Wireless Router interference with Mobile Data?

[CntrlAltDel]

Hi there,

I'm currently having an issue which is one I've been having for the last 7 years to my memory. Whenever I try to use my mobile data (HSDPA, 4G etc.) in my room I get literally 0 - 1 signal bars and I just can barely use the mobile data on my phone or any other devices that utilize wireless technologies of the sort. This is true for laptops I've used, tablets and those USB dongles that allow internet connections via sim cards. I've literally tried every single service provider in my country in the last 7 years and I've tried multiple smart phones and they all give the same issue.
In that 7 years I've used 3 different types of wireless routers.

I guess my question is "is it possible that the wireless router could be interfering with mobile data signal of my handset?' Keep in mind every other room in the house gets more signal the further I move from the router itself. My room just so happens to be where the router is and when I turn it off then I get signal.

 

[Solandri]

Based on mentioning HSDPA I assume you're on GSM? GSM uses different radios for voice and data. Voice uses the ancient and horribly inefficient TDMA. HSDPA usally uses wideband CDMA. That's right, CDMA won the CDMA vs GSM war (see part about TDMA being horribly inefficient). Most GSM ended up incorporating a CDMA radio for data into the spec, they were just too butt-hurt to call it CDMA so they instead named it after what they did with the data (HSDPA) being transmitted over CDMA.

4G LTE is the same - it uses an entirely different coding scheme (usually OFDMA - I'll let you google all these abbreviations yourself if you're curious what they are).

The bottom line is that your phone is literally using a different radio on a different frequency and possibly even communicating with different towers for voice vs data (HSDPA or LTE). So very likely the drop to 0-1 bars of signal when using mobile data is very real, and just means your carrier's data network sucks but its voice network is OK. Usually the bars represent signal strength, not signal to noise ratio (iPhones being the major exception).

Your router's wifi signal almost certainly is not interfering. Most wifi routers broadcast in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Most cellular mobile networks worldwide broadcast in the 700-900 MHz bands, 1.8-1.9 GHz bands, and 2.0-2.1 GHz bands. Look up your country and carrier here to be sure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

That said, it is possible that something else about the router's electronics is interfering. AC adapters are a common culprit - the cheap aftermarket ones made in China can be worse than hair dryers (a good reason not to always buy the cheapest one you find on Amazon or eBay). I've even run across a bad power strip before (not sure how the manufacturer managed to screw that up, but they did). Try going into the router settings and turning off the wifi radio(s). Or if you can't find those settings, try moving the router to a room on the opposite side of the house and see if the situation reverses - no signal in what used to be the "good" room, signal in what used to be the "bad" router room.