Most people don’t know the trick: How to easily get better mobile coverage

You probably recognize the situation. You’re walking around town, sitting on the train, at a concert or lying at home on the sofa.

You’re trying to open a website or start a video, but nothing starts. Music stutters, gameplay lags and conversations are interrupted mid-sentence.

4G and 5G networks cover large parts of the country, but the signal is not always well distributed in buildings, crowded areas or in specific rooms at home.

Many people start walking around the room with their cell phone in hand. Some try to open and close apps or switch between WiFi and mobile data.

But before tackling the more time-consuming solutions, it can be worth the effort to try a little trick that only requires a few taps on the screen.

It takes a few seconds, and in some cases it can boost your connection enough for everything to work smoothly.

Shortcut to a better connection

This simple trick works on both iPhone and Android phones.

When you turn on airplane mode, your phone turns off wireless connections. When you turn it off again, your phone searches for nearby masts and restores the connection.

This quick maneuver involves the phone dropping the network it’s connected to and trying to connect to the tower that provides the strongest and most stable connection at any given time.

According to the French media Presse-Citron, this way of “resetting” the connection can in some cases result in noticeably better data speeds and fewer dropped calls.

The method is far from a miracle cure. If there are too few masts in the area, or if they are already heavily loaded, the trick will not conjure up more capacity.

Frequent use of airplane mode can also drain the battery because the phone has to search for networks again and again.

Reboots, updates and small habits that help

If airplane mode doesn’t provide enough improvement, you can go one step further and restart your phone.

When your phone shuts down completely, it cleans up temporary connections and small errors in the system.

After a short break of around half a minute, you can turn it back on and see if the signal improves.

Another option is to check if there is a system update available. An update can fine-tune network management and improve the way your phone interacts with the internet.

It takes a little longer than pressing airplane mode, but can provide a more stable experience in the long run.

Eventually, however, you may need to move around a bit. A window, a different corner of the living room or a location outside the building can also provide some extra lines on the signal indicator.