Why Cell Service Has Been Iffy Lately

It's the weirdest thing, but driving across the metropolis that is Lawton, there are a few places where I end up dropping calls. Even more curious, sometimes the call quality is just fine in the same locations. It's enough to drive a person crazy with the it works/it doesn't work today type parkour level of service we all get to experience here... but you have to realize, it's not just happening here in Lawton. It's happening everywhere right now.

We all know, every cellular carrier promises the maximum coverage but nobody really talks about having the absolute best coverage. So long as each company meets a minimum standard set forth by their own company or the baseline acceptable standards set forth by whichever government body regulates them, I'm sure everything is honky-dory so long as the subscription payments get made on time... but even I get tired of having spotty service in my own home in the middle of a city that is over 90k in population. So what gives?

If you didn't know, and you should since it's been a big Covid-19 talking point since March, 2020... the nation is upgrading to 5G cellular service as fast as they can, and there's a pro and con to the switch. The pro, obviously, is cell service and mobile internet will be much faster. Like cable internet fast. So much so, some cellular companies are already elbowing their way into homes with 5G modems and mesh wifi services to compete with the local ISP's that are content in selling you whatever is cheapest for them. I was sitting in the Denver Airport last year and did a speed test out of curiosity, it was faster than my $100/mo cable provided internet at a price I was already paying for cell service. It was eye-opening and amazing... but with the good comes the bad.

In order to rollout such a big infrastructure product, there's a lapse in service to the existing technology. Every company is focused almost entirely on pushing out what will be a real internet contender, so the current 4G and 4gLTE services sort of get pushed to the back burner. Keep it up and running, but don't waste more time than you have to in order to hit that minimum acceptable status. It's a bummer to endure this natural process of tech-evolution, but it is a necessary one that we really have no choice or control over. Your instinct might be "Well I'll just switch carriers" but that's the thing... everyone is working on this right now, so you'll be trading meh service for another meh service until they get the 5G up and stable across the area.