. told me that they were 100% sure that the antenna on my phone went bad, and the phone would need to be replaced.

So last week, I got me a new S9+ and guess what?  Exact same problem.  The phone will stay on Band 4 and just randomly switch to Band 2 for absolutely no reason at all.  The phone is really nice for sure, but I really dislike having spent the money on a phone I didn't need, due to Verizon's screw up.

Does anybody have any ideas on this, because the Verizon techs. are completely lost and clueless.

Labels (1)
Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
boringusername
Master - Level 1

Maybe it's choosing the least congested band. Also your phone, especially if it's new, should be doing carrier aggregation so it should be using ALL 3 bands at once. Also there shouldn't be any difference in bars between band 2 and band 4. Band 4 is 1700/2100 and band 2 is 1900

0 Likes
Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
Alcahuete
Enthusiast - Level 2

Huh???  Of course there is going to be a difference in bars between the bands.  The different frequencies propagate way differently.  The higher frequencies will not propagate as well as the lower bands, i.e. Band 13 at 700 MHz.  That will propagate better over longer distances and through structures than say 2100 MHz.

There is a definite difference in dBm and RSSI between the bands.

According to the Level 2 techs., the band chosen is not based congestion, rather based on RSSI/dBm.  The band with the best reception is supposed to be the one that is chosen.

0 Likes
Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
boringusername
Master - Level 1

As I said band 4 is 1900 MHz both upload and download band 2 is 2100 on download and 1700 on upload. So how can band 4 be stronger than band 2?

0 Likes
Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
boringusername
Master - Level 1

EDIT": band 2 is 1900 and band 4 is 1700/2100 also my area only ha band 13 and band 4 and almost always connects to band 4 even though the band 13 signal is stronger. So explain that.

Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
Alcahuete
Enthusiast - Level 2

I'm just telling you what the techs. told me about the signal strength...that it should absolutely be connecting to the band with the strongest signal, based on the roam lists.

Any band can be stronger than another.  Just depends on what's in the way, etc.  If you are in your house, the 2100 MHz frequencies might penetrate your windows, doors, etc. better than the 1900 MHz signals.

However, when compared apples to apples in a clear line-of-sight environment, the lower frequencies will ALWAYS travel further.  Cell phones don't violate the laws of physics.

0 Likes
Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

I normally get the 700 band 13 inside and band 4 outside. The lower frequencies seem to penetrate walls better than the higher frequencies.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
boringusername
Master - Level 1

Ann154 wrote:

I normally get the 700 band 13 inside and band 4 outside. The lower frequencies seem to penetrate walls better than the higher frequencies.

Yes they do that's the nature of how radio waves work. However even though band 13 is stronger even inside I get band 4. So the others guys insistence that some tech sassy they base band selection on sign strength is wrong. If that was the case band 13 would be selected all the time and things would always be congested. In most areas Verizon has 20X20 of both bands 2 and band 4 and only 10X10 of band 13 so to always select band 13 would be crazy. Band 13 will always be stronger than the other bands.

0 Likes
Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
boringusername
Master - Level 1

Alcahuete wrote:

I'm just telling you what the techs. told me about the signal strength...that it should absolutely be connecting to the band with the strongest signal, based on the roam lists.

Any band can be stronger than another. Just depends on what's in the way, etc. If you are in your house, the 2100 MHz frequencies might penetrate your windows, doors, etc. better than the 1900 MHz signals.

However, when compared apples to apples in a clear line-of-sight environment, the lower frequencies will ALWAYS travel further. Cell phones don't violate the laws of physics.

Your phone can be programmed to use a certain band over others until a certain dB level is reached. regardless of signal strength.

Your 2100/1900 example doesn't make sense since both antennas would be on the same tower sector. The same thing blocking 1900 would be blocking 2100. There is nothing that could somehow block your band 2( 1900 ) that would make it significantly weaker than band 4( 2100 ) since as I said they are coming from the same tower sector. And if there was things blocking it that way you signal strength of the two would be switching all the time. Band 2 would be stronger than band 4 as you move around band would be stronger than band 2. Sorry but that tech gave you bad info or you misunderstood.

0 Likes
Re: Tower choosing band with weakest signal
JSC100
Enthusiast - Level 1

Same problem    August 2021

Devices choose 1 bar and ~7 MBS.  Restart, walk around and briefly get 4 bars and 25 MBS.

I've tried amps and garbage and it's clear the devices are programmed to select particular bands, no matter what.

I get decent data rates and signal on Band 13, but all my devices switch to Band 4 even if it's barely detectable.

I just now did restarts and moving around and reseting an amp and anything I could try.  I had 4 bars and 25MBS on band 13, but my MIFI switched back to "Band 0" (whic has to be garbage) and I have 1 bar and 6 MBS.

Why is the information, about why this is happening, hidden in some accounting, bad engineering, stupid technician cave?

0 Likes