Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

Android's CarrierConfig manager contains an undocumented flag (KEY_INFLATE_SIGNAL_STRENGTH_BOOL) that allows mobile carriers to artificially inflate signal strength indicators by one bar. Major US carriers AT&T and Verizon have enabled this feature on their networks. The practice raises concerns about transparency and trust, similar to misleading 5G indicators, as users receive inaccurate information about their actual network connection quality.