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

[Trip]

Mike,

While I've been in the UK, I sent you a diagnostic because as far as I can tell, SCP still doesn't log PSC when connected to HSPA, meaning that neighbor notes don't work and, of course, PSC data is unavailable in the log.  Is there a specific reason for this by any chance?  Seems like a relatively straight-forward adjustment from this armchair SCP user's point of view...

- Trip

[mdob07]

On 8/16/2019 at 2:50 AM, Dkoellerwx said:

I've never encountered a standard Ericsson B41 site not using the pattern. The Ericsson M-MIMO sites I've encountered have seemingly random GCIs. 

 

On 8/16/2019 at 3:35 AM, mdob07 said:

That's strange. Very few if any of the new B41 here follows the pattern. Pretty much everything I've tracked down since coming back to Sprint I've had to add the note manually. There's quite a bit of Ericsson B41 here too. Not really an issue for me, I'm used to the 2nd GCI AT&T is adding during their upgrades being random also. 

Had the same issue today with a different site. M-MIMO just went like on a site here and 2 of the 3 sectors are pulling site notes for sites 50+ miles away. 

Mike, anyway to put a switch in the app to turn this feature off?

[Brad The Beast]

Question for those smarter than I. If I was to buy a Pixel 3A (for example), download SCP, and throw in a Sprint SIM without activating service, would SCP work? Obviously I would have to connect to WiFi to upload data.

[ingenium]

Question for those smarter than I. If I was to buy a Pixel 3A (for example), download SCP, and throw in a Sprint SIM without activating service, would SCP work? Obviously I would have to connect to WiFi to upload data.

I *think* with a 3a you might see LTE but not be able to authenticate on it. It's tough to say. Typically with Sprint phones, they will stick to 3G when inactive, but the 3 is a bit different with the ISIM. With mine, before the "hands free activation" ran to setup CDMA, it connected to LTE and had usable data (the SIM was associated with the line though), but calls wouldn't work until hands free activation ran a few minutes later.

I don't know how well it would work tho, since I'm assuming you wouldn't get band handoffs, so you might just be on a single band.

You might also have to force the phone into LTE only mode.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[dkyeager]

6 hours ago, Brad The Beast said:

Question for those smarter than I. If I was to buy a Pixel 3A (for example), download SCP, and throw in a Sprint SIM without activating service, would SCP work? Obviously I would have to connect to WiFi to upload data.

On my Sprint hunter phones I am using Tello.  $7 per month for 1GB and 100 minutes of calls with unlimited text.  You could also do pay as you go for much less, but then you must make a call and use some data every 90 days.

[davidtm]

Updated my Sprint Pixel 3a (stock) to Android 10 today. Since then, when connected to WiFi, the phone data meter in SCP is blank and the notification icon shows only LTE without the band as it had before. O believe the new is is affecting some phone modem reporting, but it could be some stupid setting that I've messed up.

Please advise

Thanks!

[mikejeep]

On 8/19/2019 at 11:31 AM, Trip said:

While I've been in the UK, I sent you a diagnostic because as far as I can tell, SCP still doesn't log PSC when connected to HSPA, meaning that neighbor notes don't work and, of course, PSC data is unavailable in the log.  Is there a specific reason for this by any chance?  Seems like a relatively straight-forward adjustment from this armchair SCP user's point of view...

I am terrible at following HSPA bugs because I don't see them myself.. I'll have to go back and look into this one again. There were some back-end Android changes regarding the PSC value; it technically does not exist on GSM connections, even though Android always reported a value and had specific functions to do so -- it was deprecated a couple of years ago, which caused me to backtrack. Some phones report HSPA information as CellInfoGsm, so no PSC is directly available; others report it as CellInfoWcdma, so I can get the PSC. I can work around it, but it's not as simple as it appears from your armchair.. 😜

 

On 8/19/2019 at 4:49 PM, mdob07 said:

Had the same issue today with a different site. M-MIMO just went like on a site here and 2 of the 3 sectors are pulling site notes for sites 50+ miles away. 

Mike, anyway to put a switch in the app to turn this feature off?

I did see your messages and I am working on it. There's a lot of nuances I need to adjust in order to to discard the 1450 offset so it's a bit tricky.

 

3 hours ago, davidtm said:

Updated my Sprint Pixel 3a (stock) to Android 10 today. Since then, when connected to WiFi, the phone data meter in SCP is blank and the notification icon shows only LTE without the band as it had before. O believe the new is is affecting some phone modem reporting, but it could be some stupid setting that I've messed up.

There are known issues with Android 10 that I have been working on.. didn't realize it was going to be publicly released yesterday so I was caught off guard. There will be an app update in the next day or so that should resolve most major issues.

-Mike

[davidtm]

This morning, I noticed a notification regarding one of those mysterious "carrier updates", and 1x now appears with WiFi connected.

"Patience is a virtue" [emoji16]

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Trip]

5 hours ago, mikejeep said:

I am terrible at following HSPA bugs because I don't see them myself.. I'll have to go back and look into this one again. There were some back-end Android changes regarding the PSC value; it technically does not exist on GSM connections, even though Android always reported a value and had specific functions to do so -- it was deprecated a couple of years ago, which caused me to backtrack. Some phones report HSPA information as CellInfoGsm, so no PSC is directly available; others report it as CellInfoWcdma, so I can get the PSC. I can work around it, but it's not as simple as it appears from your armchair.. 😜

 

I don't usually see HSPA either, but when I do, it always bugs me that I see neighbor cell PSCs but they don't display notes.  The PSC almost always appears in SCP when I'm HSPA, so clearly something is working from that perspective.  But there's no field for it in the log database and it is, therefore, not being written.

- Trip

[davidtm]

Ok, I think I've found the answer. I had WiFi calling preferred in Mobile network settings. When I changed to Mobile preferred, it all came back in SCP. It almost appears that modem info is cut off, or at least curtailed, when WiFi calling is preferred.

This is significantly different than on my HTC U11 before.

PS - how awesome that with Pixel, no waiting on the carrier for update!

[ingenium]

Ok, I think I've found the answer. I had WiFi calling preferred in Mobile network settings. When I changed to Mobile preferred, it all came back in SCP. It almost appears that modem info is cut off, or at least curtailed, when WiFi calling is preferred.
This is significantly different than on my HTC U11 before.
PS - how awesome that with Pixel, no waiting on the carrier for update!

Interesting. If I have a very weak LTE signal on wifi calling, it will sometimes drop LTE (or rather, it doesn't try to get it back once it drops on its own). If a call comes in, then I think it reconnects to LTE to allow a handoff to the macro if wifi drops. Otherwise, I maintain LTE with wifi preferred. It just doesn't update very often in SCP.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[RAvirani]

Hey Mike,

I'm not terribly familiar with SCP, but was a little curious how logging/notes work? Are they synced to a centralized database?

I'm playing with a way to potentially log site data by GCI/EARFCN on iPhones and was considering tying it into SCP data, if possible. 

[Trip]

The database is local to the device. 

- Trip

[RAvirani]

33 minutes ago, Trip said:

The database is local to the device. 

- Trip

Ah, understood. Thanks!

[imex99]

Let us know about the iPhone results and share....

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[Flompholph]

4 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Ah, understood. Thanks!

There is a community database with a couple markets.

If you shared your market data (Site note with GCI) I could add it. It would give me a reason to update the database. Which is amazing that it has been 8 months since last update. I don't care if you use any of the data and I don't think any of the other market mangers would care. But if shared the data is premier data and the same rules apply with how the data is shared. 

 

 

[mikejeep]

Hey Mike,
I'm not terribly familiar with SCP, but was a little curious how logging/notes work? Are they synced to a centralized database?
I'm playing with a way to potentially log site data by GCI/EARFCN on iPhones and was considering tying it into SCP data, if possible. 

As Trip mentioned, the database is local to the device. You can use the database menu options within the app to backup/import/export logs. If you look at a populated log database, the format should be clear if you wanted to use your own data externally. All data from community databases needs to remain restricted to Premier areas only. No exceptions.

-Mike

[S4GRU]

On 9/11/2019 at 4:04 PM, RAvirani said:

Ah, understood. Thanks!

On 9/11/2019 at 4:10 PM, Flompholph said:

There is a community database with a couple markets.

 

And I, of course, have extensive an Western Washington database.  

Robert

[stlman314]

10 minutes ago, S4GRU said:

And I, of course, have extensive an Western Washington database.  

Robert

I have some up to date information for St. Louis. Is there a way to submit to someone?

[jroepcke51]

18 minutes ago, stlman314 said:

I have some up to date information for St. Louis. Is there a way to submit to someone?

is it of the 5G variety?!?

[stlman314]

2 minutes ago, jroepcke51 said:

is it of the 5G variety?!?

Well only 2 towers that are active but a good number of M-MIMO towers are on it.

[Jesito473]

Let us know about the iPhone results and share....

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Uh oh....... LOL

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[RAvirani]

On 9/11/2019 at 6:10 PM, imex99 said:

Let us know about the iPhone results and share....

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I'm not pulling data in a traditional way, as Apple has locked all that info down. Rather I'm playing with some image processing that can interpret and log data that appears on the field test screen. Thought it would be something interesting to fiddle around with. 

[uecker87]

Signalcheck's CA reporting seems to be much more accurate with my P4XL than my old P3aXL that I was using off and on - at least on AT&T.  Obviously it is still early - I have only had the P4XL for about 27 hours, but so far so good.

With the 3aXL, I would keep seeing values getting stuck and it showing CA active where I live even though AT&T only has a single 5x5 B12 carrier at the moment.  Hasn't happened once so far with the new device.  

[jreuschl]

When will the Android 10/S10 fixes hit the regular release? The program is unusable right now due to it crashing constantly

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