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[Sappho]

Very often when someone can't get a signal on their phone, they'll try to go to higher ground to look for a signal. Does anyone know exactly how this works? Is it just the lack of obstructions, or is there something about higher elevation that makes phone signals travel better or something?

Basically, for my NaNo novel there is a character who can't get a signal on her smartphone in a mountain cottage. She goes to a higher, mostly exposed area, but still can't find a signal because it's just so far out away from civilization. She's nine years old and she's always seen that in films and TV, characters go to higher ground to find a signal, so she decides to climb a higher mountain peak looking for one. Is there any chance that she would actually get a signal this way? Possibly there is a cell tower somewhere in the direction of the mountain, so when she was standing next to it she got nothing, but when she goes up to the peak she might catch it? Or would the high elevation itself cause problems, since the cell towers are mostly lower down?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help!

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It depends on the scenario and does not always work. The reason it can help is that it can put you in line-of-signal with a cell tower without any major obstructions, such as buildings and the ground. On the other hand, if you're in a place without cell towers on the horizon, going to a mountain top can make things worse instead of better since you'll be even further away from the tower.

Basically, it comes down to distance from tower vs. obstruction from tower. Unless she has a satellite phone, in which case none of this counts.

[Sappho]

If she had a satellite phone, the plot wouldn't work. : ) Her phone has GPS, actually, but I was very pleased to discover that some types of phones have GPS that doesn't work unless there is a cell connection, so I gave her one of those.

I still haven't decided if she gets a signal or not when she gets to the peak. It won't really matter either way, it's just a detail that was bugging me. If I want her to get the signal, I can fudge it so that there was a tower on the other side of the mountain somewhere. She's not going to be able to make use of the signal even if she gets it, but I don't want to post spoilers to my as-yet-unfinished novel. : D

[weenog]

Television, radio and cellphone signals are all electromagnetic radiation.  You're well familiar with a particular section of the EM radiation spectrum: we call that set of wavelengths "visible light".  All EM radiation works pretty much the same way, the differences mainly lie in wavelength/energy/what they can penetrate (clear glass for visible light, flesh for x-ray radiation, etc).

So, think of a cell phone tower as a powerful, distant glowing beacon, scattering light in all directions, and the cell phone as a much smaller, weaker beacon.  How bright and clear they look to each other depends on distance, and obstructions (including atmospheric conditions, in some cases).  If the phone can't see the tower, or if the tower can't see the phone, you get no service  It's possible that moving higher up could change the line between the beacons to get some non-transparent objects or terrain features out of the way, but it's also possible that it will place the beacons so far apart that the scattered, unfocused light no longer looks clear and bright enough to make out.

Imagining the radiation used as visible light should give you a quick and dirty idea of whether a change of location will improve or degrade reception, as long as you remember that different things are transparent depending on the wavelength involved.

[Obsi]

Moving up a mountain to get to higher ground increased reception when the communication method was radio frequencies like a 2 way radio.  Cell phone signals stay pretty low to the ground climbing up higher actually gives you a lot worse reception.  Unless she is moving towards a tower, heading to the mountain is the wrong way to go.

Even in town it can be hard to get cell phone signal up on certain tall buildings when they should be close to center of your provider's coverage area because the signal doesn't go higher than like 5 stories without help.

[olemars]

Common problem in the steeper fjords and valleys of Norway. I know people who have to hike uphill for an hour from their cabin to get out of the cell phone shadows. It's not so much about getting up to a mountain peak as out of the valley and into line of sight to the one mountain in the area with cell tower.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

When she gets on top of the mountain you should give her a signal - but it's not the one she was hoping for.

DUN DUN DUN

[MetalSlimeHunt]

When she gets on top of the mountain you should give her a signal - but it's not the one she was hoping for.

DUN DUN DUN

A signal- from another world.

DUN DUN DUNx2 Combo

[Sensei]

When she gets on top of the mountain you should give her a signal - but it's not the one she was hoping for.

DUN DUN DUN

A signal- from another world.

DUN DUN DUNx2 Combo

A whole second world on the inside of the earth's crust, finally escaping through THIS DORMANT VOLCANO!

DUN DUN DUNx3

[Grek]

The real answer here is that none of it matters. Since your protagonist is a nine year old girl, it doesn't particularly matter whether going higher would actually get you better reception, so long as a nine year old might think phones work that way.