Why is Service often weak in Residential Areas?
Among the most common complaints heard from cell phone owners is that they get weak service at their house. Why is it that so many people have trouble in their homes with weak cellular signals? Sometimes it’s simply because the provider doesn’t have a site nearby, as residential areas are not priority coverage areas. More often however it is because of public enemy number one of high frequency RF; the tree. Or more specifically, the leafy tree. At the frequencies used by cellular service in North America (850 MHz and 1900 MHz) there is a very real problem with RF absorption by leaves (especially wet ones). A small forest only 1/4 km in width can reduce a signal by as much as 30 dB, which can mean the difference between a fairly good signal and no signal at all. 850 MHz is affected slightly less by this than 1900 MHz, and so the FAQ question above notwithstanding, you would get slightly better service from an 850 MHz network than from a 1900 MHz, all else being equal. Because it is the
