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4G & 3G signal strength - bars icon

Nor*Cal

Well-Known Member
Mar 22, 2011
167
59
Bay Area
I always see people referencing their 4G or 3G connection as "full" or "1 bar", "2 Bars", "3 Bars", etc.

I've always thought that the Signal Strength Bars are for voice signal and has nothing to do with Data Signal.

For data signal you either have it or you don't, 4G, 3G, 1X. There is no strength meter.

Can someone confirm this or correct me please. It's so widely used that it has me doubting myself.
 
I always see people referencing their 4G or 3G connection as "full" or "1 bar", "2 Bars", "3 Bars", etc.

I've always thought that the Signal Strength Bars are for voice signal and has nothing to do with Data Signal.

For data signal you either have it or you don't, 4G, 3G, 1X. There is no strength meter.

Can someone confirm this or correct me please. It's so widely used that it has me doubting myself.

This is correct; the bars are merely for voice only.

The indicators 4G, 3G, and 1X are for data only, and therefore are not measured by the voice signal strength bars.
 
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I realize I fall into this trap as well. I really only use it to try to convey when I am on a fringe of service / no service. Does it matter? Yes...at least to me. If I am in town with a stronger signal, I won't have any hiccups in connection, etc. And for me, if I drop "bars" and have no service, I have no 3G, I have no data. tonight, I did the update. If I was in a strong signal area, it would've been a non-issue. But I did have enough to just hold data, and was successful in downloading and applying, even on the fringe. Was saying it simply in case people were having issues with data connection, as an example that even on the fringe, I WAS able to do it, so hopefully it may be useful information for someone. I dunno. Just me. :)
 
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