Signal strength and quality
Both signal strength and quality contribute to successful cellular data communications. The factors that influence signal strength and quality include but are not limited to:
- proximity to the cellular tower
- tower load
- competing signals
- physical barriers (mountains, buildings, vegetation)
- weather
Because signal strength and quality can vary due to many factors, they may not give a true indication of communications performance or range. However, they can be useful for activities such as:
- determining the optimal direction to aim a Yagi antenna
- determining the effects of antenna height and location
- trying alternate Yagi antenna (reflective) paths
- seeing the effect of vegetation and weather over time
Signal strength
Signal strength is how strong the received signal is. The closer your CR300-CELL is to the cellular tower, the more signal the antenna will pick up. Signal strengths are lower the farther away from the tower the CR300-CELL is.
For 3G networks, signal strength is reported as RSSl (Received Signal Strength Indicator). For 4G, it is RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power).
Signal strength units are –dBm; –70 is a stronger signal than –100.
|
Signal strength |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Strength estimate |
RSSI (3G) |
RSRP (4G) |
| Excellent | -70 or greater | -90 or greater |
| Good | -71 to -85 | -91 to -105 |
| Fair | -86 to -100 | -106 to -115 |
| Poor | less than -100 | less than -115 |
Signal quality
Signal quality shows how much interference there is between the cellular tower and CR300-CELL, or how noisy a band is. Cellular signal noise comes from reflections, ghosting and other interference. Better signal quality is an indicator of more successful communications during precipitation events such as rain and snow.
For 3G networks, signal quality is ECIO (Energy to Interference Ratio). For 4G, this is RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality).
Signal quality units are –dBm; 0 is a better signal than –10.
|
Signal quality |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Quality estimate |
ECIO (3G) |
RSRQ (4G) |
| Excellent | 0 to -6 | >-9 |
| Good | -7 to -10 | -9 to-12 |
| Fair to poor | -11 to -20 | -13 or less |