Eli5 why is cell coverage so bad at airports?
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The biggest contributor is just the fact that there’s so many people trying to use mobile networks all in one place at the same time.
Wireless networks of all kinds, including the ones that cell phones communicate with, are a bit like big highway roads. The number of lanes is finite. You can get a lot of people through if they take turns using the lanes that there are, but after a critical mass of people all try to use the road at the exact same time, the lanes get clogged, people start to bump into each other, and traffic screeches to a halt in a big jam. The same thing can happen to the airwaves.
Another small contributor will be the design of the airport itself, where you are in it, and where the nearest cell tower for your network carrier is located. Airports with grand, vaulted roofs require a lot of steel structure, which can disrupt the electromagnetic communications used by cell phones if a dense lot of them sit between you and the nearest tower.
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