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

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mikejeep
mikejeep

Hello all, I have been visiting S4GRU for quite some time, and one of the most common issues I see popping up is confusion from users--especially when they first get 4G LTE devices and/or LTE servi

mikejeep
mikejeep

It's here! It's here! It's finally here! No, not the Android 4.4.3 update due today.. but it's almost as cool: SignalCheck has received it's long-awaited update. Pro version 4.24 has been pushed out t

mikejeep
mikejeep

The most anticipated software update of your life is finally here.. SignalCheck 4.261 has been released into the wild! It has been pushed to Google Play and should be available within the hour. This i

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WiWavelength Member Level: LTE Advanced

WiWavelength

Posted
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Why is it that sometimes the app doesn't report which band you're on??

My device is a Nexus 5x

 

I am sorry to bust your balls, but you need to read more of this thread.  This SignalCheck Pro feature/bug in recent Android builds has been thoroughly discussed.  The Nexus 5X -- like all single RF path handsets -- is incapable of being connected to CDMA1X and LTE simultaneously.  That causes the issue.

 

AJ

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RyanThaDude Member Level: Digital

RyanThaDude

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Why is it that sometimes the app doesn't report which band you're on??

My device is a Nexus 5x

 

abe90088aea84371080c8c59f2e59eda.jpg

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I know there's a lot to see in this thread but it's been discussed quite a bit. I can only guess it's a bug, but I think it can also happen when VoLTE isn't supported or working at the site. I'm on VZW so YMMV.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

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ingenium Member Level: 4G WiMax

ingenium

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On my N6

 

crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   0 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd0
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   1 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd1
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  11 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd11
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   2 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd2
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  21 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd21
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  11 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd22
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  27 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd27
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   3 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd3
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  36 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd36
crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   4 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd4
crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   5 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd5
crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   6 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd6
crw-rw---- 1 bluetooth net_bt_stack 230,   7 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd7
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   8 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd8

Hmm, that's interesting. The files are exactly the same as on my Nexus 6P (including /dev/smd7 being owned by bluetooth), with the exception of the major number being offset by 6 (230 vs 224, and 229 vs 223), and the ownership of /dev/smd11 (system vs radio).

root@angler:/ # ls -l /dev/smd*                                                
crw-rw---- system   system   224,   0 1970-04-04 19:18 smd0
crw------- root     root     224,   1 1970-04-04 19:18 smd1
crw-rw---- radio    radio    224,  11 2016-02-18 20:33 smd11
crw------- root     root     224,   2 1970-04-04 19:18 smd2
crw------- root     root     224,  21 1970-04-04 19:18 smd21
crw------- root     root     223,  11 1970-04-04 19:18 smd22
crw------- root     root     224,  27 1970-04-04 19:18 smd27
crw------- root     root     224,   3 1970-04-04 19:18 smd3
crw------- root     root     224,  36 1970-04-04 19:18 smd36
crw-rw---- system   system   224,   4 1970-04-04 19:18 smd4
crw-rw---- system   system   224,   5 1970-04-04 19:18 smd5
crw-rw---- system   system   224,   6 1970-04-04 19:18 smd6
crw-rw---- bluetooth bluetooth 224,   7 1970-04-04 19:18 smd7
crw------- root     root     224,   8 1970-04-04 19:18 smd8
 

If you do ls -l /dev/smd* are there any files that are owned by radio? I find it odd that Qualcomm appears to have removed this functionality from their driver for 1-2 generations before adding it back in. 

 

It looks like it's trying to use /dev/smd11, just like the on Nexus 6P, but for some reason the modem is responding with an error. So either the /dev file is different on the 5X, or the driver for the Qualcomm 808 doesn't support issuing modem commands for some reason. Can you, or anyone else with a rooted 5X, run ls -l /dev/smd* in a root shell and see if any of them are owned by radio?

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RyanThaDude Member Level: Digital

RyanThaDude

Posted
Posted

 

crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   0 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd0
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   1 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd1
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  11 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd11
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   2 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd2
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  21 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd21
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  11 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd22
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  27 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd27
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   3 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd3
crw------- 1 root      root         230,  36 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd36
crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   4 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd4
crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   5 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd5
crw-rw---- 1 system    system       230,   6 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd6
crw-rw---- 1 bluetooth net_bt_stack 230,   7 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd7
crw------- 1 root      root         230,   8 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd8
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,  25 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd_cxm_qmi
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  28 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd_data_0
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  27 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd_logging_0
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  30 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd_pkt_loopback
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  24 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd_sns_adsp
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  21 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd_sns_dsps
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  26 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smd_test_framework
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  12 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev0
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  13 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev1
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  14 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev2
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  15 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev3
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  16 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev4
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  17 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev5
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  18 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev6
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  19 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev7
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  20 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcnt_rev8
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   0 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl0
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   1 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl1
crw------- 1 root      root         229,   9 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl10
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  10 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl11
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   2 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl2
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   3 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl3
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   4 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl4
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   5 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl5
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   6 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl6
crw-r----- 1 radio     radio        229,   7 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl7
crw------- 1 root      root         229,  23 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl8
crw------- 1 root      root         229,   8 1970-03-21 05:14 /dev/smdcntl9
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mikejeep Member Level: LTE Advanced

mikejeep

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does this work on the Nexus 5X with cell Mapper?

Yes, Cellmapper shows EARFCNs on my 5X. It uses /dev/smd11.

 

I have made good progress with this for SCP! Working almost 40 hours this weekend(!) but hoping to find some time to get something for everyone to test before I go on a road trip Wednesday.

 

-Mike

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imex99 Member Level: 4G LTE

imex99

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Posted

Yes, Cellmapper shows EARFCNs on my 5X. It uses /dev/smd11.

 

I have made good progress with this for SCP! Working almost 40 hours this weekend(!) but hoping to find some time to get something for everyone to test before I go on a road trip Wednesday.

 

-Mike

Rooted only?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

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mikejeep Member Level: LTE Advanced

mikejeep

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Rooted only?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Mine is rooted, yes; I haven't explored if this would be possible without root. I have an idea about a way to do some magic and possibly get it to work, but I think it may get blocked. After I get a rooted method working, I intend to unroot specifically to see what I can accomplish.

 

-Mike

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imex99 Member Level: 4G LTE

imex99

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Mine is rooted, yes; I haven't explored if this would be possible without root. I have an idea about a way to do some magic and possibly get it to work, but I think it may get blocked. After I get a rooted method working, I intend to unroot specifically to see what I can accomplish.

 

-Mike

Awesome, I'm on the nexus 6p, bootloader unlocked with tether working and Android pay is the only reason I'm not rooting.

 

I don't feel like keep fighting Google blocking the pay exploit bc I use pay a lot.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

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mikejeep Member Level: LTE Advanced

mikejeep

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Awesome, I'm on the nexus 6p, bootloader unlocked with tether working and Android pay is the only reason I'm not rooting.

 

I don't feel like keep fighting Google blocking the pay exploit bc I use pay a lot.

 

I hear ya. I wish it was less complicated! The features that SCP needs root for really don't need to be blocked.

 

-Mike

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ingenium Member Level: 4G WiMax

ingenium

Posted
Posted

 

 

Awesome, I'm on the nexus 6p, bootloader unlocked with tether working and Android pay is the only reason I'm not rooting.

 

I don't feel like keep fighting Google blocking the pay exploit bc I use pay a lot.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Yeah, Pay is unfortunately a bit of a cat and mouse game. It currently works with the right work around (I used it a couple days ago at Trader Joe's). Worst case though is they block it and you just full unroot from the SuperSU app and you're back in business with using Pay in a few minutes, albeit giving up root features.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

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mikejeep Member Level: LTE Advanced

mikejeep

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Soooo after 20+ hours of coding this weekend, things are looking pretty awesome! It needs a lot of fine-tuning, but the biggest hurdle is out of the way. Yes, this screenshot from my Nexus 5X shows a B25 connection, with B25, B26, and B41 neighbor cells all at once.. wow. This is going to be cool. Stay tuned...

 

086e71234f7bc8200ac0befe9887a260.jpg

 

-Mike

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Trip Member Level: 4G LTE

Trip

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Very cool!  I'm looking forward to trying it out.

 

So would I be correct that, among the changes that will go into this, that it will trust the EARFCN for choosing the band display (e.g. "LTE 1900") as opposed to the sector ID?  My T-Mobile phone and I will love you if so. :)

 

And one other thing, a feature request if you will; to save space on the screen, I would love an option in the preferences to show only the DL channel and not display the UL channel.

 

- Trip

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mikejeep Member Level: LTE Advanced

mikejeep

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So would I be correct that, among the changes that will go into this, that it will trust the EARFCN for choosing the band display (e.g. "LTE 1900") as opposed to the sector ID?  My T-Mobile phone and I will love you if so. :)

 

And one other thing, a feature request if you will; to save space on the screen, I would love an option in the preferences to show only the DL channel and not display the UL channel.

 

Yes, my intention is to use the EARFCN to identify the band instead of taking the educated guess based off of GCI like it does now. As of this moment, it's just displaying it as another piece of data and not interpreting anything based on it. Once I can get it doing that smoothly and reliably, I'll change the app's overall behavior to rely on that. This is huge.. I'm excited. Hopefully it works on a decent swath of devices.

 

I do plan to combine the UL/DL when they are identical and thought an option to only show DL would be useful too. With the neighbor cell display, screen space has become a premium. But first I need to make sure the data is reliably what I expect it to be, then I'll work on the aesthetics. I have a half-finished total redesign of the app with tabs that I'd love to get working, but my developer skills aren't quite there yet.

 

On a somewhat unrelated note, I think I also figured out why the LTE GCI is hidden when 1X appears.. haven't been able to reliably confirm my suspicions yet because I don't see the 1X+LTE situation often. My old apartment was a fantastic testing ground because I could walk into certain rooms and knew what band my phone would connect to, and I my choice of them all (B25/26/41/Clear, as well as TMobile on Fi). My new place is great, but I'm on the fringe of any Sprint service whatsoever.

 

-Mike

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Trip Member Level: 4G LTE

Trip

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Posted

Yes, my intention is to use the EARFCN to identify the band instead of taking the educated guess based off of GCI like it does now. As of this moment, it's just displaying it as another piece of data and not interpreting anything based on it. Once I can get it doing that smoothly and reliably, I'll change the app's overall behavior to rely on that. This is huge.. I'm excited. Hopefully it works on a decent swath of devices.

 

Sounds great!  Just to clarify for myself, it will continue making its educated guess if the EARFCN is unavailable, right?  I can't root my Verizon phone it would appear, my AT&T phone doesn't seem to support the EARFCN retrieval, and I haven't opted to root my Sprint phone (though I probably will try).  I wouldn't want to lose band ID on those.  :)

 

Or have you figured out how to make it run without root?

 

- Trip

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mikejeep Member Level: LTE Advanced

mikejeep

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Sounds great!  Just to clarify for myself, it will continue making its educated guess if the EARFCN is unavailable, right?  I can't root my Verizon phone it would appear, my AT&T phone doesn't seem to support the EARFCN retrieval, and I haven't opted to root my Sprint phone (though I probably will try).  I wouldn't want to lose band ID on those.  :)

 

Or have you figured out how to make it run without root?

 

Correct. I don't think this new method will work on as many devices as the existing methods do, and as of right now it does require root also.

 

-Mike

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