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SignalCheck - Android app to monitor your Wi-Fi/2G/3G/4G LTE/5G-NR signal strengths


mikejeep

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I have no neighboring cell sites on my G2. FYI.  Must have the Samsung bug.

 

UPDATE: My phone does show neighboring towers, but only when it is connect to LTE. It does not show a distant LTE tower while on 3G.

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Just curious, what is the max neighbor cell you can display? I've seen 10 as my highest so far.

There is no limit as far as SignalCheck is concerned.. I'm not sure if Android caps it at a certain quantity.

 

UPDATE: My phone does show neighboring towers, but only when it is connect to LTE. It does not show a distant LTE tower while on 3G.

You will only see neighbor cells for the currently connected connection type. It is not possible to see neighbors on other technologies. If you are on EV-DO/eHRPD, you will not see any neighbor cells; it's an LTE/WCDMA/GSM thing.

 

-Mike

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Like Tim said, the app reports what the phone is seeing. I have all of my nearby sites noted, and still see a "rogue" PCI on occasion. It could be that you haven't yet connected to that specific sector on that specific band, so you don't have that specific PCI recorded yet. Or your device can see it, but for whatever reason it is not accepting connections. Many possibilities. Again, as Tim said -- it's showing you what the phone sees. Just because you've never hit it doesn't mean it's not out there.

 

As far as GCI goes, it might not be an Android limitation, it might be by design; I have no idea if the LTE neighbor cell protocol includes any more information than Android is offering. It's a moot point though, I can only show what Android decides to collect. :)

 

-Mike

 

 

Mike, I am starting to question the accuracy of the neighbor cells on my Nexus 5.

Because it is showing several different towers I have no idea where they are unless they are 15 to 30 miles away.

 

 

With two days of watching the neighbor cells I have found 14 different towers. 13 of which are unknown and 6 are possibly known 25 to 50 miles away.

(74), 243, (412)    known

7, 176, (345)        possibly

111, (280), (449)  possibly

(42), 211, (380)

(81), 250, (419)

167, (336), (505)

(26), (195), 364

(136), (305), 474

(22), 191, 360      possibly

89?, (258), (427) possibly

(116), 285, (454) possibly

142, (311), (480)

128, (297), (466) possibly

(16), 185, (354), (523)

 

And to add some info there is 2 towers in about 30 miles I do not have the PCIs for.

Edited by Jeffrey_J
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Any day now the 4.4.4 (NJ1) will drop for the S5, so let's hope! They've also fixed a ton of Bluetooth issues reportedly so maybe they worked up the radios and reporting good.

 

sent from an underwater dust storm with my Sprint S5

Meh. This far along I wish they would just give us 5.0. Anything is better than nothing tho. I was super excited for the update until i realized that it was a minimal update for us GS5 guys. I am just used to Sprints abysmal update record when it comes to Samsung. Its the reason I got into romming my OG epic. I just with basebands were easier to modify beside picking from the "best of the bunch"

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Meh. This far along I wish they would just give us 5.0. Anything is better than nothing tho. I was super excited for the update until i realized that it was a minimal update for us GS5 guys. I am just used to Sprints abysmal update record when it comes to Samsung. Its the reason I got into romming my OG epic. I just with basebands were easier to modify beside picking from the "best of the bunch"

This really belongs in the S5 user thread but, Sprint and Samsung are usually the first to update their phones from any carrier. So it's not "abysmal". This one is an anomaly. 4.4.4 is very minor, yes, technically just security patches but Sprint is fixing some other bugs that other carriers haven't had to deal with. 5.0 is going to be a lot of work for them.

 

sent from an underwater dust storm with my Sprint S5

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This really belongs in the S5 user thread but, Sprint and Samsung are usually the first to update their phones from any carrier. So it's not "abysmal". This one is an anomaly. 4.4.4 is very minor, yes, technically just security patches but Sprint is fixing some other bugs that other carriers haven't had to deal with. 5.0 is going to be a lot of work for them.

 

sent from an underwater dust storm with my Sprint S5

Sprint is the best carrier for updates, hell look at Verizon. :P

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

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Is there any way to import/export SCP data (notes/log) in case of hard reset, new phone, etc?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Root, export from app then pull from signalcheck folder. Root your new phone, drop into signal check folder and import.
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Mike,

 

Thanks as always for your hard work & excellent features.  (If only Samsung would actually use them.)

 

Re, Logging:  Since the app can write the log as a text file to a user-accessible directory, could it also read back an edited log file from the same directory?  My thought is that I can easily edit the text file (particularly adding notes and deleting unwanted rows).  If I were to export the log, edit it, and then be able to re-import it, it would help me annotate those sites that I see while driving, but for which I am never able to add notes because they are long past by the time I can actually play with the data.  This approach would avoid rooting, messing with the .db files, and those other UNIX-y things I try to avoid.

 

Just a thought.

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Mike,

 

Thanks as always for your hard work & excellent features.  (If only Samsung would actually use them.)

 

Re, Logging:  Since the app can write the log as a text file to a user-accessible directory, could it also read back an edited log file from the same directory?  My thought is that I can easily edit the text file (particularly adding notes and deleting unwanted rows).  If I were to export the log, edit it, and then be able to re-import it, it would help me annotate those sites that I see while driving, but for which I am never able to add notes because they are long past by the time I can actually play with the data.  This approach would avoid rooting, messing with the .db files, and those other UNIX-y things I try to avoid.

 

Just a thought.

 

I don't think that is possible the way it is set up.  The log file is just a .csv file created from the database (the .db file).  It is a one time thing...  a snapshot basically of the database.  It's a one way street.  It won't read from the .csv file.

 

As of this moment, you need to root your device and find the .db file and then edit it.  If you know any programming or SQL it is pretty easy.  I took my market's spreadsheet and easily converted it into a usable .db file so all of my site notes are there.

 

Of course, if I am somehow wrong, I am sure Mike will correct me.  :D

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I don't think that is possible the way it is set up.  The log file is just a .csv file created from the database (the .db file).  It is a one time thing...  a snapshot basically of the database.  It's a one way street.  It won't read from the .csv file.

 

As of this moment, you need to root your device and find the .db file and then edit it.  If you know any programming or SQL it is pretty easy.  I took my market's spreadsheet and easily converted it into a usable .db file so all of my site notes are there.

 

Of course, if I am somehow wrong, I am sure Mike will correct me.  :D

 

Thanks for the reply, but I think you may have missed the point of my question.  I am competent to work on data bases, and clearly recognize that at this time that is the only way to update the log, but the issue is that I don't want to root my phone, for whatever reason(s).  My question essentially was, "If SCP can write a .csv file to a user-accessible location, can it read a .csv file from the same location?"

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Thanks for the reply, but I think you may have missed the point of my question.  I am competent to work on data bases, and clearly recognize that at this time that is the only way to update the log, but the issue is that I don't want to root my phone, for whatever reason(s).  My question essentially was, "If SCP can write a .csv file to a user-accessible location, can it read a .csv file from the same location?"

 

The first part should answer that (wait...  now I get it - oops).  It certainly isn't possible now.  Maybe that is something Mike can do down the road?  I'm not sure. 

 

I apologize for not reading your initial question better.  Sort of half-read it while working.  The programmer in me thinks it should be possible...  But I have no idea how much additional work that would be on Mike, so I should've left your question alone and let him to the answering!  :tu:

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Re, Logging:  Since the app can write the log as a text file to a user-accessible directory, could it also read back an edited log file from the same directory?  My thought is that I can easily edit the text file (particularly adding notes and deleting unwanted rows).  If I were to export the log, edit it, and then be able to re-import it, it would help me annotate those sites that I see while driving, but for which I am never able to add notes because they are long past by the time I can actually play with the data.  This approach would avoid rooting, messing with the .db files, and those other UNIX-y things I try to avoid.

 

The specific method you are suggesting is a bit risky and complicated, because I would need to ensure that every column being imported was of the proper data type and format, otherwise the entire log could get corrupted. But as dedub pointed out, it's one of the things I am working on. I have a long way to go, but my plan is to allow direct imports of sqlite databases (best for sharing with others) as well as direct viewing and editing of the database from within the app (best for tweaking things individually). Because you would be doing it through the app, you wouldn't need root.

 

I have no idea how much additional work that would be on Mike, so I should've left your question alone and let him to the answering!  :tu:

 

Hey I love my army of unpaid customer service reps.. never be afraid to try and help! If someone gives bad information (which is rare) I'll eventually get around to correcting it..  ;)

 

-Mike

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Hey I love my army of unpaid customer service reps.. never be afraid to try and help! If someone gives bad information (which is rare) I'll eventually get around to correcting it..  ;)

 

-Mike

 

Whoa whoa. When did I sign up for CSR?  :lol:

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Mike,

 

Just sent you a report. My main icon in the status bar has not refreshed since I turned off WiFi calling about 10 min ago. This is on S5 Sport, and the only time so far I have not seen it refresh (just started play with WiFi calling today though).

826a9141c0f82d97bd15041d62dc2b2b.jpg

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Mike,

 

Just sent you a report. My main icon in the status bar has not refreshed since I turned off WiFi calling about 10 min ago. This is on S5 Sport, and the only time so far I have not seen it refresh (just started play with WiFi calling today though).

 

 

I've been meaning to say something:  If I have SCP turned on at home, and I leave, SCP gets "frozen" on WiFi and won't ever find LTE.  I have to reboot the phone to make it work.  At home, I always use WiFi and have WiFi calling enabled.  When I go in and out of WiFi at other locations where I do not use WiFi calling, SCP updates perfectly.  I think WiFi calling is blitzing some parameter and causing the freeze. 

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Mike,

 

Just sent you a report. My main icon in the status bar has not refreshed since I turned off WiFi calling about 10 min ago. This is on S5 Sport, and the only time so far I have not seen it refresh (just started play with WiFi calling today though).

826a9141c0f82d97bd15041d62dc2b2b.jpg

Can we get an unlimited stream from your wifi connection? :)

 

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

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Just sent you a report. My main icon in the status bar has not refreshed since I turned off WiFi calling about 10 min ago. This is on S5 Sport, and the only time so far I have not seen it refresh (just started play with WiFi calling today though).

Actually, it looks like there are more issues than just a frozen icon -- the app says LTE but is displaying a 3G connection, and the system icon is showing 3G.

 

I've been meaning to say something: If I have SCP turned on at home, and I leave, SCP gets "frozen" on WiFi and won't ever find LTE. I have to reboot the phone to make it work. At home, I always use WiFi and have WiFi calling enabled. When I go in and out of WiFi at other locations where I do not use WiFi calling, SCP updates perfectly. I think WiFi calling is blitzing some parameter and causing the freeze.

Is this also on an S5? Did it happen on previous versions of the app, or have you only seen it on the new one? These are the first reports I've heard of this sort of thing. Hopefully we can at least narrow it down to WiFi calling on the S5 and/or the latest app update.

 

-Mike

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WiFi calling (on the S5) causes GPS issues when I try to use Google Maps and/or Waze sometimes. Have to disable WiFi calling in order to get a solid GPS lock "in those apps", using GPS Test, I've got a great lock. WiFi calling could definitely be the culprit for SCP. I disable that the second I leave the place I need it (work).

 

sent from an underwater dust storm with my Sprint S5

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Actually, it looks like there are more issues than just a frozen icon -- the app says LTE but is displaying a 3G connection, and the system icon is showing 3G.

 

Is this also on an S5? Did it happen on previous versions of the app, or have you only seen it on the new one? These are the first reports I've heard of this sort of thing. Hopefully we can at least narrow it down to WiFi calling on the S5 and/or the latest app update.

-Mike

Yes, on a GS5, and yes, on the previous version as well as the new release. And, like the next post, my GS5 has GPS issues with WiFi calling turned on, so it is likely that WiFi calling causes multiple issues (but it does great phone calls!).

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Yes, on a GS5, and yes, on the previous version as well as the new release. And, like the next post, my GS5 has GPS issues with WiFi calling turned on, so it is likely that WiFi calling causes multiple issues (but it does great phone calls!).

 

Gotcha, thank you for that info guys. I was going to change the Wi-Fi routines soon anyways, this will just give me a reason to do it sooner rather than later. I'm not sure if it will be able to resolve this issue, but it can't hurt to try.

 

Also, while I'm here -- I might have a workaround for non-Samsung users who are only seeing PLMN 310120 even when connected to Clear sites (I know some G2 and One Max users are affected). Who knows, it could fix affected Samsung devices too.. but I doubt it. Actually, the next time someone on a GS5 knows they are connected to a Clear site, please send me a diagnostic report..

 

-Mike

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I'd love a separate audio alert for B41/26 for those of us I'm Spark markets that are being built out. I'm always watching for new B41 towers and have to leave the signal check screen on as I drive around and glance at the phone today.

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