How To Boost Your Phone Signal for FREE: 15 Effective Methods

Poor or no signals could be a headache, especially when you want to make an urgent call, text someone, or use your mobile data. Many factors can result in poor signal strength, such as your location, network congestion, weather conditions, and the building you are in.

Although buying signal boosters or changing carriers is an option for some, plenty of ways to improve your signal strength that are absolutely free.

Here, we’ll look through 15 ways to improve your phone signal without spending a dollar. Whether you’re faced with weak LTE, 5G, or 3G signals, these tips help you get better mobile reception, call quality, and internet speed.

1. Move to a Different Location

Moving to a different location is one of the easiest fixes for improving mobile reception. Physical barriers such as walls, furniture, and large buildings can block or hinder your phone’s signal.

Cellular signals travel straight and can be blocked by physical obstructions. Go to an open area or a higher place, which reduces the possibility of interference with the signal, and also improves the connection to a strong signal. 

Tall buildings, hills, and even weather conditions can impede reception, so trying out different spots can have a significant effect.

• Go outside or get near a window — Signals travel better in open spaces.
• Try going up a level — Cell towers typically send signals down, so the upper levels may have better reception.
• If you can, avoid basements and underground areas: Those are usually where the signals are the weakest.
  
• Stay clear of dense obstacles — Mountains, trees, and large metal structures can disrupt signals.
• Survey different areas – Walk around your house or office to see where the signal is strongest.

2. Restart Your Phone

Sometimes, rebooting your phone can resolve your network issues. Your phone is constantly looking for the best available signal, and a reboot can refresh that connection. Your phone’s network connection can get flaky over time from software glitches or memory leaks. 

This clears temporary errors in the system and forces your device to reset and reconnect to the nearest cell tower with a new connection. This simple trick will fix most minor connectivity issues without any need for technical knowledge.

• Shut down your phone completely, and leave it off for 30 seconds before turning it back on.
• Restart and see if the signal gets better.
• If you often see weak signals, restart daily.
  
• Background apps may be hampering network performance.

3. Toggle Airplane Mode

If you’re phone is stuck on a weak cell tower, switching on and off Airplane Mode can force it to reconnect to a stronger one. 

When you turn Airplane Mode on, your phone disconnects from all wireless networks. When you turn the device off again, it’ll look for the strongest signal it can find, possibly sniffing out a better tower than before. 

This technique is especially handy if you’re traveling between sites or if your phone has latched onto a far-away tower rather than a closer one that has better reception.

• Head to Settings > Airplane Mode and enable it for 10-15 seconds.
  
• Switch it off and see if the signal gets better.
  
• Repeat, if needed, especially when moving between areas with different coverage.

4. Remove Signal Blockers

Certain devices and electronic objects can disrupt your phone’s signal. A lot of people don’t know that certain everyday objects can degrade your signal quality in a significant way.

Restrictions on Wi-Fi: Electronic devices work on radio waves like cell signals, creating interference. Metal, concrete, and tinted windows, even things like that, can block or deflect signals.

• Do not use your phone close to microwaves, Bluetooth devices, and Wi-Fi routers – These devices emit frequencies that can interfere with cellular signals.
• Take off thick or metal phone cases — some cases interfere with antenna reception.
  Lower car windows — Metal frames can disrupt signals.
• Elevate your phone — Putting it on a table, rather than on the floor, might help.

By minimizing these obstacles, you can easily increase your cell phone signal reception. You will get the direct signals from the signal tower without any deflection.

5. Update Your Phone’s Software

Software updates frequently come with optimizations for improved signal quality. Manufacturers periodically push updates that refine the way your phone talks to cell towers; these updates can also include bug fixes and even new compatibility with newer cell technologies. 

These updates can include better antenna calibrations, superior network switching algorithms, and bug fixes for known connectivity issues. Carrier settings updates work on a similar premise, as they make sure your phone is set up to make use of the newest network technologies available to you. 

Failing to perform these updates may result in the loss of important  signal improvements.

• Open Settings > Software Update and look for any available updates.
• Check for updates and restart your phone.
• Update carrier settings

6. Manually Select Your Network

Your phone might not always connect to the closest available tower. It can help to select your network manually. Automatic network selection is indeed convenient, but it doesn’t always pick the best tower. 

Your phone may be attached to an overloaded tower or one farther away. You can manually select a tower to force your connection to a specific one that may be stronger or less congested. 

This is particularly useful in border regions where your phone might attempt to latch onto a away tower from another carrier.

• Open Settings >> Mobile Networks >> Network Operators.
• Change from “Automatic” to “Manual” and select your carrier.
• See if signal strength gets better.
  

7. Use Wi-Fi Calling

If your cellular signal is weak but you have strong Wi-Fi, turn on Wi-Fi calling. Wi-Fi calling removes cellular networks from the equation by sending your calls through an internet connection instead. 

This function is especially useful in places where the cellular coverage is bad but the Wi-Fi coverage is good, including basements and rural areas. Almost all modern smartphones have Wi-Fi calling, and it won’t use your cellular minutes. 

The call quality is often better than that of weak cellular connections, with clearer audio and fewer drops.

• Open Settings > Cellular > Wi-Fi Calling and enable it.
• Use Wi-Fi instead of cell towers to make calls.
  

8. Find the Nearest Cell Tower

Cell towers send out a signal, and they’re oriented, so standing further away from stuff that might be blocking the signal will greatly improve your reception. 

These apps display the locations of towers, and sometimes the direction the antenna is pointing. If you’re in a building, you may find that one side of your home has better reception simply because it's being oriented more directly toward the tower.

If you know where your nearest cell tower is located, you might be able to move to receive a better signal.

• There are apps, such as OpenSignal or CellMapper, that can help you find nearby towers.
• Walk in the direction of the tower for a stronger signal.
• Set your workspace to face the tower.

9. Avoid Peak Usage Hours

Network congestion at peak times can slow your signal. Cell towers have a maximum amount of bandwidth, which is divided among all users that connect to them. When everybody who uses the tower, like during lunch hours or after work, is on their phones, the tower gets overloaded and data is slower, and signals are weaker. 

If you can use it during those off-peak hours, you can expect less congestion and better performance. Even moving to a less congested network band (3G vs. LT,E for example) can help sometimes.

• Call at the crack of dawn, or well past midnight.
  
• Toggle between LTE, 3G, or 5G (whichever is least busy).
  
• Stay away from areas filled with people using that tower.

10. Reset Network Settings

Network configurations can become corrupted or outdated over time and can lead to persistent connection problems. Reset clears all your network settings, which include APN, WiFi passwords, and Bluetooth pairings, restoring them to defaults. 

That often solves mysterious connectivity issues that nothing else will fix. Just remember that you’ll need to type in Wi-Fi passwords again afterward. It’s a sudo that helps if nothing else has been successful. 

• Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings
  
• Then reconnect to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
  

11. Enable VoLTE (HD Voice)

Phone calls use older 2G or 3G networks even when you're on LTE for data. VoLTE enables calls to utilize the LTE network, which can lead to shorter call setup times, better HD audio quality, and better signal retention. 

It also allows you to make use of data while on a call without getting bumped down to 3G, a feature most carriers support with VoLTE nowadays, though it may be switched off by default on some devices. VoLTE (Voice over LTE) includes improved quality and strength of the calls.

• Settings > Mobile Networks > Turn on VoLTE
• Check if calls sound clearer.
  

12. Keep Your Phone Charged

When the battery runs low on your phone, it may throttle some components — including the cellular radio — to save energy. 

This results in poor signal reception and slow data speeds. Some battery saver modes also restrict background network activity, which can prevent your phone from staying on the best possible connection. 

Simply keeping your phone with an adequate charge at all times maintains optimal under-the-hood performance, including the antenna. When the battery level is low, signal reception can be reduced.

• That keeps your phone out of the 20% battery range.
• Avoid battery-saving modes as they negatively impact signal strength.

13. Use a Faraday Cage Hack (For Emergency Boosts)

A Faraday cage can block all outside signals. When you take your phone out, it has to hunt for a new connection, and may latch onto a more powerful tower. 

It’s not guaranteed to work, but in some cases, this makes your phone escape being stuck on a weak signal. 

Just make sure you don't leave it in for too long, otherwise you won't get any signal whatsoever! For a very weak signal area, do this DIY trick:

• Before, wrapping your mobile in a fine cloth and putting it within a metallic box (like a biscuit tin), then, a couple of seconds.
  
• Take it out – Occasionally, this prompts the phone to reconnect to a better signal.

14. Clear Cache Partition (For Android Only)

The cache partition is used for temporary files of the system so that the phone runs efficiently. Furthermore, as a development environment runs over time, these files can get corrupted and result in various issues, including networking errors. 

Clearing this partition wipes these temporary files away without deleting your data, and it could help fix random glitches messing with your signal reception. 

This is especially useful if you have been having signal issues since a software update. Flush the DNS cache, which can slow down network performance.

• Turn off your phone.
• Press Power + Volume Down (model dependent) to boot recovery.
• Choose "Wipe Cache Partition" and restart.

15. Contact Your Carrier

Sometimes the issue isn’t with your phone — it’s the carrier’s network. They could be doing maintenance work, having an outage, or having tower issues in your area. 

Customer service can check for existing problems and may provide solutions such as free signal boosters for eligible customers. 

If an old or damaged SIM card is responsible, they’ll often replace it for free too. If this is failing you, maybe there are network issues on your carrier’s end.

• Call customer service and inquire about outages in your area.
• Ask for a free signal booster (some carriers provide them).
• Look up that if the switch will need a new SIM card

Final Thoughts

Your mobile signal may be weak, but a lot of free options exist to enhance it. Regardless of whether you need to amplify the LTE signal, utilize a mobile network amplifier, or optimize your mobile data settings, these steps should work. Test these solutions to see which ones work best for your specific situation. If you still have persistent signal issues, contact your carrier for troubleshooting or to see if your area has poor coverage.