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

[imex99]

 

Samsung Galaxy 7 Edge still experiencing the 1x bug, just switched from nexus 6p.

 

@Mike my personal theory and experience with 6p and now s7e.

 

From my local area of Granville & Newark i see the 1x bug.

 

When I'm at work in Columbus, OH my scp screens are normal. I know the areas broadcast different 1x channels....

 

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

[SturgeonGeneral]

Is there a way you can tell if Gear VR is in use? That way it won't update the notification every couple seconds. I can put it in "Do not disturb" mode but that blocks all notifications.

I've just been killing the app. Am i going to break something doing that?

 

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

[Trip]

The app does have an "exit" function in its menu...

 

- Trip

[mikejeep]

Samsung Galaxy 7 Edge still experiencing the 1x bug, just switched from nexus 6p.

 

@Mike my personal theory and experience with 6p and now s7e.

 

From my local area of Granville & Newark i see the 1x bug.

 

When I'm at work in Columbus, OH my scp screens are normal. I know the areas broadcast different 1x channels....

 

Since I started testing my fix for this "bug" it's certainly seeming more and more like this is not a bug at all, but intentional behavior by Android 5.0+ devices, most often when connected to a weak LTE signal. The only "bug" is that the current release of SignalCheck does not display the GCI (which, in turn, causes other issues, like band identification and site note entry/display). But my fix does appear to be solid and ready for release. The only thing holding up an update is the new EARFCN features, which I'm close to finishing.

 

-Mike

[SturgeonGeneral]

The app does have an "exit" function in its menu...

 

- Trip

Duh, don't mind me. Blonde moment.

 

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

[RyanThaDude]

Since I started testing my fix for this "bug" it's certainly seeming more and more like this is not a bug at all, but intentional behavior by Android 5.0+ devices, most often when connected to a weak LTE signal. The only "bug" is that the current release of SignalCheck does not display the GCI (which, in turn, causes other issues, like band identification and site note entry/display). But my fix does appear to be solid and ready for release. The only thing holding up an update is the new EARFCN features, which I'm close to finishing.

 

-Mike

If it means anything when I disable VoLTE or when in an area where it's not supported on my Nexus 6 on VZW the "bug" appears. I found this out a few months ago when I was in an area where US Cellular owns the CDMA market and VZW was deploying new LTE sites. AFAIK Sprint doesn't use VoLTE, so not sure there.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Dkoellerwx]

If it means anything when I disable VoLTE or when in an area where it's not supported on my Nexus 6 on VZW the "bug" appears. I found this out a few months ago when I was in an area where US Cellular owns the CDMA market and VZW was deploying new LTE sites. AFAIK Sprint doesn't use VoLTE, so not sure there.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

It is theorized that the "bug" is related to eCSFB. A 1x connection is maintained for a time ensuring that calls and/or texts are connected while the LTE signal is or has recently been weak. Once a decent LTE signal has been maintained for a while, it goes away. 

[signalchaser]

I have Tmobile and have never seen it acknowledge band 2 LTE. It always says band 4. Is there a workaround for this? Other than that it seems to identify bands properly. Thanks

[nowerlater]

I have Tmobile and have never seen it acknowledge band 2 LTE. It always says band 4. Is there a workaround for this? Other than that it seems to identify bands properly. Thanks

Band 2 available in your area? When i had tmo, it identified it no problem.

 

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[Trip]

SCP guesses the band based on the sector number and PLMN, which works great for Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T.  T-Mobile, by contrast, is not nearly as neat about it.  For example, where I live, 01/02/03 are AWS, while near where my parents live, those same sectors are PCS (but IDed as AWS in SCP).  Some sites have four sectors instead of 3; the ones with three sectors have 04 as 700, while the ones with four sectors have 04 as AWS (or, I suppose, PCS is also possible) with 05-08 as 700.  (Which is why 04 sectors are "LTE" and not "LTE 700" or "LTE AWS".)

 

Once the new build is released, rooted phones that support retrieving the EARFCN should properly show the band.  I've rooted my T-Mobile phone in preparation.

 

Mike can correct me if I got any of that wrong.

 

- Trip

[RyanThaDude]

Band 2 available in your area? When i had tmo, it identified it no problem.

 

Sent from my SM-G928P using Tapatalk

I never had a problem, either. SCP would identify bands 2, 4, and 12 no problem.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[mikejeep]

I have Tmobile and have never seen it acknowledge band 2 LTE. It always says band 4. Is there a workaround for this? Other than that it seems to identify bands properly. Thanks

 

T-Mobile band 2 LTE *usually* shows up as GCIs ending in 0B-0E. Like Trip said, T-Mobile did not implement an entirely consistent pattern across its network, so there are some exceptions. Unfortunately without a standard method to identify the band within Android, SignalCheck is forced to make educated guesses in these situations. However, I'm working on a new feature that will hopefully get the exact frequency on many devices. I'm still testing it but getting closer to a release.

 

Speaking of releases, the beta crew got an update tonight! Unfortunately no frequency display yet, but 1X+LTE bug is fixed along with some other new stuff. Check the website if you want a sneak peek at the changes.

 

-Mike

[bmoses]

new beta looks good so far! all the LTE data is showing when a 1x connection is also showing. also a side affect of the changes you made, my verizon galaxy S5 is now showing me the GCI and PCI where before it wasn't able to show them!

 

i did send you a diagnostic report, the only "issue" i see now is when i have the 1x and LTE connections going on it was showing a 1x800 connection from a tower that is a GMO so it doesn't have 1x800 at all. 

[mikejeep]

On the s7 edge I am seeing Unknown (18) instead of 1x.

 

I did some digging and discovered that network type 18 indicates "IWLAN" network type. It's hidden from the the public Android source, but can be accessed by reflection. Your diagnostic report showed that you were connected to WiFi at the time. I had never heard of IWLAN before, but a quick Google search shows some references to WiFi calling. Do you have an Airave or something similar? It could always just be a Samsung bug since it's such a new device, we know how their enginerrs are..

 

-Mike

[EvanA]

I did some digging and discovered that network type 18 indicates "IWLAN" network type. It's hidden from the the public Android source, but can be accessed by reflection. Your diagnostic report showed that you were connected to WiFi at the time. I had never heard of IWLAN before, but a quick Google search shows some references to WiFi calling. Do you have an Airave or something similar? It could always just be a Samsung bug since it's such a new device, we know how their enginerrs are..

 

-Mike

IWLAN is the indicator for WiFi calling. On a device with WiFi calling enabled that is what will show in the cellular network type field of settings -> about phone -> status. An Airave wouldn't trigger the phone to say IWLAN because it broadcasts a normal 1x signal.

[nowerlater]

Mike, i just had a thought i figured i would throw at you. I use nova launcher and it has a feature built in where you can tap to lock your non lg phone. But to be able to use it you have to be rooted or give nova launcher administrative privileges. Now to my idea, is there a way that you could make scp reset connections using this administrative privileges for us non rooted folks? Again, just an idea.

 

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[Trip]

Mike,

 

I installed it on two phones this morning, my main (Sprint) phone and my T-Mobile phone.  While this doesn't really let me do much with many of the new features yet (I need to test my Verizon phone for the 1X/LTE bug over the weekend), I don't like the new color scheme.  It highlights the one row I don't use very often while making the text of all the other rows a dull gray color that's harder to see.  Not good when trying to see my phone on the go, or even in general.  (Sitting at my desk at work with my T-Mobile phone at an angle, I can see "LTE AWS" clearly but nothing else is legible, when I used to be able to read all the rows in this position.)

 

Can this be undone?  Or at least be switchable?

 

- Trip

[Flompholph]

I did some digging and discovered that network type 18 indicates "IWLAN" network type. It's hidden from the the public Android source, but can be accessed by reflection. Your diagnostic report showed that you were connected to WiFi at the time. I had never heard of IWLAN before, but a quick Google search shows some references to WiFi calling. Do you have an Airave or something similar? It could always just be a Samsung bug since it's such a new device, we know how their enginerrs are..

 

-Mike

I think it has to do with wifi too. I left a message in the s7e thread but it might of got buried a little. SturgeonGeneral responded and sees it on wifi also not sure if it is wifi calling. When I get home tommorrow I will test more.

 

Edit:Forgot to say no airwave I am only 1/2 mile from a GMO. Still have hope a 1x800 signal will go over the hillside. Wifi works for now and phone calls come in they just drop if you touch the phone.

 

 

There was also another bug that I wanted to test later. It locks the log db if the user imports the wrong size log by mistake. The only way I was to get it to work again was to uninstall the app.There may need to added a check to see if the new log has the correct columns. Or at least force a delete of the db.

[SturgeonGeneral]

I think it has to do with wifi too. I left a message in the s7e thread but it might of got buried a little. SturgeonGeneral responded and sees it on wifi also not sure if it is wifi calling. When I get home tommorrow I will test more.

 

Edit:Forgot to say no airwave I am only 1/2 mile from a GMO. Still have hope a 1x800 signal will go over the hillside. Wifi works for now and phone calls come in they just drop if you touch the phone.

 

 

There was also another bug that I wanted to test later. It locks the log db if the user imports the wrong size log by mistake. The only way I was to get it to work again was to uninstall the app.There may need to added a check to see if the new log has the correct columns. Or at least force a delete of the db.

 

 

Verified. Toggling wifi calling toggles that ID between LTE and unknown18. Good find. I should have figured it out.

 

 

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[Flompholph]

It looks like the stale provider when no GCI bug is still there. But it is less noticable because of the 1x fix.

 

[RyanThaDude]

Out of curiosity will the newer versions have Verizon's LTE Band 4 identification, in what I can only assume it's second carrier? I'm noticing quite a few sites in certain markets in my region are using them. They are just identifying as "Verizon" w/o a band. So far everything else is identifying perfectly, including Verizon's LTE Band 2. 

 

Band 2: 0E,18,22

Band 4: 0C,16,20

Band 4²: 0D,17,21

Band 13: 01,02,03

[Overstew]

Hello Mikejeep,

 

My DAS at work reads on the T-Mobile variant of the Galaxy S7 as No Connection.

 

 

Any ideas?

[mikejeep]

IWLAN is the indicator for WiFi calling. On a device with WiFi calling enabled that is what will show in the cellular network type field of settings -> about phone -> status. An Airave wouldn't trigger the phone to say IWLAN because it broadcasts a normal 1x signal.

 

Thank you for confirmation. That will be fixed in the next update.

 

Mike, i just had a thought i figured i would throw at you. I use nova launcher and it has a feature built in where you can tap to lock your non lg phone. But to be able to use it you have to be rooted or give nova launcher administrative privileges. Now to my idea, is there a way that you could make scp reset connections using this administrative privileges for us non rooted folks? Again, just an idea.

 

Administrative privileges can only do a small number of special tasks -- remotely wipe a phone, force password strength requirements, control lock screens, etc. AFAIK, there isn't anything that is related to the radio.

 

I don't like the new color scheme.  It highlights the one row I don't use very often while making the text of all the other rows a dull gray color that's harder to see.  Not good when trying to see my phone on the go, or even in general.  (Sitting at my desk at work with my T-Mobile phone at an angle, I can see "LTE AWS" clearly but nothing else is legible, when I used to be able to read all the rows in this position.)

 

Can this be undone?  Or at least be switchable?

 

Trip, could you PM me a screenshot? The new scheme just uses the default Material theme, so it shouldn't be wildly different. On my 3 Nexus devices the headers are slightly brighter but everything is still clearly visible. I intended to add theming options soon but I could accelerate that if it's an issue.

 

There was also another bug that I wanted to test later. It locks the log db if the user imports the wrong size log by mistake. The only way I was to get it to work again was to uninstall the app.There may need to added a check to see if the new log has the correct columns. Or at least force a delete of the db.

 

That is a big hole I do need to add error checking to. In the meantime, you don't need to uninstall, you can just Clear Data through your device's Settings menu. When you import, it does automatically create a backup of your existing data so you could then re-import that file. But I agree that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. I need to create some reference documentation for those features too.

 

Out of curiosity will the newer versions have Verizon's LTE Band 4 identification, in what I can only assume it's second carrier? I'm noticing quite a few sites in certain markets in my region are using them. They are just identifying as "Verizon" w/o a band. So far everything else is identifying perfectly, including Verizon's LTE Band 2. 

 

Band 2: 0E,18,22

Band 4: 0C,16,20

Band 4²: 0D,17,21

Band 13: 01,02,03

 

Yes, it will be in the next update. I had recently received this and a few other updates from our old friend digiblur.

 

-Mike

[mikejeep]

My DAS at work reads on the T-Mobile variant of the Galaxy S7 as No Connection.

 

Any ideas?

 

Hmm. It might be resolved in the next update I'm preparing to release, it resolves several issues where LTE information is missing in certain specific scenarios. Send me a Diagnostic Report (About > Send Diagnostics) and include your username and a brief note about the issue. Any idea if other similar apps (Signal Detector, LTE Discovery, etc) show your connection properly?

 

-Mike

[lilotimz]

Hmm. It might be resolved in the next update I'm preparing to release, it resolves several issues where LTE information is missing in certain specific scenarios. Send me a Diagnostic Report (About > Send Diagnostics) and include your username and a brief note about the issue. Any idea if other similar apps (Signal Detector, LTE Discovery, etc) show your connection properly?

 

-Mike

Also might be easy thing to add I hope.

 

The third band 41 carrier for Samsung markets appears to end in GCI 06/07/08(?).