One thing that telecom carriers like to boast about is how extensive their coverage is. This is done to gain more customers and a better reputation. It also seems like some of them are utilizing an exploit in Android phones to make themselves look better.
Android Phones: One Exploit Found in Code
It’s been reported by Nick vs Networking, that in the source for Android phones, there is a piece of code which lets carriers show off wrong signal strength. According to the report, there is the flag “KEY_INFLATE_SIGNAL_STRENGTH_BOOL” which carriers can turn on, letting them show one bar higher than here truly is.
Not only does this exist – though isn’t logged in Android’s support doc – but it seems like some carriers in the US have enabled this through the carrier configuration manager. From what Nick vs Networking has found, both AT&T and Verizon have this setting enabled, therefore showing users the wrong signal strength.
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Carriers Can Enable Feature Themselves
It seems that this feature is turned off by default, but as Android Authority explains, a simple over the air update can enable it. This can lead to carriers implying that they’ve got far greater coverage than is actual true. Not only that, but users can also be affected, since their complaints might not be taken as serious, since the wrong data is shown. This could lead to misunderstandings in the future.
It’s also not the first time something like this has happened. In 2017 a similar ruse was found in some Android phones, as reported by XDA. So it seems that carriers have simply found a new way to fraudulently boost their coverage numbers in 2025.
Sources: Android; Nick vs Networking; Android Authority; XDA