What is a good dbm and asu?

[stmike1182]

what is a good dbm and asu

I have a galaxy s4 and I am on cricket. I always have 1 or 2 bars and my signal strength is -107 dbm and 1 asu is that good? And is the r e any way to make it better? I am confused on what this.numbers mean cuz sum people say higher numbers are better and then sum say no lower numbers are better and then sum say with lower numbers there is a negative effect... so I am confused what us actually better who's right?

 

[Rukbat]

Re: what is a good dbm and asu

-107 means 107 db below 1 miliwatt being received by your phone. db is a logarithmic ratio used to measure power. The normal signal ranges from roughly -60dbm to -112dbm. The higher the absolute number (120 is higher than 80), the lower the signal. ASU is the rate at which the phone is able to update its location from the tower signals. It's linear. It measures roughly the same thing dbm measures. (You can convert ASU to dbm by dBm= -113+(2*ASU).) The higher the number, the better the signal.

The difference between -112 dbm (barely usable) and -107 dbm is 5db - or almost 4 times the signal (6db is 4 times), so you have some overhead there. If you dropped half the signal strength (to -110dbm), you'd still be able to use the phone. (At -112dbm, step on the far side of a wet tree and the signal drops a couple of db and you lose the call.)

I'd say that your problem is that you chose the wrong carrier - AT&T's tower doesn't really cover where you are. The first thing to determine when choosing a cellphone setup is which carrier gives you the best coverage where you need coverage. So ask your friends on TMobile, Sprint and Verizon, what readings they get where you are. If one of them is around -70dbm, that's the one you should be using. If they're all between -105 and -110, you just don't live where there's good coverage. (People complain that they don't want the ugly towers, but they want good coverage. It just doesn't work that way. The poor, who can't object to the tower down the block, have fantastic coverage. The wealthy, who won't live within 10 miles of a tower, barely have any coverage at all. Physics bites back.)

 

[djjeffbomb]

well said

 

[jmillado]

you mean to say the higher in dBm? If that so, you maybe wrong

 

[iurisilveira]

you mean to say the higher in dBm? If that so, you maybe wrong

I believe this statement explains it well:
"The higher the absolute number (120 is higher than 80), the lower the signal."