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

[mikejeep]

After updating my EVO 4G LTE to 4.3 and rooting the phone for the first time to get back the Reset button I noticed that my phone is displaying I think is incorrect PCI numbers. Have you heard of this happening with other phones?

 

Hmm, not that I'm aware of. Why do you think they are incorrect? Valid ranges for PCI is 0-503. I upgraded my EVO LTE to 4.3, but have not tested it on LTE yet.

 

Hit About > Send Diagnostics if you see something you think might be off, that sends me technical data that might identify an issue. Or you can post a screenshot here, but the diagnostics provide me with more information.

 

-Mike

[pokefan02]

I didn't think the EVO could report PCI's . One site was reported to have sector PCI of 123, but the phone reported 124 while on sector 2 of that site. It also will go away when I go to a different sector or site.

[pokefan02]

I will get screenshots for you tomorrow and send a diagnostic.

[JossMan]

That's what I assumed, thanks for taking the time to answer, its just really odd seeing my phone hop between four sites usually every 10-15 seconds. I would think one of the sites would be better than the others, and it'd park itself for a bit at least.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

One night if your up late take a look at SignalCheck and see if your phone hands off to those sites.  Late at night your phone is more likely to stay on one site due to the sites not being as loaded as they are during the daytime hours.  Also in SignalCheck the Ec/Io is also a very important, each sector of a site transmits power.  As the load increases the Ec/Io gets worse, -4 to -8dB is about the normal level.  The closer to -1dB the Ec/Io gets the more likely you are to have dropped calls.  

[kojitsari]

One night if your up late take a look at SignalCheck and see if your phone hands off to those sites. Late at night your phone is more likely to stay on one site due to the sites not being as loaded as they are during the daytime hours. Also in SignalCheck the Ec/Io is also a very important, each sector of a site transmits power. As the load increases the Ec/Io gets worse, -4 to -8dB is about the normal level. The closer to -1dB the Ec/Io gets the more likely you are to have dropped calls.

I've watched it as late as 2:30am(I stream Pandora while I'm falling asleep, so when I'm skipping I watch signalcheck lol). It still hops around, the Ec/lo is between -6 to -10, its been above -6 and below -10(-12) one time for each.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[mikejeep]

I've watched it as late as 2:30am(I stream Pandora while I'm falling asleep, so when I'm skipping I watch signalcheck lol). It still hops around, the Ec/lo is between -6 to -10, its been above -6 and below -10(-12) one time for each.

 

Maybe you are just in a location that has so many awesome sites to choose from, your phone just can't decide which one it likes best..

 

In any case, it's not really anything to be concerned with, be thankful that you have so many sites within range to choose from; others are not so lucky. Mobile phones have been doing this since well before apps like this came along.. most of us just didn't notice it.

 

-Mike

[kojitsari]

Maybe you are just in a location that has so many awesome sites to choose from, your phone just can't decide which one it likes best..

 

In any case, it's not really anything to be concerned with, be thankful that you have so many sites within range to choose from; others are not so lucky. Mobile phones have been doing this since well before apps like this came along.. most of us just didn't notice it.

 

-Mike

Oh I am thankful, it was just confusing to me. I'm still trying to wrap my head around a lot of the info I've found on here. I'm just waiting for some glorious LTE to light up, then I will be even happier to have Sprint than I was the day we switched over .

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[mikejeep]

Oh I am thankful, it was just confusing to me. I'm still trying to wrap my head around a lot of the info I've found on here. I'm just waiting for some glorious LTE to light up, then I will be even happier to have Sprint than I was the day we switched over .

 

You would probably be very surprised to see how much work your phone is doing when it's just sitting on your desk with the screen off.. if it had a noisy hard drive like the old-school computers, you'd be wondering what the heck it was doing. I was amazed when I started developing and saw how much activity there was on an "idle" phone.. not just what the radio is doing, but all the background processes that are constantly running around. By watching logcat for awhile, you can see how sloppy (or meticulous) some major developers are!

 

-Mike

[kojitsari]

You would probably be very surprised to see how much work your phone is doing when it's just sitting on your desk with the screen off.. if it had a noisy hard drive like the old-school computers, you'd be wondering what the heck it was doing. I was amazed when I started developing and saw how much activity there was on an "idle" phone.. not just what the radio is doing, but all the background processes that are constantly running around. By watching logcat for awhile, you can see how sloppy (or meticulous) some major developers are!

 

-Mike

I'm not naive enough to think my "asleep" phone is actually asleep. It is still astounding that my phone is more powerful than the computers half the people I know own. It blows my mind the things that developers like yourself can do with something that's become a mundane object to our society. That's why I'm doing my best to learn a lot more, plus I won't have to bother you(and others like you) with "stupid" questions as much .

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[dkyeager]

...Have you noticed if B25/B26 PCI's for the same site are identical? ...

-Mike

 

In West Virginia the PCI sectors remain constant, ie the same PCI for both bands for 00 & 0f, etc.

[tampaflusa]

I would love in a future version the ability for an alert when you connect to B41 B26 et. ..

 

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

 

 

[mikejeep]

I would love in a future version the ability for an alert when you connect to B41 B26 et. ..

 

Me too!

 

It's coming.. need to work on getting stable and reliable recognition of B26 and B41 first, then add on goodies like that after.

 

-Mike

[pokefan02]

Here are some screenshots

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

 

[mikejeep]

Here are some screenshots ...

 

Based on those and the diagnostic data you sent (which actually didn't show any PCI data at the moment you submitted the report to me?), I don't see anything out of the ordinary; values of 87 and 124 are certainly valid, but I have no idea if they are actually correct or not. Perhaps if you compare with engineering screens or SignalCheck on another device, you could determine if there are conflicts. SignalCheck just reports what it sees, so if it's wrong, it's an issue with the EVO radio firmware that I would have to try to work around.

 

The inability to report PCI or TAC was not a limitation of the EVO LTE, but Android itself prior to version 4.2. Since the EVO now is up to 4.3, it can display this data if the radio is reporting it. I realize that the display looks a little odd because the frequency is showing up in the middle, but I have an updated EVO that I will be working with to correct that in a future app update.

 

-Mike

[pokefan02]

The weird thing is it doesn't show the PCI for all Sectors and Sites. The PCI values in the screenshots don't match what was reported for those sites. Tomorrow I will try to get some engineering shots and some diagnostic reports while showing the PCI.

[mikejeep]

The weird thing is it doesn't show the PCI for all Sectors and Sites. The PCI values in the screenshots don't match what was reported for those sites. Tomorrow I will try to get some engineering shots and some diagnostic reports while showing the PCI.

 

The Android 4.3 update for the EVO has some bugs they are still working on. When it first came out, HTC said it would be the final version, but they have since released 4 updates to it and continue to take bug reports. I'm having trouble reactivating mine so I can test the LTE functionality myself, so feel free to pass along any data you gather. Those Diagnostic Reports are the best for me (and probably easiest for you).

 

-Mike

[jadedchameleon]

I've been using SignalCheck Pro for 6 months and haven't observed this, and I know there hasn't been an update in while, however....

 

I have had two incidents on my Nexus 5 this week where I have been stuck on eHRPD while I've been right next to LTE towers.  I have background data turned off to facilitate faster switching to LTE, but I sat for several minutes right next to towers, stuck on 3G.  SignalCheck Pro reported an active data connection which I'm sure is why I'm not switching to LTE.  So I looked through my list of processes and there was literally nothing running besides Google Services.  In both cases, I used app manager to kill the SignalCheck Pro processes, and within two seconds I immediately switched to LTE.

 

I know SignalCheck uses the network to look up 1xRTT site names.  Does it use it for anything else?  Any chance there is some place in the code where a network connection is inadvertently left open?

[mikejeep]

I have had two incidents on my Nexus 5 this week where I have been stuck on eHRPD while I've been right next to LTE towers. I have background data turned off to facilitate faster switching to LTE, but I sat for several minutes right next to towers, stuck on 3G. SignalCheck Pro reported an active data connection which I'm sure is why I'm not switching to LTE. So I looked through my list of processes and there was literally nothing running besides Google Services. In both cases, I used app manager to kill the SignalCheck Pro processes, and within two seconds I immediately switched to LTE.

 

I know SignalCheck uses the network to look up 1xRTT site names. Does it use it for anything else? Any chance there is some place in the code where a network connection is inadvertently left open?

It does use your data connection to translate 1X site coordinates into street addresses, but that's only if those coordinates haven't already been cached by the app yet. As far as I'm aware, that connection is properly closed when it finishes. Other than that, there isn't any data usage by the version of the app out there now (4.22), other than the minimal traffic which obviously happens when you switch sectors/sites/technologies/networks, but that is all managed directly by Android.

 

You could have been experiencing the VERY annoying freezing/crashing/lagging bug that is hampering 4.22. Did you notice if your built-in system icon was reporting 3G or LTE? Your phone might have already switched over, but the app was frozen and didn't update the display. Or the app had choked your device to the point where it couldn't handoff or update the system icon until you killed the SignalCheck process(es).

 

I'm doing everything I can to get a new update out that resolves this, as I realize it is a major issue.. the rest of my life just keeps getting in the way!

 

-Mike

[jadedchameleon]

It does use your data connection to translate 1X site coordinates into street addresses, but that's only if those coordinates haven't already been cached by the app yet. As far as I'm aware, that connection is properly closed when it finishes. Other than that, there isn't any data usage by the version of the app out there now (4.22), other than the minimal traffic which obviously happens when you switch sectors/sites/technologies/networks, but that is all managed directly by Android.

 

You could have been experiencing the VERY annoying freezing/crashing/lagging bug that is hampering 4.22. Did you notice if your built-in system icon was reporting 3G or LTE? Your phone might have already switched over, but the app was frozen and didn't update the display. Or the app had choked your device to the point where it couldn't handoff or update the system icon until you killed the SignalCheck process(es).

 

I'm doing everything I can to get a new update out that resolves this, as I realize it is a major issue.. the rest of my life just keeps getting in the way!

 

-Mike

 

I was going by the system's signal type icon, but it seemed like the app was still operating correctly from what I could tell (the signal strength measurements were actively fluctuating).  I have definitely seen situations where the background process has frozen up (and has to be killed manually), but this seemed different--the phone seemed to be acting normally other than it was "stuck" on 3G.   It has only happened two times that I've noticed so far--but it may have happened more than this, because I have to honestly realize that I "should" be getting LTE when I'm not.

[mikejeep]

I was going by the system's signal type icon, but it seemed like the app was still operating correctly from what I could tell (the signal strength measurements were actively fluctuating).  I have definitely seen situations where the background process has frozen up (and has to be killed manually), but this seemed different--the phone seemed to be acting normally other than it was "stuck" on 3G.   It has only happened two times that I've noticed so far--but it may have happened more than this, because I have to honestly realize that I "should" be getting LTE when I'm not.

 

Hmm.. the app just uses what is called a "Listener" to monitor the cell signal data, it's not actively polling anything or taking any action that would kickstart the radio out of an idle state, unless some of the system calls do that without including it in the documentation. I just parked near a known LTE site in my area with SignalCheck running, and it flipped from eHRPD in a reasonable amount of time. Did a few laps to non-LTE areas and back, with SignalCheck running and with it not, and it didn't seem to impact it at all. Of course, I'm running the elite version that nobody else has yet, so that could be why.

 

I'll keep my eye out for something that might cause the radio to stay "active", but in the meantime I guess the best I can do is ask that you patiently wait for the mythical update I keep promising everyone and see how that works out for you.

 

-Mike

[AcctDeleted_jerthorne]

This app is very cool. Thanks to everyone involved in its creation and feedback. 

[kojitsari]

Here's another question. What Is your SNR supposed to be(approximately). Over the past two days my Ec/lo has been 15-25 (up an average of 10) but my SNR has been 1-2(down from 3-5). These are both from ehrpd/evdo.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[WealthyHabitz]

Those are consistent with results from other markets as well; I'm now satisfied that there is plenty of evidence to support the GCI sector patterns recognized by S4GRU members are intentional. Thank you for keeping tabs on this for me, and thank you Sprint for keeping it simple! Have you noticed if B25/B26 PCI's for the same site are identical? I know it has proven true in some areas, but I'm not yet sure if that's a coincidence or part of the plan, and I know you've been keeping a close eye on this stuff.

 

 

SignalCheck has the capability, and Android 4.2+ has the structure in place; it's just a matter of the phone itself reporting the information or not. Sprint Samsungs do not have a good track record with this.

 

Someone with a newer device will have to give you a definitive answer on this; as far as I can remember, I haven't heard of any stock Samsung devices reporting any LTE info except for on the engineering screens. The S4T doesn't even report the correct PLMN, and that radio should be Sprint-specific!

 

I have expressed my opinion on this to Samsung numerous times, but it's not like I'm put in direct contact with the developers or "enginerrs" -- no matter how many e-mails, tweets, or phone calls I am forwarded to, it always ends in "we'll pass it along to the appropriate people". I have no idea why they neglect to report this data on Sprint phones; I know it's reported on at least some other provider's devices, such as AT&T.

 

 

Interesting -- could you get me a screen shot of that and/or hit About > Send Diagnostics from within SignalCheck while on an HD Voice call? Maybe there's something I can hook onto.

 

 

What do you mean by "results"? CDMA 800 or LTE 800? SignalCheck reports everything the radio is reporting to it; if the app is open, it's listening for data. The only exception is that while a phone call is active, the app stops showing some cell site ID data, because Android does not update it while the phone is off-hook. The signal levels will continue to update, but SID/NID/BID does not.

 

-Mike

Sorry it took so long but here ya go. T-Mobile network Hspa+ for me (LG G2), uncle on 4GLTE in his area (S4).

 

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[CaptainSlow]

Here's another question. What Is your SNR supposed to be(approximately). Over the past two days my Ec/lo has been 15-25 (up an average of 10) but my SNR has been 1-2(down from 3-5). These are both from ehrpd/evdo.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

On EvDO and eHRPD, SINR in high single digits to mid-teens is when you get blazing speeds (by EvDO standards

[JossMan]

Here's another question. What Is your SNR supposed to be(approximately). Over the past two days my Ec/lo has been 15-25 (up an average of 10) but my SNR has been 1-2(down from 3-5). These are both from ehrpd/evdo.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Typical CDMA EV-DO SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) values range from 3 dB to 9 dB.