How Do You Spot a Cell Tower?

Getting a good signal is easy if you are living in a densely populated neighborhood since cell providers would build multiple cell towers to provide the best service for all of their customers in the area. However, the same can’t be said in remote areas like forests and mountains, as people would have a hard time getting even a decent signal in those places because there may be only one or two cell towers built there.

Not being able to call or text on your phone properly can be pretty annoying, especially in instances where you have to make emergency contact. You need to be near a cell tower if you want to contact anyone using your cellphone, but a tower can often be hard to find in far regions.

Thankfully, there are multiple ways for you to spot a cell tower easily, and these usually involve downloading something on your phone or accessing a website on your laptop. These are some of the best methods for you to spot a cell tower.

Access Tower Map Websites

If you have a laptop, you can access some websites that indicate the locations of cell towers in all regions of the United States. Most cell towers are registered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and by registering them in the database and Google Maps, their locations can easily be identified online. Some cell providers, like Verizon and AT&T, have already provided a map of their cell towers on their websites; however, their data may not be complete because some of their towers may yet to be registered on the FCC.

On the other hand, there are some tower map websites not affiliated with cell providers that also use Google Maps to locate towers in the country. These websites include MapMuse, AntennaSearch, CellReception, OpenSignal, and CellMapper.

According to reviews, the best one out of all of these websites is CellMapper, which gets updated constantly and has multiple settings that allow you to choose cell providers and 3G or 4G LTE towers.

Before leaving your home to travel, make sure that you use these websites before going to the places you want to visit so that you will know where to go in case you want to make an emergency call or text.

Download Tower Locator Apps

If a mobile phone is the only device you will have with you during your trips in remote areas, you also have the option of downloading phone apps that specifically find the nearest tower for you as long as you have sufficient mobile signal. The two best apps to download if you own an Android phone are Network Cell Info and OpenSignal.

The Network Cell Info app uses the Mozilla Location Service instead of Google Maps to find not cell towers but cell locations near your area, while the OpenSignal app acts as a compass that points you to the nearest cell tower.

For people who own iPhones, they can download the Coverage Map app, which finds cell towers while providing you with information regarding each tower’s speed and performance issues. OpenSignal is also available for iOS users, and it has the same features as the Android version.

Reset your Phone

Sometimes, your phone may still be connected to the cell tower in your neighborhood, and as you travel to faraway places, it will stick to that connection until it completely loses its signal. In order for your phone to connect to another cell tower, you may have to turn its power off first and turn it back on after a few seconds.

Once your phone is reset, it will automatically save the signal to the nearest tower in your location while forgetting its connection to the previous cell tower, thus allowing you to get a better cell phone reception.

Those who chose Verizon as their cell provider may not necessarily have to reset their phone, as the company already provided customers with an easier way to reset the signal of their devices. To access this method, users should press the call button and input *228# before pressing the call button again. Verizon recommends that you do this at least once a month for your phone’s signal to always be up-to-date.

Install a Cell Phone Signal Booster

The last and probably the most expensive method of getting a good signal out of a cell tower is by installing a signal booster in your home if you live in a remote area where there are not a lot of cell towers on site.

A signal booster can work to strengthen the signals that both cell phones and laptops would need to have at home, but you would need to call a professional that can survey the area and install the signal booster for you. Cell providers can sometimes provide a surveyor for you, but it is better if the professional won’t have any affiliations with them so that he or she can be honest if your current cell provider has a weak signal in your neighborhood.

The surveyor would provide you with a signal booster if ever you need one, but you can also purchase better ones online. Some of the best signal boosters include the HiBoost Cell Phone Signal Booster, the weBoost Connect 4G, and the Cel-Fi Go X. There is also the weBoost Drive Reach, a signal booster that you can install in cars, vans, and trucks so you wouldn’t have weak signals even if you are on a road trip.

With the help of technology, finding a cell tower and boosting your device’s signal in any location in the United States is fairly easy. Before going to another place besides your home, be sure to follow at least one or two of the steps mentioned above so that you will be prepared in case the signal in that location is weak.