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3 hours ago, RAvirani said:

Hi all, I'm looking to purchase an Android for Cellmapper/logging purposes; accordingly, I was wondering if there are any cheap devices you guys recommended that work well with both SCP and Cellmapper. Thanks in advance!

Other than my main phone, every other phone I have is a rooted Moto E5 Play.  I use the Amazon model for AT&T, an unlocked Boost for Verizon, and a T-Mobile model for T-Mobile.  I have a US Cellular model in my possession to switch my US Cellular account to in the next few days.  I can use Network Signal Guru to lock it to specific bands, and I use it with SCP, Mozilla Stumbler, and (at times) Cellmapper.

For Verizon and T-Mobile, I just have unactivated SIMs in them and they work fine.  For AT&T I'm using a FreedomPop SIM with the free service on it.  For US Cellular I have a $10/mo pay-as-you-go account which I'm not sure you can get anymore.

- Trip

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Thank you all for the advice! Luckily for me, I am covered as far as SIMs go; I was just looking for suggestions on a cheap android. I'm able to get a really good deal on a Pixel 2 - do NSG (is some other form of band locking)/SCP/Cellmapper run well on those phones?

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I use NSG SCP and Cellmapper on a bootloader unlocked rooted moto g7 power unlocked. New for $179 on Amazon (many models but can give a link if needed). Used on T-Mobile and AT&T.

..

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For Verizon and T-Mobile, I just have unactivated SIMs in them and they work fine. 

How do you get your Verizon SIM to connect to LTE without active service? Mine will only connect to CDMA.

 

 

Thank you all for the advice! Luckily for me, I am covered as far as SIMs go; I was just looking for suggestions on a cheap android. I'm able to get a really good deal on a Pixel 2 - do NSG (is some other form of band locking)/SCP/Cellmapper run well on those phones?

 

Pixel 2 can do NSG, but Pixels require a licensed/pay copy of NSG to band lock. Other phones supposedly don't. Google disables Qualcomm diagnostic mode, so NSG has to jump through some hoops to get it working. On the 4 they don't even include the driver for it, and you have to flash the userdebug vendor image every month. Pixels are fantastic for NSG and logging, except if you need to band lock and don't have a license. No other way to lock bands.

 

A lot of people in the NSG community really like one plus phones. They support a lot of bands, and play well with NSG. But I'm not sure how good Sprint support is with their older models (ie CDMA).

 

If band locking isn't super important to you, you could get a Pixel 3a since they're on sale. They support dual SIM, so you can log on two networks at once with Cellmapper. SCP doesn't support dual SIM yet, and seems to report data for the active data SIM. Neighbors will show both SIMs though usually.

 

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, ingenium said:

How do you get your Verizon SIM to connect to LTE without active service? Mine will only connect to CDMA.

It has to be a new SIM, not a previously-activated one.  For a long time, Verizon would only let it connect to LTE for 90 days and then disable LTE access, so I have a pile of Verizon SIMs so I could toss and replace when my SIM after 90 days.  That stopped happening at some point, though I'm not clear when.

- Trip

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It has to be a new SIM, not a previously-activated one.  For a long time, Verizon would only let it connect to LTE for 90 days and then disable LTE access, so I have a pile of Verizon SIMs so I could toss and replace when my SIM after 90 days.  That stopped happening at some point, though I'm not clear when.


I didn't know that had changed, thanks.. very good to know for testing!
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Just now, mikejeep said:

I didn't know that had changed, thanks.. very good to know for testing!

One thing that occurred to me after my post is that I'm actually not sure if it was based on timing or based on changing my device.  My current device doesn't attempt to use SRLTE, so I'm guessing it uses VoLTE for 911 calls.  That might be the difference.

- Trip

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On 5/29/2020 at 12:19 AM, ingenium said:

Pixel 2 can do NSG, but Pixels require a licensed/pay copy of NSG to band lock.

You can email the developers and ask for an enthusiast's license. Usually good for 6 months at a time.

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6 hours ago, RAvirani said:

I think I have been experiencing that with low-numbered Verizon 1X IDs (I never connect to Verizon LTE). I assumed it was something on my end, but maybe it's related.. I'll have to try getting some specifics and monitor that thread.

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  • 1 month later...

Looks like CellMapper is still either extremely backlogged or having issues mapping NR coverage. I went through Nashville twice over a week ago and none of my AT&T NR mapping is showing up from that entire trip. It was from two different sessions, I went down to Linden TN on Friday afternoon and came back on Monday. Uploaded all points when I got there Friday. Looks like my T-Mobile mapping is showing, I don't think there was any NR showing in Nashville previously. I do have the paid subscription for Cellmapper, which is supposed to prioritize uploads over non-subscribers. 

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Looks like CellMapper is still either extremely backlogged or having issues mapping NR coverage. I went through Nashville twice over a week ago and none of my AT&T NR mapping is showing up from that entire trip. It was from two different sessions, I went down to Linden TN on Friday afternoon and came back on Monday. Uploaded all points when I got there Friday. Looks like my T-Mobile mapping is showing, I don't think there was any NR showing in Nashville previously. I do have the paid subscription for Cellmapper, which is supposed to prioritize uploads over non-subscribers. 
In my experience, even with a paid subscription, it can take 3 weeks for trails to show up. I think they do each area in batches, and anything submitted before that batch is run gets processed. Anything that comes in after has to wait for the next scheduled batch. Tower data (for LTE anyway) shows usually in the same day though. It's just whatever process they use to generate the trails.

It's possible that a paid account might bump up the areas you visit in the queue, but I suspect that so many people have paid accounts at this point that it doesn't really make much of a difference.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

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1 minute ago, ingenium said:

In my experience, even with a paid subscription, it can take 3 weeks for trails to show up. I think they do each area in batches, and anything submitted before that batch is run gets processed. Anything that comes in after has to wait for the next scheduled batch. Tower data (for LTE anyway) shows usually in the same day though. It's just whatever process they use to generate the trails.

It's possible that a paid account might bump up the areas you visit in the queue, but I suspect that so many people have paid accounts at this point that it doesn't really make much of a difference.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

That makes sense, I've had some show up in only a day or two and some take weeks. 

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