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Any way to identify a small cell using Field Test mode on an iPhone?

Brad The Beast

By Brad The Beast
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lilotimz Member Level: LTE Advanced

lilotimz

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A good rule of thumb is PCI > 400 is highly likely to be a small cell or mini macro of some type.

PCI > 480 is usually a femto cell class device like an Airave 3 or a Magic box. 

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RAvirani Member Level: LTE Advanced

RAvirani

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47 minutes ago, lilotimz said:

A good rule of thumb is PCI > 400 is highly likely to be a small cell or mini macro of some type.

PCI > 480 is usually a femto cell class device like an Airave 3 or a Magic box. 

We have lots of macros in Seattle with PCIs up to 440. 

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lilotimz Member Level: LTE Advanced

lilotimz

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38 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

We have lots of macros in Seattle with PCIs up to 440. 

Very true. I've noticed some in my market as well. Though generally speaking it's a good rule of thumb. 

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RAvirani Member Level: LTE Advanced

RAvirani

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40 minutes ago, Flompholph said:

So there is no more cell identity on the iphone anymore? That used to equal gci when converted.

There is. Oftentimes the fields just take a while to populate. 

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anthony.spina97 Member Level: 4G WiMax

anthony.spina97

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10 hours ago, Flompholph said:

So there is no more cell identity on the iphone anymore? That used to equal gci when converted.

 

10 hours ago, RAvirani said:

There is. Oftentimes the fields just take a while to populate. 

Yup. On Intel devices it should be under LTE > Serving Cell Meas > phy_cell_id I believe.

 

-Anthony

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RAvirani Member Level: LTE Advanced

RAvirani

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1 hour ago, Brad The Beast said:

earfcns I got are: 8109, 8109, 8775 and, 8109.  

Not a small cell. That's likely a new macro. 8109 is a typical 5x5 L1900 A block carrier and 8775 is the 3x3 L800 carrier by the canadian border. 

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Brad The Beast Member Level: eHRPD

Brad The Beast

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11 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Not a small cell. That's likely a new macro. 8109 is a typical 5x5 L1900 A block carrier and 8775 is the 3x3 L800 carrier by the canadian border. 

Quite curious as to where they could be. I know where one of them is but not the other three.

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Brad The Beast Member Level: eHRPD

Brad The Beast

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1 hour ago, belusnecropolis said:

Find signal
drive until -75
Take pics
????
Profit

I know where all the macros in town are. I have no idea where these new ones would be. It's a town of 50,000 so there's no high capacity sites. 

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belusnecropolis Member Level: 4G WiMax

belusnecropolis

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1 minute ago, Brad The Beast said:

I know where all the macros in town are. I have no idea where these new ones would be. It's a town of 50,000 so there's no high capacity sites. 

Sorry until signal RSRP reads -75 dBm, not speeds, if that was what you were after.

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