“Sometimes you have two bars but can’t load any webpages. Sometimes you have four bars, but your friend with a different phone on the same network has only two,” Jason Cross writes for Macworld. “We’ve become reliant on signal bars to tell us how strong our cellular connection is, but in truth, the bars are bullshit.”
“Those signal bars are almost completely arbitrary. Yes, more bars should mean a stronger signal, but there is no standard scale,” Cross writes. “Every phone manufacturer gets to decide how much signal strength equals how many bars, and it often varies widely from model to model.”
“If you really want to know how strong your cell signal is, you need to look at a direct measurement of the signal strength, as measured in decibels (dB),” Cross writes. “Fortunately, there’s a hidden ‘Field Test’ menu on your iPhone to do just that.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We wish everyone a Reference Signal Received Power of -40!
To restate what Macworld concludes:
In truth, the bars that Apple iOS devices display to the user are bullshit.
One could accept a lower level of accuracy and sophistication with a first generation product, but now Apple has had 12+ years to perfect the iPhone. Its usability hasn’t improved, instead Cook chases after other companies to offer media streaming subscriptions and unprofitable Snap gimmicks and in-app price gouging.
But after all this time the iPhone doesn’t accurately report mobile signal strength (or battery health, or what “Other” files clog up memory, or what apps are sending data to Facebook servers, or specifically what files have been shared with iCloud with or without informing the user).
I don’t think its overly pessimistic to expect a company with Apple’s resources to product a better product than they did years ago. Unfortunately, Cook can’ cut the mustard.
Real world signal is still just 2g+ in most of America and it isn’t unlimited…..
You simply hate Cook and would blame him for everything and anything even if a problem is overstated or. simply not true.
“To restate what Macworld concludes:
In truth, the bars that Apple iOS devices display to the user are bullshit.”
In reality, signal strength is bullshit too. What you are really looking for is SNR: the signal to noise ratio. You could have a fantastic signal strength but be in an industrial area and have an extremely poor SNR causing you to not get a usable connection. Conversely, you could be in a rural area with extremely low noise and be able to get a usable connection with a low signal strength.
(To get really technical it all comes down to the signal’s energy per bit as compared to the combination of noise per bit and interference per bit.)
If you’re going to call bullshit on something, do it right.
Mike is just that nastea zzzerrrr000 scummebaggue.
It’s sad. My stunning original work from last decade will show Mike the light side of the force is in his grasp:
I don’t need that to tell me Sprint’s signal strength. -986
24/7/365
“Mike
Monday, March 4, 2019 – 1:23 pm · Reply
To restate what Macworld concludes:
In truth, the bars that Apple iOS devices display to the user are bullshit.”
Extreme troll alert.
The reality is that you don’t need a meter to tell you that you have a signal or you don’t. A meter isn’t going to improve your signal, only a change in your environment/device/carrier can do that.
The proof is in the pudding.