No phone calls in Basement ?

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Just curious if it is a standard smartphone issue, with poor service, or none at all down in Basements ? I know the cell phone uses radio waves, and that does not travel through steel beams or concrete too well, if at all, right ?

Funny thing is, I can send and receive texts with little problems down here in my Basement office, but making or getting calls are like 10% at best, or just not happening period. Is that more of a T-Mobile issue, or just that my nuclear bomb proof shelter I built to prepare for end days in 2012 the problem ? lol

Originally Posted by Zorachus

Just curious if it is a standard smartphone issue, with poor service, or none at all down in Basements ? I know the cell phone uses radio waves, and that does not travel through steel beams or concrete too well, if at all, right ?

Funny thing is, I can text about 75% or better, down here in my Basement office, but making or getting calls are like 10% at best, or just not happening period. Is that more of a T-Mobile issue, or just that my nuclear bomb proof shelter I built to prepare for end days in 2012 the problem ? lol

If your in a basement surrounded by concrete walls then ya your going to have some signal issues, but to make it worse Tmobile has horrible building penetration

Originally Posted by slowz3r

If your in a basement surrounded by concrete walls then ya your going to have some signal issues, but to make it worse Tmobile has horrible building penetration

Yeah right behind me is the 8' tall concrete exterior wall. And no windows here in Office.

Texting seems to be pretty darn good, sending and receiving no issue, but calls are the opposite, like nonexistent. With my EVO on Sprint, it was better for phone calls, not perfect by any means, But I would say 50% on calls.

But I do like my Nexus-S better than the EVO. Just the lightweight and compact form factor of the N-S is so sweet. The EVO now feels like a heavy thick brick, and that battery sucked balls on the EVO. And I love the Super AMOLED screen, looks so colorful. I like the 4" screen sixe, not too small like iPhone 3.5", and not overly large like the EVO 4.3".

But Sprint was perfect service for me, I mean 99.99% perfect, and T-Mobile is like 80% good, and my old iPhone3G on ATT was craptastic at like 50% for service.

Originally Posted by Zorachus

Yeah right behind me is the 8' tall concrete exterior wall. And no windows here in Office.

Texting seems to be pretty darn good, sending and receiving no issue, but calls are the opposite, like nonexistent.


With my EVO on Sprint, it was better for phone calls, not perfect by any means, But I would say 50% on calls.

ya, Tmobile has major issues when it comes to signal penetration

Originally Posted by slowz3r

ya, Tmobile has major issues when it comes to signal penetration

Is that something that can be updated with better towers or something ? Or is it a hardware issue on the radio inside all their phones, and I am just stuck with **** Basement service.

Does T-Mobile sell a device that can boost their signal inside buildings ? Or is that super expensive for corporations only ?

Time to crawl out of the bomb proof shelter once in awhile I guess

The only time I've had problems with T-Mobile was at my university in our student union building, which was basically a maze of concrete and cinderblock hallways.

The frequencies t-mobile uses for 3g is very high up in the spectrum which has poor building penetration properties. Lower is better, like 850mHz. Nothing you can do about it.

Originally Posted by Zorachus

Just curious if it is a standard smartphone issue, with poor service, or none at all down in Basements ? I know the cell phone uses radio waves, and that does not travel through steel beams or concrete too well, if at all, right ?

Funny thing is, I can send and receive texts with little problems down here in my Basement office, but making or getting calls are like 10% at best, or just not happening period. Is that more of a T-Mobile issue, or just that my nuclear bomb proof shelter I built to prepare for end days in 2012 the problem ? lol

General rule of thumb is that if zombies and Nazis can't get to you, you probably wont get good signal.

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