Connection never goes above two bars on wifi or 4g. Suggestions?

[ctychick]

I've been trying everything under the sun to improve the horrible battery life on my S4. It occurred to me just today that I never get more than two bars on either wifi or 4g. I'm wondering if that is affecting my battery life. I know that it's not my home wifi setup because all other devices in my home typically show a full 5 bars. I'm wondering if I need to tweak a setting in my phone. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

Stand right next to your router - you should get as many bars as there are on the display. If not, the antenna isn't connected, or it's not connected properly. (The wire to the antenna acts as a really weak antenna, so if it's disconnected at the antenna end, you'll get some signal.) If the antenna is connected by a piece of springy bronze, that may not be bent tight enough to be making a good connection. That happens sometimes due to age, metal fatigue, shock or just bad luck. It should go into a repair shop so they can open the phone up and check the connection. (And yes, a weak signal will cause terrible battery life. If the signal is weak at the phone, it's weak at the tower, so the phone raises its transmitter power to compensate - which costs battery.)