it's also misleading in another way: namely that your connection to the cell site tells you absolutely nothing about that cell sites ability to forward your con

it's also misleading in another way: namely that your connection to the cell site tells you absolutely nothing about that cell sites ability to forward your connection onto the greater internet; and absolutely nothing about the number of cells connected to the same cell site (some of whom could be consuming considerable airtime). Boiling it down to "connection strength to the cell site" is, literally, the same as using wifi strength bars to evaluate internet speeds at home: it doesn't even begin to tell the whole picture.