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

[Paynefanbro]

SignalCheck is reporting my Magic Box as Band 25.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[dkyeager]

Wow, over 8200 units made since they have hit 0EE.

 

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

[Flompholph]

I wonder where the Magic box range will end. 0ED magic boxes show correct at least in the logs.

[mikejeep]

SignalCheck is reporting my Magic Box as Band 25.

I wonder where the Magic box range will end. 0ED magic boxes show correct at least in the logs.

 

That's the issue.. the previously known ranges for Magic Boxes was 0EC-0ED. I'll add 0EE for the next update!

 

-Mike

[BlueAngel]

I've realized I only get bad battery drain after a restart, it will consume between 1-2% within a few hours. If I kill the process and restart virtually no drain. Hope that helps maybe, S8+ here.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[mikejeep]

I've realized I only get bad battery drain after a restart, it will consume between 1-2% within a few hours. If I kill the process and restart virtually no drain. Hope that helps maybe, S8+ here.

 

Battery usage is a common question on this thread and in my inbox.. I understand why some people raise concern, but a lot of it has proven to be due to misunderstandings. If you leave the app running on the screen for 2 hours, will it impact your battery? Of course. The screen eats a tremendous portion of power, but also the Logger, Location Service, background process, Alerts, etc.

 

This is tricky to explain clearly, but hopefully sums everything up. I need to fine tune and put this somewhere permanently to reference..

 

Please remember that the Android battery usage stats do not show the percentage of your battery that SignalCheck has used; they show the percentage of your overall power consumption since last full charge that SignalCheck is responsible for. (In previous Android versions, it may measure back to your last reboot, but I am not certain.)

 

For example: Charge your phone to 100%, turn it on, and immediately launch SignalCheck. Leave it on screen for 20 minutes, but don't interact with any other apps. If you look at your battery stats, SignalCheck will appear to have a very high battery use. If it says 20%, that is not indicating that SignalCheck has used 20% of your battery; it has used 20% of whatever battery usage has occurred. This is expected, because other than some system and background processes, you haven't used any other apps on your device during that time period.

 

If your battery charge is down to 95%, and SignalCheck shows 20% usage, that means the app was responsible for 20% of 5% -- aka 1% of your total battery usage.

 

In addition, some devices attribute battery usage by the display to individual apps. I have observed that this varies by device. Of course, leaving your display on will consume battery power; some devices report that under the "Screen" category, while others do not. Same for location/GPS functions; sometimes those are separated, other times the usage is attributed to the individual app requesting location information. It varies by device, OS version, and battery optimization settings.

 

None of this is meant to claim that SignalCheck is infallible. It's definitely not. But the core functions of the app have not changed in quite some time, nor will they. Any perceived spikes in power usage are likely due to usage patterns (you take a 50 mile drive and leave the app running in the foreground) or specific circumstances (you increase the location accuracy to the maximum setting while lingering in a basement or somewhere else with poor GPS and mobile signal). 

 

Hope this helps shed some light on things!

 

-Mike

[dkyeager]

The CFO of Sprint said on Thursday they will be making hundreds of thousands of Magic Boxes. That would take at least 25 hex primary GCI, so I would extend it to 0EF and then we will have to see what ranges they use after that.  He noted that it costs them about the same as a smartphone and they may report MagicBox tonnage with the next quarterly report.

[lilotimz]

@mikejeep It seems that the engineering / debug menu shortcut does not work with the latest Android  8.0 update on the Pixel. Putting in the dialer code works though. 

[S4GRU]

Just now, lilotimz said:

@mikejeep It seems that the engineering / debug menu shortcut does not work with the latest Android  8.0 update on the Pixel. Putting in the dialer code works though. 

I was just about to post this, myself. Too funny. 

Using Pixel XL on S4GRU Mobile Site

[mikejeep]

On 9/9/2017 at 10:21 AM, dkyeager said:

The CFO of Sprint said on Thursday they will be making hundreds of thousands of Magic Boxes. That would take at least 25 hex primary GCI, so I would extend it to 0EF and then we will have to see what ranges they use after that.  He noted that it costs them about the same as a smartphone and they may report MagicBox tonnage with the next quarterly report.

I was out of town this past weekend and saw a funky B41 GCI starting with 0E8; I was parked in front of a Sprint store. I just looked through my SCP logs and found another 0E8.. coordinates were right in front of my local Sprint store. Do Sprint stores deploy Magic Boxes?

 

6 hours ago, lilotimz said:

@mikejeep It seems that the engineering / debug menu shortcut does not work with the latest Android  8.0 update on the Pixel. Putting in the dialer code works though. 

Hmm, I hadn't noticed that, thank you. Looks like most of the system shortcuts fail with a security rejection. Apparently Oreo does not let third-party apps trigger dialer codes, rats. I'll see what I can do.

-Mike

[lilotimz]

11 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

I was out of town this past weekend and saw a funky B41 GCI starting with 0E8; I was parked in front of a Sprint store. I just looked through my SCP logs and found another 0E8.. coordinates were right in front of my local Sprint store. Do Sprint stores deploy Magic Boxes?

 

Hmm, I hadn't noticed that, thank you. Looks like most of the system shortcuts fail with a security rejection. Apparently Oreo does not let third-party apps trigger dialer codes, rats. I'll see what I can do.

-Mike

1) Yep. A lot of em had Gen1 MBs for a while and a lot are now getting Gen 2s.

2) Ugh. Android 8.0 ... sigh. Google giveth google taketh. 

[mikejeep]

11 minutes ago, lilotimz said:

1) Yep. A lot of em had Gen1 MBs for a while and a lot are now getting Gen 2s.

2) Ugh. Android 8.0 ... sigh. Google giveth google taketh. 

1) Got it, thank you; I will add 0E8 and 0EF for now then. I suspect this will continue to evolve as MBs start spreading, but I don't want to speculate without confirmation in the wild. My code is sloppy enough as it is..

2) It's driving me insane. From SCP's standpoint, 8.0 has brought no improvements, only setbacks. Logcat is a mess now.. lat/long on BSLs is swapped.. some permissions are now out of reach.. annoying. Some of these bugs they were aware of in beta testing too, they just didn't fix them.

-Mike

[dkyeager]

  Here is 0EE for a Magic Box [credit BluesRulez]:

[nexgencpu]

Hey Mike, this MB is picking as SC..

 

 

[rocketr]

2 hours ago, nexgencpu said:

Hey Mike, this MB is picking as SC..

 

 

I think they are extending the MagicBox GCI to 0EF in the next version... 

[mikejeep]

Yes as I mentioned in a few earlier posts, I'll be adding 0E8, 0EE, and 0EF to the Magic Box list. A public update with those changes and a couple other minor tweaks should be ready by tonight sometime this weekend. I don't need more examples of those, but if anything else is spotted in the wild, please let me know.

-Mike

Edited September 16, 2017 by mikejeep
Update not quite ready yet!

[mikejeep]

SignalCheck Pro update is finally out! Should be available on Google Play within the hour. I believe most of the changes should be self-explanatory. 0E8 appears to be for Airave 3's, not Magic Boxes. The biggest difference is Airave 3 or S1000 B41 connections will now show as "Airave/S1000" because I have not identified a way to differentiate between the two yet.

• Added additional indicators for Sprint LTE band 41 Airave/S1000 cells.
• Added additional indicators for Sprint LTE band 41 Magic Box cells.
• Added indicators for T-Mobile LTE band 4 Cellspot and In-Store Pico cells.
• Added support for LTE band 71.
• Improved identification of mobile network type on IWLAN connections.
• Resolved issue with invalid GSM neighbor cell PLMN/CID/LAC information displayed.
• Resolved issue with IWLAN signal strength missing from notification icon. (Pro)
• Updated provider database.

Thanks for everyone's support! Holler with questions anytime..

-Mike

[njjdnt]

1 hour ago, mikejeep said:

SignalCheck Pro update is finally out! 

-Mike

As of today LTE band isn't showing up in the status bar, instead Android system icon is showing saying SignalCheck Pro is running in the background. Is there a setting that I should enable? On Android 8.0.

[mikejeep]

1 hour ago, njjdnt said:

As of today LTE band isn't showing up in the status bar, instead Android system icon is showing saying SignalCheck Pro is running in the background. Is there a setting that I should enable? On Android 8.0.

You probably need to raise the status bar icon priority within the app. Preferences > Status Bar Icons > Notification Icon Priority.. if you select Minimum, it will never show on the status bar, only in the notification pulldown. Other than that, the higher priority you select, the less likely it will get bumped off the status bar by another icon. This setting does not change what the app does in the background, it only changes where the icon(s) will land in the notification list.

-Mike

[mikejeep]

It appears that Oreo is not reporting valid Wi-Fi frequency information when DFS is enabled (thanks @ingenium). Please 'star' this issue if you feel inclined, and add any comments with your device and exact OS version so hopefully it gets some attention:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/66697994

Thanks,
-Mike

[bretton88]

What is B41 TB stand for? I've never seen the TB code before.

[Dkoellerwx]

1 hour ago, bretton88 said:

What is B41 TB stand for? I've never seen the TB code before.

I believe tri-band antenna. Only identifiable in Samsung markets pretty sure. 

[Flompholph]

It could also be 4th carrier. The GCI is where the predicted 4th carrier is located(only one 4th carrier believed to be active) but where Triband antennas are found. If you could investigate which it (triband or 4th carrier) that would be great.

[clbowens]

6 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

I believe tri-band antenna. Only identifiable in Samsung markets pretty sure. 

When you say tri-band antenna, is that an antenna on the tower that does B25, B26 and B41 all in one?  If so, is there a pic of one of those?

[Dkoellerwx]

7 hours ago, clbowens said:

When you say tri-band antenna, is that an antenna on the tower that does B25, B26 and B41 all in one?  If so, is there a pic of one of those?

Yes. There are plenty of pictures of these.