With the introduction of 5g networks, the world is more digitally connected than ever. However, we may still find ourselves residing in areas with poor cell reception that affect buildings, individuals, and businesses. For those of you who are affected by poor cell signal. Here in this article, our experts will help locate the nearest signal tower to your home or business environment. In the US alone there are currently 300,000 cell towers so finding a cell tower near you that supports your signal should be a matter of minutes.
The first thing you need to do if you wish to improve cell reception is to Find the nearest cell tower location. Discover the direction from which you receive the strongest signal, analyze that information, and form necessary steps to boost the cell signal to the location where needed.
Does your carrier serve your area?
Make sure to find out which of the four major carriers and their networks are covering your area if you are experiencing poor cell signal. You may be subscribed to a nationwide cellular carrier, however, that does not say with utmost certainty that service is available everywhere in the nation. As a matter of fact, there are still many isolated pockets across all states of the U.S. that are not served by signal carriers.
Our experts have found a few free and easy-to-use resources to help you find the nearest cell tower for your specific carrier. Learn these quick and easy ways to find nearby towers for all major carrier cell towers including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and, T-Mobile.
Verizon Cell Tower Locations
If your carrier is Verizon you can analyze this Verizon cell tower locater that covers an area of roughly 2.5 million square mile radius. This will not display the Verizon cell tower map but you can learn about the 4G LTE coverage area and the spots that are outside your area. You can also check our cities in which Verizon provides 5G coverage.
AT&T Cell Tower Locations
For all of you AT&T customer, the best way to locate an AT&T tower near you is through the AT&T map where you can analyze coverage in your area. This is not a precise AT&T cell tower map although it shows you other important details like off-net areas that may be limited to 2G (orange), 4G LTE areas (blue), other AT&T coverage (green), and areas where there is zero AT&T coverage (white).
T-Mobile Cell Tower Locations
To use this T-Mobile tower map to locate 4G LTE coverage all you have to do is enter your zip code or move the cursor to a spot on the map and you can see if the network is available in that area. White denotes the areas where there is no coverage and Areas with coverage are designated in pink. T-Mobile is also working on a 5G coverage map for 5g users.
Sprint Cell Tower Locations
Using the Sprint cell towers map you can locate the extended areas, 4G LTE, and areas where non-LTE service is available. Once you spot your location on the map and select it you then have to select a device to learn about network coverage and performance. You can also do your own data speed comparison on the basis of coverage.
Ways to Find Cell Towers Near You
Here are a few alternate resources that will help you locate cell phone towers on your own or with the help of a professional if you need to locate towers quickly.
Find the Cell Tower Yourself
- CellMapper displays cell site locations of all major carriers and provides up-to-date information to find 4G towers near you. CellMapper is a free Android app that pinpoints the locations of nearby towers as well as your location. The app gives you accurate details about the type of signal you are receiving (3G or LTE, CDMA, for example), your carrier information, decibels (dBm) reading of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).
- Antenna Search is another free site that helps you find the cell tower near you. The site uses your street address from your device location and displays a map of all towers within a two-mile radius on Google Maps. The website also gives you details about upcoming cell towers and a list of pending applications to construct new cell towers. You can also find out if your carrier has good or poor coverage in your area for free through this cell reception website.
- CellReception has a free app and website where all you need to do is enter your state and city and you will find all the cell towers located near you on Google Maps. You can search for your carrier using the site’s robust filtering capabilities. For instance, you have the option to view only Verizon or T-Mobile cell tower locations.
- OpenSignal is one of the top apps for Androids and iPhones. Here you will not get specific cell tower locations, however, you can see where the signal is strongest in your area and compare the performance of other networks as well. You can also test the speed of your mobile or Wi-Fi connection on OpenSignal.
Using your Smartphone to Determine Cell Signal Strength
Now that you have learned how to locate the nearest cell tower, you will want to know the strength of the signal that is transmitted to your mobile device or phone. You may think that the bar graph on your phone shows you your network signal strength but that is not an accurate measure.
Decibels or dBm are an accurate measurement of Cell signals. You usually notice full network strength (full bars) when your cellular devices operate with -50dBm. If you are not receiving any signal (zero bars) you may be in a dead zone where you are receiving a frequency of -12- dBm. Ideally, cell signal carriers operate between frequencies of -50 dBm. The bars on your phone cannot be considered as an accurate representation of network signal strength because each carrier defines which dBm range correlates to a different number of bars. For example, You will see three bars on Verizon in comparison to one bar on T-Mobile due to lack of an industry standard.
Regardless of the number of bars displayed on your phone, the true signal strength is determined by dBm. You will enjoy a better signal if you are nearer to -50 dBm, and the closer to -120 dBm, the worse your signal.
Most of the latest smartphones have an inbuilt “field test mode’ feature where you can see your network carriers’ dBm signal. This feature is also available in Apple devices but is hidden in iOS 11 models and above.
Why You Need a Cell Phone Signal Booster for your Building
Now that you have learned how to locate the nearest cell tower, you can rectify the problem of weak cell signals more effectively by using a cell signal booster also known as a cell signal amplifier. There are many Signal boosters available in the market. They are prices quite reasonable and can be installed by yourself as well, if the size of the building is vast I would recommend taking the assistance of a professional.
To boost your signals even more our experts recommend installing cellular amplifiers that use passive distributed antenna systems, or passive DAS. Your indoor signal gets amplified 32 times more through a Passive DAS.