I have worked in multiple hospitals over the years and without fail my phone is next to useless in terms of mobile signal. Calls, texts, internet. Dead. Doesn’t work until you leave the building. Started at a new site today and exactly the same thing. Is it something to do with the materials the buildings are made of or am I just unlucky?
Edit: I know I can access WiFi. I am just interested in why hospitals are signal deadzones.
8 comments
I would assume thick concrete and lots of interference from machines etc?
Also a lot of wards in hospitals have lead screening in the walls to protect from xray scatter.
Large amount of concrete and other materials that block any radiation (inonising and non-ionising). PHone singals are non ionising radition.
Too much metal is usually a culprit. And hospitals are kinda designed to stop stuff moving around freely, so even if that’s for illnesses it’s not constructive for any kind of signal. Always best to use WhatsApp for calls in a hospital as their WiFi is usually alright.
It is quite common (building design, other electric stuff nearby, size of campus meaning there may not be a mast nearby etc.).
There was an edict a few years ago that hospitals should provide on-site WiFi for patients so check if you can get onto that instead.
Ghosts
All the ghosts.
Big thick, steel reinforced, concrete walls don’t help. Mobile signals don’t penetrate walls too well, compounded by multiple layers of large hospital buildings. Also sheer density of mobile users, lots of mobiles trying to utilise an often weak signal further compounds it.
Many hospitals have free wi-fi nowadays. Enable wi-fi calling and log in to remedy this
They act as a faraday cage, just the way they’re built and designed creates a lot of layers of conductive metal which block signals from coming through (they become conducted across the cage which creates a charged field that prevents further signals from travelling through)