Sudden Change in Cell Service

We understand the importance of receiving a good cellular connection, @PenelopePea. 

There could be many things affecting your wireless signal. We've listed a few below: 

• Environmental factors (dead zones). ~ If your service is bad in one particular area, you may be in a dead zone. The solution to this would be Wi-Fi calling or moving to an area with better reception, like near a window. 
• Time of day. ~ During peak hours AT&T may slow down speeds to keep everyone connected. 
• Phone damage. ~ If you've ever dropped your phone, the components may be damaged or your SIM card may be dislodged. Check out the many causes for a slow device. 
• Rural areas. ~ If you live in a rural area, the distance you are from the towers may be causing you to have a weak signal. Check to see if you're in an area with towers and coverage. 

You can also sign in to our Device Support tool to run a real-time diagnostics on your device. 

Please keep us updated on how this works for you!

Sydne, AT&T Community Specialist

I have had the same problems the past few months.  Previous ares with no problems are now dead zones.  Even driving down a major road near me that never had issues is dropping pandora connections.  AT&T has definitely done something that worsens the signal.  Probably to save money and profit more.

@stragmd 

Service is regulated by the FCC. 

A service provider turning down service does not save money if it loses customers especially if it loses an entire area of customers.  

3g had a longer range than LTE and 5g.

In some cases a good LTE signal is being overridden or blocked by a fringe 5G signal. If it is possible, set your phone to LTE only. Or turn on battery saver which does the same thing, it blocks 5G. This setting is available on iPhones. It is not available on all Android phones.

I deliberately stuck with an LTE-only device for as long as possible because I knew I was in a fringe 5G area.  I still occasionally have to turn airplane mode on and then off again in some areas in order to reconnect to the network because my phone will drop to no service.

There is such a thing as a cellular booster, a real one, not the fake thing that AT&T sells for 200 and some dollars. A real cellular booster can be used for a home, and RV, or even your automobile. I have one in my car. It uses just an electrical connection to amplify an existing signal to make it more usable.  

    The WeBoost website has cellular boosters.  Typical price for a home boosters going to be around $800. 

Boosters sold on the weboost website will boost the typical frequencies used by US carriers, and are not carrier specific

My car booster has a gain of approximately 20 dBm which does make the difference between barely getting a text message, and actually being able to use data quite well