How does cellphone -dB value translate to real-world info?

[crumbworks]

Google isn't being very kind at answering this for me, so I'll ask here.

I got an Android widget that shows my cell reception in a more specific # of bars (instead of the basic 4 bars of my Nexus S) and it also lists the -dB value, which seems far more accurate because I can be at a variety of numbers and still report the same # of bars.

So, question: how does this -dB value translate to the real world? All I know is that the more into the negatives it goes, the worse the reception is (so -100 is worse than -60) but what is good? What is bad? What is considered acceptable in a situation where the call is unlikely or likely to drop, etc.?

Thanks!

[davidA]

Google isn't being very kind at answering this for me, so I'll ask here.

I got an Android widget that shows my cell reception in a more specific # of bars (instead of the basic 4 bars of my Nexus S) and it also lists the -dB value, which seems far more accurate because I can be at a variety of numbers and still report the same # of bars.

So, question: how does this -dB value translate to the real world? All I know is that the more into the negatives it goes, the worse the reception is (so -100 is worse than -60) but what is good? What is bad? What is considered acceptable in a situation where the call is unlikely or likely to drop, etc.?

Thanks!

It actually works the other way round, the lower the number the stronger the signal. You need a signal strength of lower than -90dB in order to get decent reception.

This link might help. (http://www.labnol.org/software/find-blackberry-signal-strength/14128/)

[crumbworks]

It actually works the other way round, the lower the number the stronger the signal. You need a signal strength of lower than -90dB in order to get decent reception.

I wrote exactly that in my original post -- I wrote, as my example, "so -100 is worse than -60".

When you're dealing with negative integers, thinks get confusing -- but all in all, it's a scale from about -50 to -110 with the closer to -50 being better.

Technically the higher the number, the stronger the signal because -50 is a higher number than -100. Negatives can play tricks on you :)

Thanks for the link.

[davidA]

I wrote exactly that in my original post -- I wrote, as my example, "so -100 is worse than -60".


So you did crumbworks - please excuse me :)

[Tyrone]

Thanks for the information guys.