Carrier T-Mobile switching 1 Bar and 4 Bar

[Zaft]

is anyone else having this issue with t mobile?
It will latch onto 1 bar and switch to full bars and back to 1 bar and on and on.

Makes no sense, why would 1 bar be prioritized over full service when it’s available?

I’m in NYC.

 

[chscag]

I occasionally get the same thing here in the Dallas - Fort Worth area. It used to be worse but T-Mobile has been adding more towers and for the most part the signals are strong and reliable.

 

[ecschwarz]

I can only guess, but I'm guessing you're jumping between two frequencies and the 1-bar one may be better and have priority (faster data speeds, less congestion, etc.) and it's just weak enough that your phone is jumping to the other. It could even be something like the 1-bar signal coming from a large tower and the full is coming from a small cell site - if you look at the type of connection, is it staying on LTE the entire time or is it jumping from LTE to "4G" back to LTE?

I've seen this phenomenon on other carriers, too (my dad's house does it with AT&T - I think it fluctuates between LTE Band 2 and LTE Band 12/17, at work I jump between 1 or 2 bars or LTE and 4 bars of "4G" HSPA). The bigger question is...how does your phone work in that location?