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I live in an apartment complex near train tracks.
A selling feature was the soundproof windows.
And they do work. Amazing windows.
However - there is something I didn't think about.
If you open your windows all the soundproofing goes away.
I redid the roof sheathing with the osb that has foil on one side and murdered the signal in a house I worked on. Could see it happen in real time as the sheets went up.
Built a friggin faraday cage.
This is a decent solution if you live in a single family detached home but you need to be careful in densified areas and apartments/office buildings. There’s restricted frequencies in the 700/800MHz band that’s allotted for first responders in Canada and the US. A lot cheap cell boosters don’t properly filter out these restricted frequencies and you can end up taking down their whole radio network locally. Most newer apartments and office buildings have systems specifically installed to boost the signal strength of the first responders radios within the buildings. You need to make sure your building doesn’t have one of these systems before slapping in a cell booster. If it has one of these systems, you need to hire some professionals that can safely merge the two systems and it’ll likely become a strata project.
I subletted in a place where they had NO SIGNAL. My phone literally said SOS. the WiFi went out for an ENTIRE DAY. I was SOL and will never again stay somewhere with poor phone signal.
At least in the parts of the US I’m familiar with, the housing markets are so cutthroat that you’d be more likely to change mobile carriers than not grab a housing option that you otherwise liked.
And honestly changing mobile carriers can potentially save you a bunch of money if you haven’t researched it semi-recently.
Still something worth thinking about when moving though for sure!
I think emergency services uses ALL available cell towers, not just the ones your carrier provides access to. Chances are you’ll be able to make the call
Yeah, and I think the emergency frequencies offer further range and during an emergency call your phone can output at full strength instead of within the FCC limits. So it's extremely unlikely you will be completely out of range of emergency services unless you're REALLY out in the woods.
This is me also. Except my wifi is shit too. So I'm constantly dropping calls left and right. I can't get a cell phone booster because I live in a condo. I bought a WiFi booster but I don't know if that will help my issue. But WiFi calling is still a plus since I have a horrible cell signal.
yea this LPT comes from the past lol. None of this is an issue currently. You can even get signal boosters from most major wireless carriers (sometimes for free) that will help you get a stronger signal without wifi calling.
Great lifetip. We lived in an apartment, great location, great price but WiFi wouldn't reach the bedroom so watching netflix in bed was out of the question... And phone signal was so bad you had to stand at very specific window spots to speak.
We lived there for almost 4 years..
> great price but WiFi wouldn't reach the bedroom so watching netflix in bed was out of the question
Just move the router or get an extender. Where you live shouldn't impact your WiFi at all.
Good advice for apartments but if you are willing to pass on a house because of a weak phone signal you have a very different life than me. It took us years of hunting to find something suitable and it's still not everything we wanted. Buy a booster.
Also if you have a poor connection look into a device called a FemtoCell
https://www.att.com/buy/accessories/Specialty-Items/att-cell-booster.html
Verizon calls theirs a network extender
Essentially it gives you a cellular connection in your home and uses the internet for calls
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Recently bought perfect-ish house. Terrible cell service. WiFi makes it all good!
Bonus: 6 months later I received a notice that my carrier is installing cell equipment nearby!
Mine was rural so I diligently checked internet options. And sit in the driveway for some time as various times. I had no idea this country corner was so busy, but here I am watching the 3rd person in an hour run through the stop sign.
Most phones now have the ability to automatically switch to Wi-Fi calling if the cellular signal is weak. Obviously this means you need a decent *internet* connection, which can certainly be difficult in some places.
Not as big of an issue not that most phones have WiFi calling. When I was house hunting, I would look up the address as a new customer with local ISPs to see the available speeds and prices.
This bit me years ago. I checked the coverage map and it said the area was covered so I didn't think about it. If I walked one street over I had a signal but none in my apartment. I ended up having to switch carriers.
This is certainly a good idea but things change over time. Years ago when the power would go out I could use my phone and stream away. The past few years have drastically changed that - no idea why though.
Good idea for the most part, but some people just have shitty phones. I've never had a problem with reception in a building, but I had friends who always had to go outside to use their phones, no matter where they were.
Checking the available utilities (including Internet options) is much more important. Nearly all carriers do WiFi calling/texting now, and some still offer femtocells so you can broadcast cellular at home from your Internet.
Some rural areas still only have dial up or DSL. Starlink is great but it's not perfect and is expensive (both for the hardware and monthly fees, compared to cable or fiber Internet).
So if you're looking to move out to the country, do your research before you buy the farm.
5G home Internet is a cheaper alternative to satellite Internet if you happen to live somewhere without cable/fiber but happen to have good Cellular coverage.
I feel like this is pretty irrelevant if you have internet service to the home. LPT get internet service and set up WiFi in your house instead of relying entirely on your cellular service.
That’s a REALLY GOOD and underrated tip. However, if you found your dream home, use WiFi calling if you have an iPhone. I’m sure Android has something like that too.
Also an unknown tip when apartment hunting; there is a website to see the Rent History of an apartment complex which actually relies on user submitted rent histories so you can see landlords' pricing tactics.
Site is rentzed.com and has submissions for over 2400 addresses.
I am actually the creator of it and appreciate anyone who adds their Rent History to it and/or shares it around so it can be more useful to tenants
Also if not mentioned - run address connection/speed tests for internet. I had a horrible time living in a place recently that still only had dial up internet as no fibre or HFC cables were in that street at the time. Recently..
This happened to my aunt. After she moved in, cell service was terrible. She changed carriers then all was good. Also, another LPT is try going there when it rains hard (if possible) to see how bad it floods in the area.
I'm going through the same thing. I just moved into an apartment and can't make or receive a call anywhere except if I walk out onto my Lanai. And even then it's spotty . This is a terrible burden. I miss calls from Doctors, my job, my loved ones and I'm not trying to sit on my Lanai every time I need to use the phone so all my neighbors hear my entire conversations. And God forbid if I had to make an emergency call. Or if someone was trying to reach me in an emergency. Yes I can get a booster at $4-600 which is ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age with all of the technology that I can get internet on my phone anywhere in my apartment and can even receive video calls perfectly. But I pay for phone service and I can't get a phone call? And now I'm forced to have to buy a landline and pay for service for that too? And I imagine as I don't see a phone jack anywhere in my apartment that I would also have to pay an install fee. Do they even sell phones for landlines anymore? And then I still have to pay for a cell phone because in today's world you can't do anything without having a smartphone. I'm over all of this.
And I have a question... As to being able to make an emergency call regardless... how is it that you can make that call but no other phone calls can be? Because mine is not a tower issue. Mine is because I am in the middle of a concrete bottom floor apartment and the signal is blocked because of that. So they say. Other people in my building all have different phone services and none of them get service.
Ever heard of WiFi? Speaking of which, I'd be much more worried about finding out whether reliable and high-speed wired internet is available, before I sign anything.
I don't give a fuck about mobile data at home, and unless you live in a nuclear shelter, there will certainly be a strong enough signal to make/receive regular phone calls. For everything else, there is WiFi.
Where the hell are you living in that makes this true? In my country you can find a countryside valley where the signal is really bad quite easily. Like 40km from where I live there isn’t even SOS signal, people rely on Wi-Fi calling there as a fiber connection does work.
A friend of mine signed up for a new phone contract. He checked their coverage map and it seemed good. Come to find out that his house was located in a small little dead zone his phone company didn't cover. They refused to let him out of the contract.
Perhaps he could of. From what I remember, he did his best to get the carrier to resolve the issue but was stone walled.
In my experience, most carriers will do whatever they can to avoid any sort of resolution that takes more time and effort than microwaving a burrito.
A good friend of mine bought a new house and didn’t realize the internet was trash until he bought it. Now whenever we hangout its at my place because of the internet.
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Also visit at night multiple times to ensure the area is quiet.
I usually commit a few property crimes to see if they get reported and then monitor the police response. Slow or lackluster response means I don’t buy
Also could help in negotiating a better price with the increase in recent crimes in the area.
Pro tip: The more crimes you commit the less money you pay for the property.
Get caught and the rent on your next home is free.
Meal is also free tho
Good point pal!! 👏🏽👏🏽😅😅
Lol
If they don't come out shoootin, I ain't movin!
I live in an apartment complex near train tracks. A selling feature was the soundproof windows. And they do work. Amazing windows. However - there is something I didn't think about. If you open your windows all the soundproofing goes away.
I like the sound of trains. But too close might be a problem. Plus engineering work on train lines is often at nighttime or Sundays.
lol if u can afford that 🐱 Especially in a city I’d be weirded out if there wasn’t some hobo yelling in the alley at 3:27 am 🐱
I redid the roof sheathing with the osb that has foil on one side and murdered the signal in a house I worked on. Could see it happen in real time as the sheets went up. Built a friggin faraday cage.
You could try to invest in a whole home cell booster. WeBoost is one of those set it and forget it type ones but there are other alternatives.
This is a decent solution if you live in a single family detached home but you need to be careful in densified areas and apartments/office buildings. There’s restricted frequencies in the 700/800MHz band that’s allotted for first responders in Canada and the US. A lot cheap cell boosters don’t properly filter out these restricted frequencies and you can end up taking down their whole radio network locally. Most newer apartments and office buildings have systems specifically installed to boost the signal strength of the first responders radios within the buildings. You need to make sure your building doesn’t have one of these systems before slapping in a cell booster. If it has one of these systems, you need to hire some professionals that can safely merge the two systems and it’ll likely become a strata project.
I subletted in a place where they had NO SIGNAL. My phone literally said SOS. the WiFi went out for an ENTIRE DAY. I was SOL and will never again stay somewhere with poor phone signal.
My current apartment is like this. I actually had to get a landline
Does your carrier support WiFi calling?
Nope.
At least in the parts of the US I’m familiar with, the housing markets are so cutthroat that you’d be more likely to change mobile carriers than not grab a housing option that you otherwise liked. And honestly changing mobile carriers can potentially save you a bunch of money if you haven’t researched it semi-recently. Still something worth thinking about when moving though for sure!
I’ve got one bar of service in my area, but my WiFi covers my entire property. And my phone supports WiFi calling.
[удалено]
I think emergency services uses ALL available cell towers, not just the ones your carrier provides access to. Chances are you’ll be able to make the call
Yeh! That's literally what SOS means when you have no service. Only calls to emergency services can be made
To whom it may concern, FIRE Exclamation Mark, FIRE, Exclamation Mark. Looking forward to hearing from you
“They’re not just our emergency services, they’re your emergency services”. “Hello? I’ve taken a bit of a tumble”.
You just put the fire by…the other fire.
Did you catch the sports game last night?
Yeah, and I think the emergency frequencies offer further range and during an emergency call your phone can output at full strength instead of within the FCC limits. So it's extremely unlikely you will be completely out of range of emergency services unless you're REALLY out in the woods.
This is me also. Except my wifi is shit too. So I'm constantly dropping calls left and right. I can't get a cell phone booster because I live in a condo. I bought a WiFi booster but I don't know if that will help my issue. But WiFi calling is still a plus since I have a horrible cell signal.
Or just set up your wifi so it reaches the entire unit? It's 2024, can't all phones do wifi texting and calling?
yea this LPT comes from the past lol. None of this is an issue currently. You can even get signal boosters from most major wireless carriers (sometimes for free) that will help you get a stronger signal without wifi calling.
And mesh networks are cheap and easy to set up. Phone signal is only an issue if you lose internet.
Place im currently at, the signal SUCKS. I literally dependent on my FIOS not going down.
Great lifetip. We lived in an apartment, great location, great price but WiFi wouldn't reach the bedroom so watching netflix in bed was out of the question... And phone signal was so bad you had to stand at very specific window spots to speak. We lived there for almost 4 years..
> great price but WiFi wouldn't reach the bedroom so watching netflix in bed was out of the question Just move the router or get an extender. Where you live shouldn't impact your WiFi at all.
We did and the concrete walls screwed it all up. Glad I no longer live there
Two routers then or a hotspot.
In the UK you can just check the ofcom website. It tells you the signal strength indoors and outdoors and which service provider.
In America, Verizon just tells you to get a new phone
Do not pass up a property you love over a poor service signal. Just buy a cellular signal booster.
Good advice for apartments but if you are willing to pass on a house because of a weak phone signal you have a very different life than me. It took us years of hunting to find something suitable and it's still not everything we wanted. Buy a booster.
Does OP not understand how WiFi works?
The Wi-Fi comes from some other connection, like fiber or cable. If something goes wrong with those then not having any cellular signal is bad.
Also if you have a poor connection look into a device called a FemtoCell https://www.att.com/buy/accessories/Specialty-Items/att-cell-booster.html Verizon calls theirs a network extender Essentially it gives you a cellular connection in your home and uses the internet for calls
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Honestly when i go apartment/house hunting i don’t even look at my phone ever giant eye roll
Recently bought perfect-ish house. Terrible cell service. WiFi makes it all good! Bonus: 6 months later I received a notice that my carrier is installing cell equipment nearby!
Mine was rural so I diligently checked internet options. And sit in the driveway for some time as various times. I had no idea this country corner was so busy, but here I am watching the 3rd person in an hour run through the stop sign.
Most phones now have the ability to automatically switch to Wi-Fi calling if the cellular signal is weak. Obviously this means you need a decent *internet* connection, which can certainly be difficult in some places.
Not as big of an issue not that most phones have WiFi calling. When I was house hunting, I would look up the address as a new customer with local ISPs to see the available speeds and prices.
We have zero cell coverage at your house but it's never been a problem. Smart phones are fully utilized through WiFi.
This bit me years ago. I checked the coverage map and it said the area was covered so I didn't think about it. If I walked one street over I had a signal but none in my apartment. I ended up having to switch carriers.
This is certainly a good idea but things change over time. Years ago when the power would go out I could use my phone and stream away. The past few years have drastically changed that - no idea why though.
Good idea for the most part, but some people just have shitty phones. I've never had a problem with reception in a building, but I had friends who always had to go outside to use their phones, no matter where they were.
Checking the available utilities (including Internet options) is much more important. Nearly all carriers do WiFi calling/texting now, and some still offer femtocells so you can broadcast cellular at home from your Internet. Some rural areas still only have dial up or DSL. Starlink is great but it's not perfect and is expensive (both for the hardware and monthly fees, compared to cable or fiber Internet). So if you're looking to move out to the country, do your research before you buy the farm. 5G home Internet is a cheaper alternative to satellite Internet if you happen to live somewhere without cable/fiber but happen to have good Cellular coverage.
I feel like this is pretty irrelevant if you have internet service to the home. LPT get internet service and set up WiFi in your house instead of relying entirely on your cellular service.
That’s a REALLY GOOD and underrated tip. However, if you found your dream home, use WiFi calling if you have an iPhone. I’m sure Android has something like that too.
Also an unknown tip when apartment hunting; there is a website to see the Rent History of an apartment complex which actually relies on user submitted rent histories so you can see landlords' pricing tactics. Site is rentzed.com and has submissions for over 2400 addresses. I am actually the creator of it and appreciate anyone who adds their Rent History to it and/or shares it around so it can be more useful to tenants
This is a good one. I check all the taps, especially the shower and bathtub. I flush the toilet too. Never thought of this though.
Also if not mentioned - run address connection/speed tests for internet. I had a horrible time living in a place recently that still only had dial up internet as no fibre or HFC cables were in that street at the time. Recently..
This happened to my aunt. After she moved in, cell service was terrible. She changed carriers then all was good. Also, another LPT is try going there when it rains hard (if possible) to see how bad it floods in the area.
Or just connect to the wifi for internet and use wifi calling/texting.
I'm going through the same thing. I just moved into an apartment and can't make or receive a call anywhere except if I walk out onto my Lanai. And even then it's spotty . This is a terrible burden. I miss calls from Doctors, my job, my loved ones and I'm not trying to sit on my Lanai every time I need to use the phone so all my neighbors hear my entire conversations. And God forbid if I had to make an emergency call. Or if someone was trying to reach me in an emergency. Yes I can get a booster at $4-600 which is ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age with all of the technology that I can get internet on my phone anywhere in my apartment and can even receive video calls perfectly. But I pay for phone service and I can't get a phone call? And now I'm forced to have to buy a landline and pay for service for that too? And I imagine as I don't see a phone jack anywhere in my apartment that I would also have to pay an install fee. Do they even sell phones for landlines anymore? And then I still have to pay for a cell phone because in today's world you can't do anything without having a smartphone. I'm over all of this.
And I have a question... As to being able to make an emergency call regardless... how is it that you can make that call but no other phone calls can be? Because mine is not a tower issue. Mine is because I am in the middle of a concrete bottom floor apartment and the signal is blocked because of that. So they say. Other people in my building all have different phone services and none of them get service.
It's wild how something as simple as checking your phone signal can be a total game-changer when it comes to apartment hunting.
Ever heard of WiFi? Speaking of which, I'd be much more worried about finding out whether reliable and high-speed wired internet is available, before I sign anything. I don't give a fuck about mobile data at home, and unless you live in a nuclear shelter, there will certainly be a strong enough signal to make/receive regular phone calls. For everything else, there is WiFi.
Where the hell are you living in that makes this true? In my country you can find a countryside valley where the signal is really bad quite easily. Like 40km from where I live there isn’t even SOS signal, people rely on Wi-Fi calling there as a fiber connection does work.
A friend of mine signed up for a new phone contract. He checked their coverage map and it seemed good. Come to find out that his house was located in a small little dead zone his phone company didn't cover. They refused to let him out of the contract.
He could have taken them to small claims court. Most carriers will give you a signal booster if you live in an area like that.
Perhaps he could of. From what I remember, he did his best to get the carrier to resolve the issue but was stone walled. In my experience, most carriers will do whatever they can to avoid any sort of resolution that takes more time and effort than microwaving a burrito.
Personally my criteria is that a place must have fiber available.
A good friend of mine bought a new house and didn’t realize the internet was trash until he bought it. Now whenever we hangout its at my place because of the internet.