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

[WiWavelength]

Thanks AJ.. just so I completely understand it, are you saying the BSL gets stuck when data is flowing on 1X, and the phone switches to a different 1X site? And it corrects itself when the data transfer finishes? Not completely sure what "traffic channel" refers to.

No, a "traffic channel" generally refers to a cdmaOne or CDMA2000 voice channel. Technically, that could carry data instead, but we are talking voice here -- pardon the pun.

 

I did some further testing this morning and was able to see that soft handoff is not the issue. Even after all PNs from the originating site dropped out of the active set, hence were definitely not in soft handoff, the originating site was still listed for the BSL.

 

Does the BID change at the proper moment, or does that get stuck too?

No, neither the BID nor the BSL change. You are using the SID/NID/BID for geocoding the BSL, correct? If so, that would make sense why the BID and BSL changes -- or lack thereof -- are inextricably linked.

 

AJ

[jefbal99]

Note 2 running CM10.1 and I'm not getting any notification with connecting to 800 1X.  I was near a tower over the weekend and connected to it multiple times, but never got the Chimes (I switched LTE to Venture and SMR to Chimes to make sure I heard it)

[mikejeep]

No, a "traffic channel" generally refers to a cdmaOne or CDMA2000 voice channel. Technically, that could carry data instead, but we are talking voice here -- pardon the pun.

 

I did some further testing this morning and was able to see that soft handoff is not the issue. Even after all PNs from the originating site dropped out of the active set, hence were definitely not in soft handoff, the originating site was still listed for the BSL.

No, neither the BID nor the BSL change. You are using the SID/NID/BID for geocoding the BSL, correct? If so, that would make sense why the BID and BSL changes -- or lack thereof -- are inextricably linked.

 

Aha, thank you AJ -- so in plain English, this is when a telephone call is active?  I just did some similar testing with my EVO LTE; it definitely does not update the BID or associated site coordinates while on a call.  As soon as I hung up, it immediately showed the correct information.  The signal strengths do appear to properly update.  I watched the "Radio info" screen as well, and that did not update the BID until ending the call either (after some confusion, I realized the ID is in hex on that screen!)

 

Yes, the BSL is tied to the BID -- when the BID changes, it refreshes the BSL address.  However, since it appears that the coordinates do not change either, forcing the BSL to update more frequently will not do anything.

 

Do you care to guess if this issue is device-specific, ROM-specific, carrier-specific, or Android-wide?  Or is it the way the CDMA protocol behaves by design?  If it's a bug in Android, I wasn't able to find any evidence that it has been pointed out by anyone else.

 

Not sure of the best approach to compensate for this in my app, since I'm relying on the fact that the information the device is providing is accurate.  It continues to update the screen while on a call, but some of the data itself is stale.  I will start looking into a method to determine if a call is active and tweak the display accordingly for now..

 

Thanks for finding the bug!

 

-Mike

[mikejeep]

Note 2 running CM10.1 and I'm not getting any notification with connecting to 800 1X.  I was near a tower over the weekend and connected to it multiple times, but never got the Chimes (I switched LTE to Venture and SMR to Chimes to make sure I heard it)

 

Jeff, the app was showing "1X 800" on the top left, correct?  If you are near an 800 site again, try disabling all LTE alerts but keep the 800 alert on.. see if you get it then.  When I was trying to test it out, the LTE alert was overriding the 800 alert, but I thought I fixed that.  I don't have any live 800 in my area, so its tricky for me to test.

 

-Mike

[ericdabbs]

Thanks Eric! I initially considered adding some Wimax features, but it appeared to require proprietary manufacturer-dependent code that would be complicated. Plus, LTE is obviously replacing Wimax and I wanted to spend more time in that stuff. To be honest you are the first person to ask for it too

 

-Mike

 

Mike, thanks for clarifying why Wimax was not included in this app.  I wouldn't even worry about Wimax even if it wasn't proprietary dependent code since we need to be forward looking which is LTE.  I am pretty sure I might be one of the few that was wondering about the lack of Wimax support but I was just curious to see how the app would have worked with it.  Hopefully when I get a LTE phone later on this year, I can actually use this app for its intentions of searching for LTE and 800 MHz CDMA

[Sim-X]

Interesting thought! I think that might be do-able.. I will put it on the list.

 

 

Hmm.. I've never looked into any of the headset/Bluetooth features, so right now I can't say how feasible that is. I can certainly look into it.. worst case scenario, its something to work on after I tackle some of the higher priority items.

 

 

This has been at the very top of my priority list all along; it has been discussed here several times. There is some sort of Android bug preventing the standard method of implementing this from working correctly in my app.. I am constantly researching this and trying to get it working.

 

Thanks for the compliments and suggestions.. much appreciated!!

 

-Mike

 

Thanks for the reply. They were just things I noticed, none of them really bother me that much. I just like to give input, I really like having the widget one of my home screens. Keep up the fantastic work!

[jefbal99]

Jeff, the app was showing "1X 800" on the top left, correct?  If you are near an 800 site again, try disabling all LTE alerts but keep the 800 alert on.. see if you get it then.  When I was trying to test it out, the LTE alert was overriding the 800 alert, but I thought I fixed that.  I don't have any live 800 in my area, so its tricky for me to test.

 

-Mike

Unfortunately, I won't be back over there until probably Father's Day weekend.  If I find any other SMR sites, I will test this or I will let you know in a couple weeks.

[jefbal99]

Mike,

 

Just wanted to give you a heads up that the CM10.1 Samsung Note 2 families are in the process of a massive change to the RIL.  I'm testing a build right now and SignalCheck is identifying the connection type, but not displaying EV-DO data.  1xRTT appears fine.  I'm still having issues connecting to eHPRD and LTE, so I'm not sure how those will preform.

 

I think we might need some updates soon.

 

Edit in:  Got LTE and eHPRD working via a flash to Stock and then back to CM10.1.  The ROM is currently reporting no data for LTE, but is reporting data for 1X and 3G.  Only 1X data is displayed in SignalCheck, however, the app is correctly identifying EVDO/eHPRD/LTE for the 3G/4G connection type.

[mikejeep]

Just wanted to give you a heads up that the CM10.1 Samsung Note 2 families are in the process of a massive change to the RIL.

...

Edit in: Got LTE and eHPRD working via a flash to Stock and then back to CM10.1. The ROM is currently reporting no data for LTE, but is reporting data for 1X and 3G. Only 1X data is displayed in SignalCheck, however, the app is correctly identifying EVDO/eHPRD/LTE for the 3G/4G connection type.

 

Hmm.. post a screen shot when you get a chance. Is it a nightly or something similar that is still in the early stages of testing?

 

I've been working on nothing but hammering away at the Samsung-specific stuff for the past few weeks, but I might have to set that aside temporarily to let my frustration with it settle down. Not much progress and zero cooperation from Samsung.

 

-Mike

[jefbal99]

Hmm.. post a screen shot when you get a chance. Is it a nightly or something similar that is still in the early stages of testing?

 

I've been working on nothing but hammering away at the Samsung-specific stuff for the past few weeks, but I might have to set that aside temporarily to let my frustration with it settle down. Not much progress and zero cooperation from Samsung.

 

-Mike

Yeah, it will be in the nightly tonight I think. The initial change was in a nightly from a week ago that broke everything. I'll get some screen shots posted soon.

 

I emailed you the screen shots

Edited June 7, 2013 by jefbal99

[tauruskazoo]

Seeing an issue where my LG Optimus G shows 1X800 in the engineering screen (channel 476), but SignalCheck doesn't seem to register 1X800 in the app.

 

I do have the LTE alerts disabled, ALL alerts disabled, in fact.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

 

 

 

 

[mikejeep]

Seeing an issue where my LG Optimus G shows 1X800 in the engineering screen (channel 476), but SignalCheck doesn't seem to register 1X800 in the app.

 

I do have the LTE alerts disabled, ALL alerts disabled, in fact.

 

Am I doing something wrong?

 

Of course you're doing something wrong.. my app is perfect!! 

 

Hmm.. no something is definitely wrong.  Your device seems to know it's on SID/NID/BID 22439/221/28881, however SignalCheck is seeing all zeros for those values.  That has a domino effect on other aspects of the app, so we need to figure out why that is broken before trying to fix anything else.

 

A few questions for ya...

 

Do you have 1X geocoding turned on in the preferences? 

Have you tried rebooting your device?

Do the SID/NID/BID fields ever show anything besides zeroes?

What ROM are you running?

Are you a Blackhawks fan?

 

We'll get it sorted out!

 

-Mike

[tauruskazoo]

Of course you're doing something wrong.. my app is perfect!! 

 

Hmm.. no something is definitely wrong.  Your device seems to know it's on SID/NID/BID 22439/221/28881, however SignalCheck is seeing all zeros for those values.  That has a domino effect on other aspects of the app, so we need to figure out why that is broken before trying to fix anything else.

 

A few questions for ya...

 

Do you have 1X geocoding turned on in the preferences? 

Have you tried rebooting your device?

Do the SID/NID/BID fields ever show anything besides zeroes?

What ROM are you running?

Are you a Blackhawks fan?

 

We'll get it sorted out!

 

-Mike

Wow you're helpful!  Thank you in advance!

 

Yes, I have 1X geocoding enabled in preferences.

Yes, I have rebooted.  I have even uninstalled/reinstalled the app.

They used to show 1X800 SID/NID/BID several weeks ago, along with an address below the 1X area with the appx location of the tower I was connected to.  Now it only ever shows zeros.

I am running stock Sprint rom (latest update LS970ZVB) and am not rooted.

I'm sure if I got to know them, I'd love them.

 

Thanks again!

[mikejeep]

Wow you're helpful!  Thank you in advance!

 

Yes, I have 1X geocoding enabled in preferences.

Yes, I have rebooted.  I have even uninstalled/reinstalled the app.

They used to show 1X800 SID/NID/BID several weeks ago, along with an address below the 1X area with the appx location of the tower I was connected to.  Now it only ever shows zeros.

I am running stock Sprint rom (latest update LS970ZVB) and am not rooted.

I'm sure if I got to know them, I'd love them.

 

Thanks again!

 

Hmm.. the correct answer was no, you are not a Blackhawks fan (the hockey team.. most likely about to play my hockey team for the Stanley Cup.  It's a big deal if you waste as much time watching sports as I do).  I'll allow it this one time!

 

Did you change anything on your phone around the same time the SID/NID/BID and BSL stopped showing properly?  Updated phone software.. updated SignalCheck.. or anything else you can think of?  Something must have triggered it to stop working.

 

I just hopped in "The Lounge" chat room if you want to discuss with me live, I'll be online for a few more minutes.  You can access it from the bar near the top of the screen, you might have to click "More".

 

-Mike

[mikejeep]

Note 2 running CM10.1 and I'm not getting any notification with connecting to 800 1X.  I was near a tower over the weekend and connected to it multiple times, but never got the Chimes (I switched LTE to Venture and SMR to Chimes to make sure I heard it)

 

I figured out a way to do some realistic testing tonight and figured out what was going on with the 800 SMR alerts... they are, in fact, broken!  They worked in an earlier version, but I broke it when trying to resolve an issue when more than one alert arrives simultaneously.  I'm working on a fix..

 

-Mike

[jefbal99]

I'm going to be by an active 800Mhz tower this weekend if you need anything tested

[imex99]

 

 

Note 2 running CM10.1 and I'm not getting any notification with connecting to 800 1X. I was near a tower over the weekend and connected to it multiple times, but never got the Chimes (I switched LTE to Venture and SMR to Chimes to make sure I heard it)

 

 

I figured out a way to do some realistic testing tonight and figured out what was going on with the 800 SMR alerts... they are, in fact, broken! They worked in an earlier version, but I broke it when trying to resolve an issue when more than one alert arrives simultaneously. I'm working on a fix..

 

-Mike

 

My home tower just updated to nv 3g and 800 is live in Granville, oh. No alerts.... Anything needed for testing?

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[mikejeep]

I'm jealous of you guys.  Update coming soon, just stuck on fine-tuning this annoying new feature I finally got working, you know, the one that lets you choose any notification tones you want... 

 

-Mike

[gr8nuguy]

Any chance you can take a look at why it opens automatically on reboot, even when that option is not checked ?

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2

[mikejeep]

Any chance you can talk a look at why it opens automatically on reboot, even when that option is not checked ?

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2

 

Certainly!  Sorry, didn't know that was happening.. has it been like that all along?  Are you running 3.09 now?

 

-Mike

[dedub]

Another suggestion, as if you don't have enough already..

 

- time/date + BSID & serving cell id's + loc background logging to the screen, ala similar to alogcat

 

this would be immensely helpful on identifying new towers vs fringe signals from far towers.

[mikejeep]

Another suggestion, as if you don't have enough already..

 

- time/date + BSID & serving cell id's + loc background logging to the screen, ala similar to alogcat

 

this would be immensely helpful on identifying new towers vs fringe signals from far towers.

 

I can never have too many suggestions!  More is better, like the AT&T guy says.. that way, when someone suggests something easy, I feel productive!

 

Some form of logging is in the early stages of development.. I'm in still working out the details, but I will make note of your suggestions.  Don't tell anyone I said that, or everyone will start asking for it! 

 

-Mike

[dedub]

I don't know if you want to make it that much more complex, but it would be really cool if the app could remember all the serving cell id's that it has seen and give a different notification (or some other visual way to see or log) when an unknown/new id is detected.

 

this could dove tail into an option to only notify on new 4g connections instead of every connection.

[mikejeep]

I don't know if you want to make it that much more complex, but it would be really cool if the app could remember all the serving cell id's that it has seen and give a different notification (or some other visual way to see or log) when an unknown/new id is detected.

 

this could dove tail into an option to only notify on new 4g connections instead of every connection.

 

Something similar was suggested previously and is already on the list.  I love the idea, especially right now while we are in the midst of the LTE rollout.

 

FYI, I haven't been too good at advertising this, but I do keep an updated "wishlist" and changelog at http://www.bluelinepc.com/signalcheck/.  The wishlist is roughly prioritized, with things I consider most important at the top.  Between releases, I keep the changelog current to show what will be coming in the next version.

 

-Mike

[gr8nuguy]

Certainly! Sorry, didn't know that was happening.. has it been like that all along? Are you running 3.09 now?

 

-Mike

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