Signal improves at night / degrades in the day?

[redarrow]

During the day I normally never get over 2 bars signal (gprs), and sometimes it drops right down to nothing, as a result my connection is often slow and kind of irratic...

The funniest thing about that is that the nearest tower is probably only about 800 meters away as the crow flies - I can see it out my window sticking above the treetops

Anyway every evening around 8:30 the signal steadily increases - right now my cellphone is reporting full 5 bars - and consequently my connection becomes much more stable..

Is there some reason why a signal would increase at night?
Fewer people using a tower make any difference?

 

[ajax]

The number of users do not affect the signal strength on 2G. Are you sure the tower you see is a Vodacom tower? At 800 m you definetly should not be getting only a few bars.

I'd be more inclined to suspect your tower is further away. If so, the atmosphere can be playing a significant role.

 

[redarrow]

I've never actually measured the distance... so yea I may be miscalculating a bit... but it's really not that far away...
I don't actually know if it is a Vodacom tower... is there someway to tell?
I do know that when I drive right by it (I mean literally right by it) then I get a full signal...

 

[ajax]

I've never actually measured the distance... so yea I may be miscalculating a bit... but it's really not that far away...
I don't actually know if it is a Vodacom tower... is there someway to tell?
I do know that when I drive right by it (I mean literally right by it) then I get a full signal...

You can drive up to the tower and check for their logo, sometimes they show it.
Full signal on a phone can typically vary by a factor of 100000 without the user knowing it - full signal is -85 dB relative to a mW. Close to a tower you can easily get -35 dB (100000 times stronger). Best would be to do a drive by with a phone with netmonitor installed/activated, like an old 6110 or a 6680 and check the signal in dB, if you are geek enough

 

[redarrow]

I was planning to go for a stroll to the tower today... but the weather was too foul for hiking this afternoon...
I don't have a old Nokia unfortunately...

Just my Motorola V550 and a old Siemens ME45... I dunno if either of them have "netmonitor modes" ... ? anyone?

 

[omega]

Ajax is correct in that, the number of users do not affect the signal level, however the number of users on 2G does impact the noise floor, therefore during the evenings when there are fewer users the radio enviroment is much more cleaner. With 2G the control channel radio transmits continously, however the other radios transmit only when there is call activity on them, thus if GPRS is configured on the latter, it will be more cleaner in the evenings. The better radio enviroment will also ensure that the highest data rate coding scheme is used. This still does not ans the signal levels, perhaps you are switching between basestations.
Also 800m in the built up environment is far and depending on the antenna direction you could have poor reception at 800m.
Also don't think the V550 and a old Siemens ME45 have netmon modes.

 

[Ekhaatvensters]

Iburst does the sam thing with me, signal between 2-4 during the day, 4-5 (mostly 5) at night time. Connection improves dramatically, yet that is normal for Iburst.. but is the signal change?

Is there something about night time that lets wireless transmission work better? i remember learning something in science at school a long time ago about sound waves traveling further at night due to something.. same for wireless signal?

 

[PDonut]

it might be atmosphere related since relatively low frequency signals "bounce" off the atmosphere allowing them to travel long distances. Im guessing a bit, but i'd imagine the cooler air at night and possibly more cloud cover would help improve signal quality on the ground.

 

[arf9999]

AFAIK For high frequency signals the atmosphere shouldn't have such a big influence, but solar radiation might (i.e. noise).

 

[redarrow]

Just come back from a walk to this tower... even took some pictures of it here and here ...

Anyway if logo's are to be believed it's a MTN tower - just one very tiny little logo on the bottom - it would explain the full strength MTN signal around here though
Although standing at the base I get full Vodacom and MTN signals...
Do Vodacom and MTN share towers at all? I stand to be corrected but I believe they did for some time..

Also 800m in the built up environment is far and depending on the antenna direction you could have poor reception at 800m.

Well, this is a small-holding area.. so I wouldn't exactly call it built up..

 

[internaut]

That's definately an MTN tower. Vodacom towers are the ones that look like huge dildos sometimes disguised as trees.

 

[3g_rox]

That's definately an MTN tower. Vodacom towers are the ones that look like huge dildos sometimes disguised as trees.

Not always - Vodacom often uses the lattice type masts shown here. This is especially the case in some of the rurual areas.

 

[ajax]

Although standing at the base I get full Vodacom and MTN signals...
Do Vodacom and MTN share towers at all? I stand to be corrected but I believe they did for some time..

You would get full signal on Vodacom even though there is no tower. The tower is most likely located on a local peak (in height) so you are probably getting line of sight to a Vodacom tower some distance away.

Judging from the picture I assume you are not living in a town or city as towers in towns/cities normally have directional antennas - 3 long flat panels spaced equally w.r.t. angle.

Vodacom and MTN do share towers but not everywhere. If they share they only share the structure of the tower, not the antennas and radio equipment. I only see two omnidirectional antennas on that tower. On the shared towers I have seen, where both Vodacom and MTN have signs indicating so, there have always been at least 4 omnidirectional antennas on the structure.

Maybe putting your phone in the window may help getting a better signal, if the Vodacom tower is located in the direction your window faces. Otherwise an outside antenna will do the job.

 

[redarrow]

Judging from the picture I assume you are not living in a town or city as towers in towns/cities normally have directional antennas - 3 long flat panels spaced equally w.r.t. angle.

Just on the edge of P.E.

Maybe putting your phone in the window may help getting a better signal, if the Vodacom tower is located in the direction your window faces. Otherwise an outside antenna will do the job.

I've been thinking about an external antenna, I think it'll help quite a bit,
apart from that tower, there is another tower in direct line of sight, but it's kind of far away - probably about10KM - so an antenna might boost the signal a bit...

Thanks everyone for all the input

 

[ajax]

Just on the edge of P.E.

I suppose it always helps to read someone's alias details first