# weak wifi signals make me lose customers



## Urbanappalachian (Dec 11, 2016)

My phone can switch from using my own data to using wifi data in the surrounding area but when that wifi becomes weak, the rideshare apps (Uber and Lyft) starts acting up along with the GPS app (Waze) before my phone can make a quick switch from wifi use to data use and or vice versa. Sometimes the sync doesn't happen to a point that I don't know where I'm going or that I end up missing an exit that takes me a few minutes away from the original stated minutes I would have arrived at the customer's location (from 5 minutes to 10 minutes). Customers would call me sounding sarcastic asking if I'm still coming, then cancels when I get close.

Is my phone the problem? I think the switch between wifi and phone data use doesn't happen fast enough or continuously that the rideshare and gps apps would lose contact with each other and it all goes out of whack.


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## PepeLePiu (Feb 3, 2017)

I think you should forget about WiFi unless you are making updates on the Apps or system, keeping it open is just a hassle not worth the savings, plus your battery runs out faster and also gets hotter. I get 5 gig of data and I never used them all, they keep on rolling over to the point I have now over 9 gigs available.


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## Bart McCoy (Nov 4, 2014)

MYes phone used to do that all the time, I fixed it by simply turning off wifi....


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## Sgt_PaxHauler (Oct 21, 2016)

As other posters have said, I'd recommend turning off Wifi when you're driving. Additionally, Waze is very network-dependent; Google Maps can have offline map data downloaded that will work even if your phone's not able to send & receive data. (You won't have current traffic data if GMaps can't reach the network, but you'll still be able to navigate to pick up your pax.)


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## Urbanappalachian (Dec 11, 2016)

Great advice everyone! I was told before the Uber app eats a lot of my data. I am with Simple Mobile. I think I get 4 GB of data, even though they market it as "unlimited". It then drops to 2 GB after I have used much of my 4 GB, which is still not bad, right?


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## PepeLePiu (Feb 3, 2017)

Urbanappalachian said:


> Great advice everyone! I was told before the Uber app eats a lot of my data. I am with Simple Mobile. I think I get 4 GB of data, even though they market it as "unlimited". It then drops to 2 GB after I have used much of my 4 GB, which is still not bad, right?


True dat. Google got a cognitive tool that "remembers" the area where you travel more often, where I drive is a small city so all of it is already in google's virtual memory, no need for data connection.



Urbanappalachian said:


> Great advice everyone! I was told before the Uber app eats a lot of my data. I am with Simple Mobile. I think I get 4 GB of data, even though they market it as "unlimited". It then drops to 2 GB after I have used much of my 4 GB, which is still not bad, right?


You can pay an extra $10.00 and you will get unlimited data, $50.00 bucks a month. I use AT&T GoPhone and for $ 45.00 I get 6 Gigs with rollover. You also have to consider what kind of phone you are using, you need at least 1.5 gigs in RAM anything less than that will also cut into the apps and might boot you off. Set Uber and Lyft as pinned and they will be on top of the rest of the apps.
At 1.5 gigs of RAM I can open Lyft, Uber, Google maps and Uber rider with no problems. If you use Pandora within Uber it doesn't take a lot of memory, but if you use Spotify it will eat your data and your RAM resources faster than Chris Christie eating a donut.


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## Retired Senior (Sep 12, 2016)

I was driving thru a heavily wooded, very well monied, area of Wilton Ct the other day. None of the houses had street numbers anywhere... the road dipped and I suddenly lost both wi-fi and regular cell phone coverage. I could not call the pax for help... I could not even reach Uber to cancel the ride. After 10 minutes of hell I got out of the "dead zone" only to get a IM that the Pax had cancelled on me. Thank God!!!


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## Mikedamirault (Jun 22, 2016)

Urbanappalachian said:


> My phone can switch from using my own data to using wifi data in the surrounding area but when that wifi becomes weak, the rideshare apps (Uber and Lyft) starts acting up along with the GPS app (Waze) before my phone can make a quick switch from wifi use to data use and or vice versa. Sometimes the sync doesn't happen to a point that I don't know where I'm going or that I end up missing an exit that takes me a few minutes away from the original stated minutes I would have arrived at the customer's location (from 5 minutes to 10 minutes). Customers would call me sounding sarcastic asking if I'm still coming, then cancels when I get close.
> 
> Is my phone the problem? I think the switch between wifi and phone data use doesn't happen fast enough or continuously that the rideshare and gps apps would lose contact with each other and it all goes out of whack.


What kind of phone do you have?

On my phone (iPhone), I have it set up to only auto-connect to known APs, this means that if I'm home, at a friend's house, a store/coffee shop/restraunt I frequent a lot, my phone will auto-connect to these APs, but if am at a place that I haven't been before, my phone won't connect to their AP unless I go to settings and manually connect to it first

This keeps my phone from auto-connecting to random APs causing connection issues, not only that but it also protects me from security breeches by connecting to a rogue AP by mistake

Like I said, I have an iPhone, I'm not sure if that feature is available on Android



PepeLePiu said:


> I think you should forget about WiFi unless you are making updates on the Apps or system, keeping it open is just a hassle not worth the savings, plus your battery runs out faster and also gets hotter. I get 5 gig of data and I never used them all, they keep on rolling over to the point I have now over 9 gigs available.


I have a completely different experience

Connecting to WiFi actually saves me battery life, the weaker an LTE connection, the more power the phone uses to try to look for towers in range (the further the range, the more battery power is used to increase radio range), when connected to WiFi (and even more so now since Verizon now supports WiFi calling), it uses the stronger/closer WiFi connection rather than the weaker/further away LTE connection, making my battery last longer

As for data, I used to be grandfathered into Verizon's unlimited plan (when they discontinued it), until my mother had the great idea (sigh) to switch us all to the family plan, making me lose my unlimited data and be forced to *share *6GB worth of monthly alloted data between 4 or 5 different devices, we would frequently run out of data and I would be blamed for going over since I'm the techie of the family (if my mother had such an issue with my data use, she shouldn't have dropped my unlimited data then), funny thing is, being that I am on WiFi 90% of the time, it's impossible for me to be using the amount of data she claims I use


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

PepeLePiu said:


> I think you should forget about WiFi unless you are making updates on the Apps or system, keeping it open is just a hassle not worth the savings, plus your battery runs out faster and also gets hotter. I get 5 gig of data and I never used them all, they keep on rolling over to the point I have now over 9 gigs available.


This is the solution...

Shut wifi off...


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## BrunoG (Mar 22, 2017)

I only have to toggle WiFi off every now and then to address issues with apps while I'm ridesharing. My home ISP also has installed outdoor WiFi along many of the roads and in some parks and cities in my area. I'm able to connect and reconnect securely without issue most of the time. My cellular provider is also able to use WiFi only for voice and text service to my phone and I find that this helps increase my coverage area while lowering my data costs.

If I suspect problems, I toggle off WiFi and don't cut it back on until I've changed locations.


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## PepeLePiu (Feb 3, 2017)

Mikedamirault said:


> I have a completely different experience
> Connecting to WiFi actually saves me battery life, the weaker an LTE connection, the more power the phone uses to try to look for towers in range (the further the range, the more battery power is used to increase radio range), when connected to WiFi (and even more so now since Verizon now supports WiFi calling), it uses the stronger/closer WiFi connection rather than the weaker/further away LTE connection, making my battery last longer
> As for data, I used to be grandfathered into Verizon's unlimited plan (when they discontinued it), until my mother had the great idea (sigh) to switch us all to the family plan, making me lose my unlimited data and be forced to *share *6GB worth of monthly alloted data between 4 or 5 different devices, we would frequently run out of data and I would be blamed for going over since I'm the techie of the family (if my mother had such an issue with my data use, she shouldn't have dropped my unlimited data then), funny thing is, being that I am on WiFi 90% of the time, it's impossible for me to be using the amount of data she claims I use


Verizon is a different animal, they run on a CDMA system which it was the base to power the LTE, if you are in an area where the CDMA system is strong, they you want to use the WiFi since they got so many hot spots. GSM systems like AT&T and T-Mobile works a little different, if you are trying to get WiFi it will continually search for the strongest signal even if a weaker one is closer, that's why most phones runs out of battery faster. There is several fixes to enhance not only the signal but battery life, but I don't want to hijack the post. By the way you can get 5 Gigs of data on Page plus, which is an MVNO of Verizon and is just as good as Verizon for $39.95, no need to flash.


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## Mikedamirault (Jun 22, 2016)

PepeLePiu said:


> Verizon is a different animal, they run on a CDMA system which it was the base to power the LTE


Actually, dispite Verizon being a CDMA based carrier, LTE itself is GSM based, thus Verizon's LTE is also GSM based

3G and earlier wireless data networks were CDMA based (even on GSM based carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile), this is the reason why GSM based carriers allowed you to use voice and data at the same time while CDMA based carriers blocked data use while voice was being used, GSM based devices had two radios, it used GSM specifically for calling/texting and CDMA specifically for data

When LTE came out, LTE used GSM instead, making all LTE based phones essentially GSM based devices



PepeLePiu said:


> if you are in an area where the CDMA system is strong, they you want to use the WiFi since they got so many hot spots.


Actually contrary to popular belief, I had pretty poor signal strength with Verizon, and around here Verizon based public APs don't exist, this is because I live in an AT&T U-verse market, in Verizon FiOS markets, AT&T based public APs don't exist, they use Verizon based public APs instead

Now think about it, if what you said were true, wouldn't Verizon want to limit WiFi calling to Verizon based APs or only offer WiFi calling to areas that are in a FiOS market? WiFi calling works fine on my AT&T U-verse RG and all AT&T based public APs I connect to

On top of all that, what's the point of WiFi calling if the tower connection is strong and working? The whole point of WiFi calling is to make calls in an area where the tower signal is low or non-existent without the requirement of a femtocell



PepeLePiu said:


> GSM systems like AT&T and T-Mobile works a little different, if you are trying to get WiFi it will continually search for the strongest signal even if a weaker one is closer, that's why most phones runs out of battery faster.


This is just plainly incorrect, the WiFi settings on CDMA devices are the EXACT SAME as the WiFi settings on a GSM device, its dependent on the OS developers (iOS, WinPhone, Symbian, FireFox OS and Android), the *only* difference is it's up to the carrier if they decide to offer WiFi calling or not, AT&T was the first to offer WiFi calling (ironically they were also the only ones to offer femtocells for free)

Verizon hesitated to offer WiFi calling originally because it would tarnish their image as the leader in signal quality (which was a joke anyway, I have had many signal issues with Verizon), they just recently offered it maybe a year or so ago which required either an iOS or carrier settings update in order for it to work



PepeLePiu said:


> There is several fixes to enhance not only the signal but battery life, but I don't want to hijack the post.


I have explained a few of them myself, change the WiFi settings on only auto-connect to known APs and connect to WiFi when at home or anywhere you frequent that has WiFi, these work for both CDMA and GSM based phones (my Verizon iPhone 6+ is in FACT a GSM based phone, proof being it has an LTE SIM card and SIM cards are only for GSM networks)

And for non-LTE CDMA based phones, *228 Option 2 (do *not *do this on a Sprint or Verizon LTE phone as it has the potential to brick your phone)



PepeLePiu said:


> By the way you can get 5 Gigs of data on Page plus, which is an MVNO of Verizon and is just as good as Verizon for $39.95, no need to flash.


Not an option, I am not on my own plan and don't plan on getting my own plan anytime soon, it's all my mother's decision

BTW, if I had my decision, I would be on AT&T, I have hated Verizon ever since I have been on it


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

Urbanappalachian said:


> Great advice everyone! I was told before the Uber app eats a lot of my data. I am with Simple Mobile. I think I get 4 GB of data, even though they market it as "unlimited". It then drops to 2 GB after I have used much of my 4 GB, which is still not bad, right?


My tablet has 2GB of data and it's never come close to reaching that limit from using Uber. This tablet is used 99% for just Ubering. Your phone, you may use it for other data reasons... but Uber alone will not come close to using 4GB of data.


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## TriadUberGoober (Feb 16, 2016)

steveK2016 said:


> My tablet has 2GB of data and it's never come close to reaching that limit from using Uber. This tablet is used 99% for just Ubering. Your phone, you may use it for other data reasons... but Uber alone will not come close to using 4GB of data.


I don't drive full-time, but I am inclined to agree, based on my ow experience.


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## PepeLePiu (Feb 3, 2017)

Mikedamirault said:


> Actually, dispite Verizon being a CDMA based carrier, LTE itself is GSM based, thus Verizon's LTE is also GSM based
> 3G and earlier wireless data networks were CDMA based (even on GSM based carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile), this is the reason why GSM based carriers allowed you to use voice and data at the same time while CDMA based carriers blocked data use while voice was being used, GSM based devices had two radios, it used GSM specifically for calling/texting and CDMA specifically for data
> When LTE came out, LTE used GSM instead, making all LTE based phones essentially GSM based devices
> Actually contrary to popular belief, I had pretty poor signal strength with Verizon, and around here Verizon based public APs don't exist, this is because I live in an AT&T U-verse market, in Verizon FiOS markets, AT&T based public APs don't exist, they use Verizon based public APs instead
> ...


Nice job dissecting my post, very forensic of you and I have to say, I like the attention I got from you. 
However, you are wrong about many of the "corrections" you made. I own a Cell phone business and I happen to live in an area where you have to be careful what you buy in order, we are in the middle of the signals between CDMA towers and GSM, I sell both of them according to the area where is going to be used and I also have to fix and correct a lot of settings in a daily basis, but if you want to go to the training and to actually learn to differentiate.
I suggest this link just to get you started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-division_multiple_access
Once you get your bearings right, try this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

Then you can handle a few hundreds of phones and relay your newly expertise to me. There is not one day that I don't look around for something new to learn.


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## Mikedamirault (Jun 22, 2016)

PepeLePiu said:


> Nice job dissecting my post, very forensic of you and I have to say, I like the attention I got from you.
> However, you are wrong about many of the "corrections" you made. I own a Cell phone business and I happen to live in an area where you have to be careful what you buy in order, we are in the middle of the signals between CDMA towers and GSM, I sell both of them according to the area where is going to be used and I also have to fix and correct a lot of settings in a daily basis, but if you want to go to the training and to actually learn to differentiate.
> I suggest this link just to get you started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-division_multiple_access
> Once you get your bearings right, try this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM
> ...


Thanks, but I am already well versed on the technology and have already read those wikis top to bottom

Can you explain what I am wrong on? I have used both CDMA and GSM devices for years not to mention 3G (and previous) and LTE devices

I will say this much, you said that LTE was based on CDMA, every LTE based device I have ever seen has at least a GSM radio, it would make absolutely no sense for a CDMA carrier to offer phones that support CDMA voice and data networks (only) yet still have a SIM card slot that is not labeled as a global phone, as you should know (being in the phone biz), only GSM uses SIM cards

So by saying that LTE is CDMA based, CDMA doesn't use SIM cards, and as we both know Verizon is a CDMA based carrier, it would be possible for Verizon to offer a SIMless LTE phone, it just wouldn't be global (since European countries are GSM only), but, being that all LTE phones, even those used by Verizon and Sprint (and some smaller CDMA carriers), have SIM card slots, you are saying that all LTE devices were designed to be global devices (and those SIM cards that I am considering as LTE SIM cards are really just global Vodafone carrier SIMs) or you just contradicted yourself, otherwise, post a link to a SIMless LTE phone/hotspot


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