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bushman4

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 22, 2011
4,267
4,319
Any Way of changing service strength 'dots' to a number
I remember this was doable in IOS 6
 
Any Way of changing service strength 'dots' to a number
I remember this was doable in IOS 6

http://www.redmondpie.com/how-strong-is-your-iphone-signal-find-out-now-no-jailbreak-required/
 

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Ive never been able to have it stay like that. Always reverts back to dots/bars.

Follow the instructions, but don't let go of the power button when you start pressing the home button. This will cause the phone to reboot and it stays that way.

Just did it twice.
 
Doesn't seem to "stick" on my 5S. I get it to change to a number, but when I exit out of Field Test, it reverts back to dots. Followed the directions for a "permanent change" to the letter. :confused:
 
Doesn't seem to "stick" on my 5S. I get it to change to a number, but when I exit out of Field Test, it reverts back to dots. Followed the directions for a "permanent change" to the letter. :confused:

See two posts above. There is a slight alteration to the website instructions that 'hafr' pointed out.

I didn't work for me right away until I rebooted my phone. I have a '5'.
 
Number closer to zero indicates stronger signal it says. Does it mean -3 is stronger than -95? I have decent signal strength and it shows -95.
 
Under very good network coverage you are going to read -60/-70 dBm or something like that

Thanks. I was having a hard time figuring out how to equate this to how many bars I have. So if -60/-70 is good (say, 4 or 5 bars), what's bad (0-1 bars)?
 
Some discussion about this here:

http://note19.com/2010/07/04/mapping-cellular-signal-strength-to-5-bars/

The noise floor is at around -130 dBm so don't expect service with such a reading.

B
 
Thanks. I was having a hard time figuring out how to equate this to how many bars I have. So if -60/-70 is good (say, 4 or 5 bars), what's bad (0-1 bars)?

-120/-130 equals to 1 dot

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Some discussion about this here:

http://note19.com/2010/07/04/mapping-cellular-signal-strength-to-5-bars/

The noise floor is at around -130 dBm so don't expect service with such a reading.

B

With -130 dBm I can still make a call most of the time
 
I can sometimes make a call, but usually have vey limited data service at that point.

The problem is somewhat complex. Just because you can hear the base station, doesn't always mean the base station can hear you.

B
 
Follow the instructions, but don't let go of the power button when you start pressing the home button. This will cause the phone to reboot and it stays that way.

Just did it twice.

Thank You! I hated those freaking dots.
 
-120/-130 equals to 1 dot

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With -130 dBm I can still make a call most of the time

It switches from two dots to one when it goes from -105 to -104. Don't think I've ever seen -130 during the years I've had the numbers telling me the signal strength... -117 is the absolute lowest I can remember having seen, that's what I get in the basement at work if I have connection at all...
 
It switches from two dots to one when it goes from -105 to -104. Don't think I've ever seen -130 during the years I've had the numbers telling me the signal strength... -117 is the absolute lowest I can remember having seen, that's what I get in the basement at work if I have connection at all...

This morning at -125 dBm I received a text from my sister .... Where I work network coverage is very bad.
 
See.. dots make it easier to just get the signal strength. Without worrying about the value it self. Easy representation. Why make things more difficult.."What does x.xdb mean again? is it good or bad??"

Where the dots / bars show very clearly the quality of signal.
 
See.. dots make it easier to just get the signal strength. Without worrying about the value it self. Easy representation. Why make things more difficult.."What does x.xdb mean again? is it good or bad??"

Where the dots / bars show very clearly the quality of signal.

The dots hide information. Showing numbers is kind of like increasing the number of dots if you can read them.
 
The dots hide information. Showing numbers is kind of like increasing the number of dots if you can read them.

You're assuming everyone can read them. Dots help - because everyone knows the more dots coloured - the better. Easy to read. I wasn't denying that the number is not useful. Its far more useful than bars / dots - but not to average Joe who doesn't know what they mean.
 
You're assuming everyone can read them. Dots help - because everyone knows the more dots coloured - the better. Easy to read. I wasn't denying that the number is not useful. Its far more useful than bars / dots - but not to average Joe who doesn't know what they mean.

Has anyone opposed dots as the default mode?
 
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