How Dead Zones Affect Your Business

Almost everyone in the U.S. has a cellphone, and virtually all of those are smartphones. We need strong cell signal to stay connected, so it’s frustrating when calls drop or we lose connections. Unfortunately, it happens a lot, and not just in a tunnel, subway, or remote location. It also happens in inside a lot of business buildings. It’s time to consider how dead zones affect your business.

TechCrunch says that 72% of Americans complain about dropped calls, and 6% experience them several times a day. How many of them are your customers, who experience dead zones in your business?

Keep reading to learn what causes dead zones and how you can solve the problem by investing in a cell signal booster system – without switching carriers.

What causes dead zones?

When you can’t get a strong cell signal, it’s easy to point the finger at your carrier. But most likely, the spotty coverage you’re getting isn’t your carrier’s fault.

Cell phone dead zones can occur due to various factors that have nothing to do with your carrier’s efforts to provide good coverage. There are simply some factors that they cannot control. More common causes of dead zones include:

Building materials

Certain construction materials, such as thick concrete walls or metal structures, can impede cell signals from penetrating into the building.

Natural obstacles

Physical barriers like hills, mountains, and dense vegetation can obstruct cell signals, leading to weak or non-existent coverage.

Distance from cell towers

If a business is located in a remote area far away from cell phone towers, the signal strength may weaken as it travels a greater distance. This can result in dead zones where the signal is too weak to maintain a reliable connection.

Cellular network capacity and demand

In densely populated areas or during peak usage times, cell towers may become overloaded. Tid network congestion can result in reduced signal strength.

Carrier infrastructure

While carriers play a role in providing network coverage, blaming them entirely for dead zones is unfair. They face challenges in expanding coverage to every corner due to geographical limitations and cost constraints.

It’s also important to remember that you have no control over which cell service carriers your visitors and employees use. Certain carrier networks may have decent service in your area, while others may not. In real-world conditions, visitors on various carriers will likely experience dead zones in your place of business.

Given the complex nature of dead zones and the likelihood that they are related to the above conditions, switching carriers or cellular devices may not be enough to solve your problem. It’s possible to go through the trouble of changing carriers only to find you’re still in a dead zone.

How dead zones affect your business in the real world

Cell phone dead zones can have a profound impact on your business, affecting both customer experience and internal operations. Consider the following implications:

Impaired customer experience

With or without nomophobia (NO MObile PHone PhoBIA), customers expect reliable cell phone signal when engaging with businesses. For example, dead zones can lead to dropped calls, poor call quality, and slow data speeds. This frustrates customers when their devices perform poorly, potentially causing them to do business elsewhere.

Interrupted business operations

Dead zones within your building or fleet can hinder vital communication between employees, slow down data transfer processes, bringing operations to a halt. For example, retail and other businesses increasingly rely on smooth, affordable mobile checkouts, meaning customer and POS devices need a reliable cellular connection. You can’t collect payment this way if you’re in a dead zone.

Another example is medical clinics. They must provide good cellular signals for automated patient check-in, staff communication inside and outside the building, and health data transfers. Patients also expect good cell signal to use their phones onsite. Additional use cases in manufacturing, professional offices, banks, and more illustrate how dead zones can disrupt business.

Decreased employee effectiveness

When employees are unable to maintain a reliable cell signal, it hampers their ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and clients, leading to delays in decision-making and slower response times. It can also affect staff members’ job satisfaction and turnover. All of this has the power to negatively impact productivity, increase your costs, and hurt your bottom line.

Reduced safety

Dead zones can pose significant risks in industries where employee safety is crucial, such as manufacturing or healthcare. Employees may be unable to make emergency calls or access critical information during urgent situations, compromising their safety and potentially leading to serious consequences.

Restricted remote work

Your business may utilize remote employees or contractors, which makes flexible, reliable connections essential. Dead zones may limit your ability to collaborate and communicate back and forth with your remote workforce. Those working offsite may also need help accessing company resources. Overall, dead zones can limit your ability to leverage remote talent.

Delayed customer feedback

Dead zones can prevent your business from gathering real-time customer feedback through mobile surveys. Mobile surveys offer happy customers the chance to review their experience with you in the moment, when their positive experience is fresh in their minds. If you’re in a dead zone, those reviews will be delayed and may be forgotten. This limits your ability to capitalize on positive customer experiences and address any issues promptly, which could impact public perception.

Long-term impact

It’s clear that dead zones can have far-reaching consequences for your business. Negative customer experiences, decreased productivity, high employee turnover, and compromised safety measures can ultimately all contribute to increased costs and reduced profitability.

How to get cell service in a dead zone

To effectively address dead zones, cell signal boosters provide a reliable solution. These devices capture the cellular signal from outdoors, amplify it, and extend that stronger coverage within your building. This ensures a strong and consistent cellular connection for you and your customers.

When considering how to implement a cell signal booster, it’s essential to consider a few key things.

Choose the right device

Businesses need a business-grade cell signal amplification product. weBoost offers a line of products – even with professional installation – specifically designed for business customers. Each product is carrier-agnostic, meaning it works simultaneously for every device on every carrier.

Select the right manufacturer

Something as important as reliable connectivity shouldn’t be left to chance. Many companies manufacture cell signal boosters, but they are not all the same. For example, to keep their costs down, many of these makers use cheaper, inferior components and support all their operations overseas.

Look for a manufacturer that designs, builds, ships, and supports every product in the United States. Make sure they are selective about components and innovate product design to engineer the best real-world performance.

Consider professional installation

While some boosters can be self-installed, your business will probably benefit from professional installation services to minimize disruption and ensure the best performance in your unique space. Top manufacturers can dispatch professional installers to customize your booster setup, pinpoint the nearest cell towers, and ensure your system works properly.

Why WiFi isn’t the solution to dead zones

Although WiFi networks may seem like a viable alternative to address dead zones, they come with their own limitations and drawbacks. WiFi may not provide a reliable solution due to several factors.

Guest networks

For WiFi to provide reliable connectivity, you would need to create a guest network for customers, which can be a hassle and may not always be feasible. Security is also a big issue (more on that in a minute).

Customer friction

Anytime you ask customers to take an extra step, you’re creating friction in their experience with you. Expecting every customer to switch from their cellular service to your guest WiFi network makes their experience less pleasant. If they can get a smoother, easier experience elsewhere, they are likely to do so.

Security concerns

WiFi networks may pose security risks, particularly when handling sensitive information during financial transactions, such as checkouts. You’ll also need to either run an unsecured WiFi network without a password or give the password to every customer. That password will need to be changed frequently, too. All of this adds up to poor security, more hassle, and elevated risk.

WiFi calling limitations

WiFi calling has its drawbacks, including faster battery drain, limited compatibility with carriers and devices, and inconsistent call quality. And if your building has a power outage in an emergency, your WiFi calling will be unavailable.

Even in the presence of WiFi, cellular data remains essential for various business operations and customer needs, making it crucial to address dead zones through reliable solutions like cell signal boosters.

Business benefits of fixing dead zones

Fixing dead zones can yield significant benefits for your business, positively impacting customer experience, employee satisfaction, and productivity. Consider the following advantages:

Seamless customer experience

Fixing cellular dead zones in a business significantly improves the customer experience by ensuring reliable cell signal, enabling seamless communication, faster transactions, and enhanced connectivity, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Better productivity

Resolving dead zones leads to better productivity within a business as employees can effectively communicate, collaborate, and access critical information without interruptions, resulting in streamlined workflows, faster decision-making, and increased efficiency.

Fast mobile checkout

Improved cell signal enables seamless mobile transactions, leading to faster and more efficient customer checkouts.

Fast app performance

Reliable cell signal enhances the performance of business applications, ensuring smooth operation and uninterrupted access to critical tools.

On-the-spot reviews

With strong cell signal, businesses can prompt customers to leave reviews immediately, boosting their online reputation.

Easy employee communication

Eliminating dead zones facilitates smooth communication among employees, enabling collaboration and enhancing productivity.

Safety for all

With reliable cell signal, you’ll be able to call for help if you, your employees, or customers have a medical or other emergency. When seconds count, your cell signal could make all the difference.

Better profitability

With dead zones out of the way, businesses can experience better profitability through enhanced customer retention, increased sales opportunities, improved employee productivity, more efficiency, and a positive reputation that attracts more customers, ultimately leading to higher revenues and improved bottom line.

Solve cell phone dead zones for good.

Since dead zones can significantly impact the success of your business, it’s critical to recognize the implications of poor cell signal and take proactive steps to improve it.

Cell signal boosters from weBoost, such as the Office 100, Office 200, and Office 200 | Installed are designed to enhance your connectivity and unlock the full potential of your businesses. It’s an easy solution and a one-time investment, with no subscription fees and no need to change your wireless carrier.

Explore the range of weBoost cell signal boosters for business and ditch dead zones once and for all.