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


mikejeep

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SignalCheck Pro 4.18 just hit the streets!

Improved accuracy of MCC-MNC data for GSM and LTE connections.

Completely overhauled the internal MCC-MNC (the numbers next to the LTE carrier name) gathering functions. Please report any issues you see. If you continue to see "31000" on Android 4.2+, please let me know.

 

Resolved issue with carrier name missing from main notification pulldown when on 1X and roaming.

Bug fix. Still ironing out a few issues where the carrier name disappears from the pulldown in certain situations.

 

 

I'm still seeing "Carrier: Unknown (310000)" on the main screen, and am now seeing "LTE (ID: 310000)" on the notification pulldown (rather than "Samsung" or a blank carrier name as it was with 4.17). I know this is a known bug (or limitation?) with Samsung devices, but I'm not sure if your recent work on the the MCC-MNC data was thought to have fixed that.

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I'm still seeing "Carrier: Unknown (310000)" on the main screen, and am now seeing "LTE (ID: 310000)" on the notification pulldown (rather than "Samsung" or a blank carrier name as it was with 4.17). I know this is a known bug (or limitation?) with Samsung devices, but I'm not sure if your recent work on the the MCC-MNC data was thought to have fixed that.

Hmm.. I was hoping this would circumvent the Samsung issues, but I guess not. If you don't mind, PM me your email address, I have something for you to try..

 

-Mike

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Mike, for W-CDMA, is SignalCheck reporting RSSI or RSCP? And is the HSPA+ indicator for DC-HSPA+, HSPA+, or both?

 

AJ

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A site near me is "yellow" and has been for about 3 weeks, but I can't for the life of me get my phone to pick up LTE, no matter how many times I reset the data connection.  I do notice, though, that right as everything is resetting, the status bar changes to "LTE" with 2 dashes, and then goes right back to EHRPD when it connects.  Why does this happen?  Is it just a coincidence?  Or is the site maybe only being tested so it's not letting my phone connect to it?

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A site near me is "yellow" and has been for about 3 weeks, but I can't for the life of me get my phone to pick up LTE, no matter how many times I reset the data connection.  I do notice, though, that right as everything is resetting, the status bar changes to "LTE" with 2 dashes, and then goes right back to EHRPD when it connects.  Why does this happen?  Is it just a coincidence?  Or is the site maybe only being tested so it's not letting my phone connect to it?

 

Not what you're hoping to hear, but it's a false reading on your EVO LTE -- actually I have noticed that many phones do it. There must be something buried within Android or a common radio routine that always causes the current network to briefly indicate LTE as airplane mode is switching.

 

Last year I was clinging to the same hope you had, that my EVO was picking up LTE that was being tested in the area.. but it was not true. I tested it in several different areas where there wasn't a hint of LTE anywhere nearby (as in hundreds of miles from a Sprint LTE site, as well as underground areas that have never seen a cellular signal), and it did the same thing. Sorry! :(

 

-Mike

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Not what you're hoping to hear, but it's a false reading on your EVO LTE -- actually I have noticed that many phones do it. There must be something buried within Android or a common radio routine that always causes the current network to briefly indicate LTE as airplane mode is switching.

 

Last year I was clinging to the same hope you had, that my EVO was picking up LTE that was being tested in the area.. but it was not true. I tested it in several different areas where there wasn't a hint of LTE anywhere nearby (as in hundreds of miles from a Sprint LTE site, as well as underground areas that have never seen a cellular signal), and it did the same thing. Sorry! :(

 

-Mike

Hm..interesting!  Thanks for the response.  I guess I'm confused on what yellow sites mean.  I know that 3G Accepted doesn't necessarily mean new 3G is live, but I thought it did for 4G accepted, and 3G/4G.  I guess not!

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Mike, for W-CDMA, is SignalCheck reporting RSSI or RSCP? And is the HSPA+ indicator for DC-HSPA+, HSPA+, or both?

 

I honestly have no idea -- I rarely hear from non-Sprint/Verizon folks about technical issues, seems like all of the nerds prefer CDMA! Someone did post a Google Play review mentioning that DC-HSPA appeared as "Other" in SignalCheck, which is actually promising -- that means it is being recognized separately from any other technologies, and I could probably incorporate it into the app. Unfortunately, they never replied to me, so I haven't been able to try anything.

 

If you can convince Google to hurry up and ship me my Nexus 5, I have AT&T and T-Mobile SIM cards sitting right here waiting to be played with, and I could get you your answers pretty quickly.

 

-Mike

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Hm..interesting!  Thanks for the response.  I guess I'm confused on what yellow sites mean.  I know that 3G Accepted doesn't necessarily mean new 3G is live, but I thought it did for 4G accepted, and 3G/4G.  I guess not!

 

Nope, it's the same situation no matter what technology you are looking at.. like you said, accepted doesn't necessarily mean live -- and vice versa. Some elements (mostly 3G, as you noted) in certain areas need to be brought online in clusters for various reasons. Lots of different variables in play.

 

I consider the Network Vision project to be very similar to the Big Dig highway project up here. Building a brand new highway isn't that crazy, although burying a tunnel under an existing city is some crazy engineering. And building a brand new nationwide cellular network isn't totally ridiculous. Of course, both are very expensive undertakings, billions of dollars. The REAL problem is when you try to build a highway or a network while the customers continue to rely on them every day! You get a little water leak, or a site goes down, and everyone loses their mind. If they waited until the very end to open the road or flip the switch, nobody would know about the hiccups along the way. But nobody wants to wait until the very end.

 

Just like the Big Dig, Sprint is behind schedule, and probably over budget. Anyone in Boston will tell you that it was worth the wait, traffic is better and there's not an ugly giant dingy steel and concrete double decker splitting the city in half any more. NV will be worth the wait too. Just have a few detours to handle along the way..

 

-Mike

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Thanks for the quick reply... I just checked the settings, and no, I do not have the "Hide Duplicate 1x Icon" enabled...

 

I do agree that the issue is being caused by the phone software, and not your app. Just wondering...as I mentioned, if the issue might have something to do with Power Saver setting in HTC Sense. I'm not sure, but I thought I remembered that there was a minor update to HTC Sense that rolled out with the Android 4.3 upgrade.

 

Well you have me stumped for now.. I can't think of what would be causing this. Power saving functions wouldn't kill individual notifications, they would kill the entire app. Since your other icon is remaining, it's not that. Someone else was reporting odd notification icon behavior recently, perhaps they had 4.3 as well.

 

I wish I had something else for you to try, but at the moment, but I don't. I will try to figure out what the latest HTC update might have included and go from there. Keep your app updated, somehow I have had good luck with unknowingly resolving minor bugs when I try to fix something else!

 

-Mike

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Yeah.. get someone at Sprint with the knowledge and ability to confirm if they will officially be using distinct MCC-MNCs for each band! :)  It looks like that is the plan, but there are a couple of exceptions. Trying to figure out if those are misconfigured sites (and if so, give them the heads up so they can fix them), or its something else.

 

Other than that, the only thing I can do is try to write manufacturer-specific routines to dig out the EARFCN, and I'll be asking you guys for testing feedback if I have to go that route. (Samsung folks should cross their fingers that this is not the case.. I'm about to admit defeat there.) Once the One Max is out, I hope to confirm that the existing code tackles it for HTC. Waiting for my Nexus 5 to arrive so I can start working on it for LG.

 

-Mike

That's an interesting point, because on Nexus 5, EARCFN could be carved out of the DEBUG LTE Engineering menu which I find very useful. Send me a beta, and I'll test band indicator on my Nexus 5, gladly!! :)

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Well you have me stumped for now.. I can't think of what would be causing this. Power saving functions wouldn't kill individual notifications, they would kill the entire app. Since your other icon is remaining, it's not that. Someone else was reporting odd notification icon behavior recently, perhaps they had 4.3 as well.

 

I wish I had something else for you to try, but at the moment, but I don't. I will try to figure out what the latest HTC update might have included and go from there. Keep your app updated, somehow I have had good luck with unknowingly resolving minor bugs when I try to fix something else!

 

-Mike

Thanks for the reply Mike.

 

Just a note, one of the reasons I thought the issue might be caused by the Power Saver option, is I have noticed that sometimes when I 'wake-up' the phone, I do notice that the WiFi has shut off and has to reconnect.

 

As I mentioned, it is not a big problem. I'll do as you suggested, and keep the app up-to-date.

 

Thanks for being so responsive.

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Hi Mike,

 

My first forum post, but I've been reading this site since it opened up. Read about you needing some info from GSM users. I'm on T-Mobile here on a Moto X. I would love to be of assistance if I can be.

 

I've attached a screenshot of my phone on HSPA+. Unfortunately, I'm not sure of it was DC-HSPA+ as I was in a super overloaded sector and couldn't even pull 1 down or up. I have a feeling it was PCS HSPA+ as that was always the stronger signal there. Regardless, I've forced my phone to HSPA+ and will keep looking for sightings to confirm what DC-HSPA+ displays as (along with what info). Hope this helps.

Screenshot_2013-11-17-17-10-10.png

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Just a note, one of the reasons I thought the issue might be caused by the Power Saver option, is I have noticed that sometimes when I 'wake-up' the phone, I do notice that the WiFi has shut off and has to reconnect.

 

Ah, gotcha.. my EVO LTE does that as well, and I don't have 4.3 and disabled the Power Saver.

 

My first forum post, but I've been reading this site since it opened up. Read about you needing some info from GSM users. I'm on T-Mobile here on a Moto X. I would love to be of assistance if I can be.

 

I've attached a screenshot of my phone on HSPA+. Unfortunately, I'm not sure of it was DC-HSPA+ as I was in a super overloaded sector and couldn't even pull 1 down or up. I have a feeling it was PCS HSPA+ as that was always the stronger signal there. Regardless, I've forced my phone to HSPA+ and will keep looking for sightings to confirm what DC-HSPA+ displays as (along with what info). Hope this helps.

 

Thanks! I am most interested to see what the app displays when you connect to DC-HSPA+, so a screen shot of that would be great. When you have a chance, PM me your e-mail address and I will send you something else that will help gather data.

 

Thanks,

-Mike

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Mike is there anyway to label the ehrpd or evdo connection? Example is when my phone parks on 1x 800, my data connection doesn't stay with the tower im connected to. Can there or is there a way to label its bsl? Thanks.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

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Ah, gotcha.. my EVO LTE does that as well, and I don't have 4.3 and disabled the Power Saver.

 

 

Thanks! I am most interested to see what the app displays when you connect to DC-HSPA+, so a screen shot of that would be great. When you have a chance, PM me your e-mail address and I will send you something else that will help gather data.

 

Thanks,

-Mike

Is there a way to see what band / frequency we're on with the GSM phones?

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Mike,

 

Still working DC-HSPA+ (can't seem to find any in my area, thinking they might have degraded it all for LTE or just made PCS such high priority), but attached a screenshot of my connection idling on UMTS (while I was on WiFi). I'd love to see more info for GSM folks down the road. 

 

Screenshot_2013-11-18-09-06-19.png

 

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Mike is there anyway to label the ehrpd or evdo connection? Example is when my phone parks on 1x 800, my data connection doesn't stay with the tower im connected to. Can there or is there a way to label its bsl? Thanks.

Are you looking to identify the location of the eHRPD/EV-DO site? Unfortunately there is no way to do this.. only 1X connections broadcast their location. The only identifier available for these sites is the Sector ID, and right now the app can only display that on HTC devices.

 

-Mike

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Is there a way to see what band / frequency we're on with the GSM phones?

If there was, it would be in there :)

 

There is no standard Android method to display frequency information, so I need to create manufacturer-specific "hacks" to get the data. So far, the only success I have had is with the LTE frequency info on HTC devices. Samsung has proven impossible to get extra data from. Hopefully I will make progress on the Nexus 5 when mine is delivered in a few weeks.

 

-Mike

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Still working DC-HSPA+ (can't seem to find any in my area, thinking they might have degraded it all for LTE or just made PCS such high priority), but attached a screenshot of my connection idling on UMTS (while I was on WiFi). I'd love to see more info for GSM folks down the road.

Does anything in your regular status bar usually change to indicate that you are on DC-HSPA+? Your screenshot shows 4G, but UMTS is not a 4G protocol, so I was wondering if perhaps that was really DC-HSPA+.

 

I would love Tk show more GSM data, but the protocol doesn't really broadcast any more data. I grabbed AT&T and T-Mobile SIMs so when I get my Nexus 5, I can do a lot more testing on GSM networks. Hopefully I can find some more data to display.

 

-Mike

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Mike,

 

My signal bar displays the following: G for GPRS, E for Edge, 4G for HSPA+ (single and dual, even while idling), and 4G LTE for the obvious (even while idling as well). I agree that it is weird to display UMTS while it says 4G since my old phone used to say 3G for UMTS and H+ for HSPA+.

 

I'm going to going to a T-Mobile store tonight (contingent on leaving work on time) to force a Samsung to DC-HSPA+ to see what your app displays. Fingers crossed!

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If there was, it would be in there :)

 

There is no standard Android method to display frequency information, so I need to create manufacturer-specific "hacks" to get the data. So far, the only success I have had is with the LTE frequency info on HTC devices. Samsung has proven impossible to get extra data from. Hopefully I will make progress on the Nexus 5 when mine is delivered in a few weeks.

 

-Mike

Sweet, good to know.  I don't see the LTE frequency on my HTC when connected to it.  I'm on T-Mo tho.

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Sweet, good to know.  I don't see the LTE frequency on my HTC when connected to it.  I'm on T-Mo tho.

 

Hmm.. that is disappointing. For some reason, HTC must use different LTE routines on their CDMA and GSM devices. Do you notice the app spitting out anything in logcat when you are connected to LTE?

 

-Mike

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Sweet, good to know.  I don't see the LTE frequency on my HTC when connected to it.  I'm on T-Mo tho.

AT&T and T-Mobile generally block/remove engineering screens from their handsets. Shame on them.

 

AJ

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AT&T and T-Mobile generally block/remove engineering screens from their handsets. Shame on them.

 

AJ

Wait, does T-Mobile actually block/remove them or is that just a function of them playing piggyback on AT&T's SKU?

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Wait, does T-Mobile actually block/remove them or is that just a function of them playing piggyback on AT&T's SKU?

 

They actively block them. See Nexus 5 with Sprint being the only one with engineering screens and goodies while the other two will have them blocked when their sim is detected. 

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