WEBVTT

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You walk into a target with full bars on your

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phone and the parking lot everything seemed to

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be fine You hit the dollar section pull out your

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phone to send the picture to your significant

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other like you know Hey, is this the right laundry

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detergent and suddenly nothing seems to work?

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messages spin Safari or Chrome won't load anything

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Your app that you have your notes on seems to

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be frozen Then you walk back out into the parking

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lot and your phone explodes with notifications

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All the messages arrive at once like nothing

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ever happened. Same thing happens at Walmart,

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Menards, Costco, big grocery stores. It feels

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like there's an invisible no signal bubble wrapped

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around these places. So what's actually going

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on? Is your carrier just that bad? Is the store

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blocking your signal on purpose? And why do a

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few stores feel fine when most are terrible?

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Today I want to break down why your phone gets

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so weak inside these big box stores, what some

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retailers do to try to make it better, and what

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you can do in the moment so you're not stuck

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offline over a Nile 23. This is the Tyler Woodward

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Project. This episode came from a really simple

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question I've seen over on threads. Why does

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my signal die every time I walk into a target.

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A lot of people piled on with, yeah, the same

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thing happens at Walmart, or maybe the same thing

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happens at Menards, same thing at my grocery

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store. It's clearly not just one person with

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a bad phone. Here's what I'm going to do. First,

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what's really happening between your phone, the

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tower and the building? Second, how big crowds

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can overload the network on top of all of that?

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Third what stores sometimes do about it and the

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handful of tricks you can use so you can actually

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get a message out from the back of the store

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Let's start with the main villain in this story

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the building itself Think of your phone as trying

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to have a conversation with a cell tower outside

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the store Between them you've now dropped a giant

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warehouse full of things that are really terrible

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for a cell signal. Most big box stores share

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three things in common. A metal roof, thick concrete

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or block walls, and a forest of metal shelving

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and equipment inside the building. From a radio's

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point of view, that combo behaves like a giant

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leaky shield. Let's start with the roof. Metal

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is absolutely brutal. for wireless signals. If

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you've ever put your phone in a metal cookie

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tin or maybe a metal lunchbox, you'll see those

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bars disappear. A big box store is like that,

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but scaled up massively. The roof is made of

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metal panels, the structure is steel, and in

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some cases, even parts of the exterior are metal.

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The signal from the tower has to pass through

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all of that metal You know that metal lid to

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reach your phone a lot of it gets reflected or

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absorbed and never makes it inside the building

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It's not a perfect shield, but it's close enough

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that your phone does feel it Then you get to

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the walls concrete blocks poured concrete brick

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These materials are thick and dense. They don't

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bounce the signal away like the metal does they

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just sort of soak it up like you do on a bright

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sunny day absorbing those rays and Inside that

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concrete there's usually steel rebar So now you've

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got the density plus more metal on top of it

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The path from the tower to your phone looks something

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like this Tower outside it's got to go through

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the concrete and brick walls with steel inside

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It's got to make it into the building with that

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metal roof through rows of metal racks and coolers

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finally into your pocket Each step chips away

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a little bit of that signal by the time you're

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standing in the middle of the supercenter there

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may Just not be enough left to give you a stable

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connection. Newer buildings add one more twist.

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Fancy glass. A lot of modern storefronts use

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energy efficient low -E glass. It has a thin

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metallic layer that reflects heat back out, which

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is great for that power bill. Unfortunately that

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same metallic layer can also reflect some of

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your phone's signal back out instead of letting

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it in. So even the big glass front on the building

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of the store can be less friendly than it looks.

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Now, add one more piece. 5G versus 4G. The very

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simple version is this. Some of the faster, newer

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5G signals use higher frequency radio waves.

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Those carry more data, but they're worse at going

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through walls and roofs. The older, lower frequency

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stuff, some 4G and low band 5G, behaves more

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like a low note on a bass guitar. It travels

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farther and bends around obstacles better. So

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you might see a fancy 5G icon in the parking

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lot Then walk inside and watch it drop back to

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the older signals or vanish altogether. The race

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car version of 5G just doesn't like metal roofs

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and thick walls. So that's the first half of

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the story. The building itself is really, it's

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a really rough environment for your phone signal.

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Now let's talk about the second half of the story.

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the crowd, the people. Even if some signal makes

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it into the store, the nearby cell tower can

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only handle a limited number of phones at once.

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Think of it like a highway with a fixed number

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of lanes. On a busy Saturday afternoon, you've

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got hundreds of shoppers, all their phones collected

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in one place, plus employee devices, all of the

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surrounding businesses using the same tower,

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everyone streaming, scrolling, loading apps using

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store coupons, sending photos of products home

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back to someone else to verify they're getting

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the right stuff. That is network congestion.

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The road, it's still there, but now it's jammed.

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Think of it like five o 'clock, six o 'clock

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traffic in a busy city. On your phone, it looks

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like this. You see one or two bars, but everything

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is just slow to load. Calls take forever to connect

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or fail completely. Messages hang for a while,

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and then all show up at once later. So now, combine

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these two things, a big metal and concrete box

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store that's already chewing up the signal, plus

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a tower that's getting hammered by all the people

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in one location. That's exactly the, my phone

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is useless in here feeling, you get, in some

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of these big box stores. Some retailers just

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live with this. Others actually put money into

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fixing it or trying to improve it. Broadly, there

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are three things you might benefit from as a

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shopper. Cell boosters, more advanced antenna

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systems, and good guest Wi -Fi. First, let's

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talk about those cell signal boosters. Some stores

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install commercial grade boosters. That's usually

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an antenna on the roof that listens for signals

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from your carrier, like AT &T, Verizon, T -Mobile,

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and so on. Inside, a booster amplifies whatever

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it hears outside. Then, using small antennas,

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they spread that signal around inside the store.

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From your perspective, it just feels like this.

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Huh, my phone actually works in here. That's

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strange because it doesn't work in any other

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store around here. You'll see this more in places

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where connectivity is part of the business. Certain

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grocery chains, some malls, or big stores that

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rely heavily on apps and digital experiences.

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Second, Distributed Antenna Systems or DAS. D

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-A -S. This is a heavy -duty option for very

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large or very busy venues, mega malls, stadiums,

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airports. Inside of one booster and a handful

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of antennas, there's a whole network of small

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antennas throughout the building all tied back

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to the carrier's equipment. From your point of

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view, you walk all over the property and your

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bars stay solid. It just feels like the tower

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followed you around indoors. You generally only

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see this level of investment in flagship or very

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high traffic locations because it's quite expensive.

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Third, let's talk about guest Wi -Fi. Most big

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retailers don't want to become many cell phone

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companies. What they do invest in is Wi -Fi because

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it solves problems for them and for you. It powers

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their own app and digital coupons. It also supports

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their handheld scanners and tablets and other

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equipment the employees might be using. And it

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gives customers a way out when the building kills

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the cell service. Once you're on the store's

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Wi -Fi, your phone doesn't have to fight through

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the roof and the walls anymore. All your data

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goes through the internet connection the store

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is already paying for. If you have Wi -Fi calling

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turned on with your carrier, even your regular

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phone calls and text messages can be routed over

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the Wi -Fi instead of over the nearby cell tower.

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So if you're in a store and you notice, huh,

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my phone actually works fine in here, odds are

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they've either already invested in some kind

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of booster system or they've given you solid

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guest Wi -Fi and your phone is quietly making

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the best of what it has available. Now, Let's

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turn all of this into a few concrete things you

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can actually do the next time you walk into a

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signal eating store. Number one, use guest Wi

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-Fi and enable Wi -Fi calling on your phone.

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If the store has guest Wi -Fi, join it. Once

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you're on your apps such as iMessage, WhatsApp,

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Signal, email, social media, all of it can talk

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to the Internet again through the store's Wi

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-Fi, which goes out their Internet connection.

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If Wi -Fi calling is turned on, your regular

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calls and texts can also write on that same Wi

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-Fi signal. On an iPhone, there's a Wi -Fi calling

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toggle in the settings menu. On Android, there's

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usually a similar option in the network or connections

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menu. Turn it on once and it's ready whenever

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you're on Wi -Fi and cell service is weak. Sometimes

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phones cling to a terrible one bar signal instead

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of using Wi -Fi properly. If that happens, put

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the phone into airplane mode, then manually turn

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Wi -Fi back on. That forces everything through

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Wi -Fi until you turn airplane mode back off.

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Number two, move to the leaky parts of the building.

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If you don't want to use Wi -Fi, you can still

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help yourself by being picky about where you

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stand. You'll usually get better service near

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the main entrance, near big windows or along

00:12:58.509 --> 00:13:02.450
exterior walls. Those are the parts of the building

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where the signal has the fewest obstacles. You'll

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usually get worse signal deep into the center

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of the store under the main roof and in the back

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corners surrounded by the tall metal shelving

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or the big refrigerators and freezers. If you

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absolutely need to place a call or send a photo,

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there's nothing wrong with casually walking toward

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the front door of the store or near a window

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while you do it. You don't need to camp out by

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the door, but you can treat those spots as kind

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of a boost pad. Number three, pay attention to

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how busy it is. If your phone only really falls

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apart when the store is packed, like a Saturday

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afternoon, Holidays, well that's a clue that

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the tower itself is congested on top of all the

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building problems. In those situations, you might

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find that even the parking lot is gonna feel

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sluggish. That's just a lot of phones competing

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for limited capacity. When you see that pattern,

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don't immediately blame your phone or your carrier.

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It's probably more about timing and traffic.

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And once again, that's when guest Wi -Fi and

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Wi -Fi calling are your best friends. If there's

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one sentence to keep in mind from this episode,

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let it be this. Your phone isn't failing you

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inside of a target. It's trying to talk through

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a metal roof, thick walls, energy efficient glass,

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and a crowd of other devices all hitting the

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same tower at once. When you can't change the

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building or the tower, change the path. use wifi

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when it's available and use doors and windows

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to your advantage when it's not. So the next

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time your bars vanish as soon as you push a cart

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into a big box store you'll know it's not a curse

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and it's not a secret jammer it's just the way

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these buildings are built plus a little bit of

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network rush hour sprinkled on top. If this helped

00:15:15.179 --> 00:15:18.289
make sense of what's really going on and gave

00:15:18.289 --> 00:15:22.049
you a few tricks to get, is this the right laundry

00:15:22.049 --> 00:15:25.250
detergent question out next time? Well, do me

00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:28.230
a favor, check out more episodes and show notes

00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:31.149
over at tylerwoodward .me, follow tylerwoodward

00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:34.389
.me on Instagram and threads. If you want more,

00:15:34.450 --> 00:15:38.110
you know, smart friend explains tech kind of

00:15:38.110 --> 00:15:41.250
feel in your feed and make sure you follow or

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subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast

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app and don't miss future episodes. Thanks for

00:15:46.269 --> 00:15:47.899
listening. I'll catch you next week.