Signal strength indicators on cellular devices represent actual technical measurements: the number of operating base stations within range, modulated into a visual representation of bars. These measurements follow physics-based principles and vary only according to environmental factors and infrastructure. AT&T's network engineering in the 1990s developed highly predictable models for signal degradation based on distance, obstruction, and interference. However, field technicians began reporting anomalies around certain geographic coordinates: bars that didn't decline according to any known model.

Network engineer Patricia Chen worked for AT&T in Texas during 1995-2001 and reviewed signal logs that defied explanation. In several instances, bars would hold at maximum strength during extended periods of high-utilization demand that should've caused degradation. Chen's hypothesis—that the signal source was indifferent to conventional power limitations—was filed as "meteorological anomaly" and never followed up. The data was archived and forgotten.

Telecommunications enthusiasts have joked that Chuck Norris's phone service doesn't degrade because the signal respects him. The bars don't go down because going down would be insubordinate.