CellBar Guide
What dBm really means, how RSRP differs from RSRQ and SINR, how a channel number becomes a frequency, why booster apps cannot work, and how to hunt a dead spot at home.
- Why signal booster apps cannot workAn app cannot change your transmit power, your antenna or the network's handover decision. Here is what actually moves the needle, and what only pretends to.
- What dBm actually means on a signal meterMinus 85 is strong, minus 110 is nearly nothing, and every 3 dB halves the power. How to read the number your phone hides behind four bars.
- RSRP, RSRQ, SINR and RSSI explainedFour fields, four different questions. Strength, quality, cleanliness and total power explain why a strong signal can still be a slow one.
- How a channel number becomes a band and a frequencyHow a bare channel number becomes 1842.5 MHz and band 3, why low bands reach further, and why a 5G channel can belong to two bands at once.
- 5G non-standalone and standalone, and why your phone reports bothNon-standalone 5G keeps a 4G anchor and adds a second carrier; standalone drops it. Why your phone reports two radios at once, and which numbers matter.
- Finding the dead spots in your homeA repeatable walk, a written number at each point, and the building materials that explain the result. Turning a vague complaint into a map you can act on.
- Wi-Fi channel congestion, read properlyWhy only three channels on 2.4 GHz do not overlap, when a wide channel hurts, and how to tell a crowded band from a weak link before changing anything.
- Cell ID, PCI, TAC and timing advanceWhat the identifiers on a signal screen mean, how far apart they are unique, and why timing advance gives you a distance to the mast but never a direction.
See what your phone's radio actually reports. CellBar shows live signal strength in dBm, the network generation, the band and downlink frequency behind the channel number, the serving cell and the neighbours around it. Nothing is invented and nothing is exaggerated, and no app can make a signal stronger. Knowing the real number is what lets you move two metres and fix the call.
Get CellBar on Google PlayAbout CellBarThese guides describe how mobile networks report signal in general; the exact fields your phone exposes depend on its chipset, its Android version and your operator. CellBar measures and records what the radio reports — it cannot increase signal strength, and no application on any phone can. Nothing here is affiliated with or endorsed by any network operator or handset maker.