NetMonitor Unsafe?

[TheBigCandy]

Hello fellow S4GRU users, I am barely learning about all the topics covered on this site so bear with me here. I was curious about the NetMonitor app because I want to locate the towers that are near me just so I can keep an eye out to know whether or not there is work being done on them over the next few weeks or however long it takes(I am located in Rancho Cucamonga so I am aware that NV upgrades should be headed here soon).

 

So I took a look in the comments/reviews for the app and ran into a comment that made me hesitant about it. The comment went on saying that it is unsafe and can ruin your phone so if you put in alot of money in for the phone beware. I would like to get the app but I dont want to risk my phone. I have the EVO LTE and this is my 3rd replacement and I did have to pay $150 deductible for the 2nd one. Can anyone give me their take on this?

[ryry4ya]

I use to love the app, but it gives me the wrong locations. As you can see I do live in Toledo Ohio... I think it's because of the permissions it uses to find your location

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

[WiWavelength]

No app will consistently locate Sprint sites. That requires a little bit of know how and legwork.

 

AJ

[tommym65]

 

On 2/23/2013 at 2:42 PM, WiWavelength said:

No app will consistently locate Sprint sites. That requires a little bit of know how and legwork.

 

AJ

 

Yeah, but Belgrade, Singapore, and Buenos Aires? That seems like a stretch.

I also get bizarre location names with NetMonitor, but on its "map" screen, cells seem to be located exactly as they squawk.

Therein lies the rub: In NE Illinois where I spend most of my time, squawk locations are dead on. When I bring up a map like the one above and zoom in, I am directly on top of the cell -- in satelite mode, the placement is perfect.

 

But in places like Milwaukee and Las Vegas, the squawks are offset for each sector, usually in a triangular pattern with the cell near the center of the triangle. Note BSID's 00509, 00510, and 00511 on this 2-week-old map of northwest Las Vegas, below: They are almost certainly 3 sectors on the same tower (I think it's near W. Ann Rd and the 215), but are shown as miles apart.

Thus, the usefulness of the map, and the ease of finding your cell(s) depends on where you are mapping.

 

To get back to TheBigCandy's question, I have used NetMonitor for over a year, and have had not any problem with it ruining any of the phones that I have used it on. Although, just to be safe, I will probably not take any of my phones to Belgrade, Singapore, OR Buenos Aires.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by tommym65

[ryry4ya]

The map of the towers was never absolutely 100 percent correct. It was off by a little bit but, it always did give me the correct base ID

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

[S4GRU]

I have use NetMonitor on over a dozen devices and never had any issues with it damaging or ruining any of my devices. I don't think it's even crashed before.

 

The accuracy is the only issue. NetMonitor is dead to rights accurate in the Albuquerque market. But when I go to Texas, most sites are shown with the offset sector method and not directly on the site.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[NiteSnow]

I use to love the app, but it gives me the wrong locations. As you can see I do live in Toledo Ohio... I think it's because of the permissions it uses to find your location

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

Those aren't tower locations that it's giving you in that list. It's telling you where you where when you picked up the site. It's a somewhat recent bug in the application likely due to a screw up on the devs implementation of geo coding, it could literally be as much as a typo in the source.

[TheBigCandy]

Alright well I think I am going to take the jump and download the application.. Thanks for the feedback guys!

[mikejeep]

I saw the comments on Google Play about Netmonitor being a "dangerous" app, but having frequently used it for over a year, I can say I've never seen any indications that it harmed anything on any of my phones.

 

One of the last few Netmonitor updates did break the geocoding. Even though Sprint sites in my area broadcast the sector offset location instead of the tower location, it was always accurate. Now, as someone else pointed out, the map still appears correct, but the text description of the address is off by thousands of miles.

 

I tried contacting the developer several times without any response. So, I decided to put the geocoding feature into my own app instead, and it works like a charm

 

-Mike