Can any of you suggest the best app for locating cell towers? I'm tried a few and several of them aren't able to pick up locations accurately, even going as far as to say that only devices with a GSM signal can locate towers. There's got to be a good app floating around out there for CDMA users a la Verizon to be able to locate nearby cell towers.
In case you're wondering why I'm asking - I live out in the boonies and with the 4G service rolling out I'm trying to keep tabs on where my signal's coming from at home & during my daily commute would be very useful.
Thank you. Any sharing of wisdom/expertise would be greatly appreciated.
I know tasker can do this. I use the feature to determine when I'm near home.
I have found Open Signal Maps works pretty well. It definitely works better on a GSM device but it will atleast show you the tower your connected to and where it is located. Its worth a shot.
Related
Hello XDA,
I've searched but am coming up empty.
What I'm looking for may be two apps, but ideally it would be one. First, the Direction from my location of the tower my phone is connecting to. In LA, sometimes there can be 4 or 5 towers around and I'm always curious which one I'm connected to and is giving me the best 3G speed.
Second, Is there an app that will give me the signal strength to that tower in db or at least some more accurate reading than 0-4 bars? Ideally, this would be able to read directly from the radio because whatever windows mobile is using natively seems to like to jump between 0 and 4 bars at random.
By default, is there any maps or anything for AT&T that might tell me where the towers are so I can do my own deciphering? In SW Los Angeles, theres towers all over the place so I never really know which ones are AT&T.
Have been having a ton of issues with my tethering speed recently and want more info on my connection which is bringing this to a head.
Thank you for any advice.
HTC Tilt 2
Running Jacko's slimmest theme
AT&T
91 radio
I live in an area that has...umm...less than stellar tmobile service. Call/sms is ok most of the time but the data connection here is nonexistant for all intensive purposes. Can't use Pandora, can't really browse the internet, can't do much of anything that involves a data connection.
I was wondering if there was a way to improve this. The AT&T service out here has pretty good signal strength and 3g. I know both are gsm. There isn't a way to use their towers without getting a new number and sim, is there?
Is there anything else I can do to improve data reception? I love my phone and tmobile is pretty good everywhere around me...it's just pretty bad here.
rmp5s said:
I live in an area that has...umm...less than stellar tmobile service. Call/sms is ok most of the time but the data connection here is nonexistant for all intensive purposes. Can't use Pandora, can't really browse the internet, can't do much of anything that involves a data connection.
I was wondering if there was a way to improve this. The AT&T service out here has pretty good signal strength and 3g. I know both are gsm. There isn't a way to use their towers without getting a new number and sim, is there?
Is there anything else I can do to improve data reception? I love my phone and tmobile is pretty good everywhere around me...it's just pretty bad here.
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Yeah you won't be able to ride ATTs network with a tmo SIM. The only thing I can recommend is try flashing different modems and see if any of them help increase your data. The modem bible is somewhere floating in the first couple pages of the dev section. Failing that, wifi when you are at home is gonna be the only fix until tmo gets a stronger tower out where you're at.
Hi.
I may possibly be moving about 30 mins away and the location has inconsistent signal...I get 4 bars of LTE in one spot, move literally 2 feet away and I am down to 1 bar of 3G signal. I need to have a very solid 4G-LTE signal as I use my phone for tethering as my main internet to my desktop and I also work a bit from home so this is important.
I am wondering if there is any product out there that can enhance my 4G-LTE signal on my phone that you can get and does not require a separate internet connection to work?
To my knowledge, the current Verizon network extender requires an internet connection and can only distribute/extend 3G speeds....this won't do.
flooritnfly said:
Hi.
I may possibly be moving about 30 mins away and the location has inconsistent signal...I get 4 bars of LTE in one spot, move literally 2 feet away and I am down to 1 bar of 3G signal. I need to have a very solid 4G-LTE signal as I use my phone for tethering as my main internet to my desktop and I also work a bit from home so this is important.
I am wondering if there is any product out there that can enhance my 4G-LTE signal on my phone that you can get and does not require a separate internet connection to work?
To my knowledge, the current Verizon network extender requires an internet connection and can only distribute/extend 3G speeds....this won't do.
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Some may claim to extend LTE passively, but if you look at the specification, it's pretty much impossible to do passively. About the closest you can get is to build a picocell; a cell that covers a small home or office area. The reason they don't work is because LTE, like GSM, uses time division duplexing. This requires an advance in signal broadcast to compensate for the speed of light so that the handset's signal always reaches the tower inside it's assigned time window. The delay is a function of distance. Once your distance is greater than the allowable advance of the specification, the tower will drop your signal regardless of how strong it might be.
loonatik78 said:
Some may claim to extend LTE passively, but if you look at the specification, it's pretty much impossible to do passively. About the closest you can get is to build a picocell; a cell that covers a small home or office area. The reason they don't work is because LTE, like GSM, uses time division duplexing. This requires an advance in signal broadcast to compensate for the speed of light so that the handset's signal always reaches the tower inside it's assigned time window. The delay is a function of distance. Once your distance is greater than the allowable advance of the specification, the tower will drop your signal regardless of how strong it might be.
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Sooo.....anything on here won't help me out?
flooritnfly said:
Sooo.....anything on here won't help me out?
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Nope. None of that will help at all unless you're planning on making your own cell.
What's the point in them selling them then?
And how do I solve my problem aside from moving somewhere closer to a tower?
flooritnfly said:
What's the point in them selling them then?
And how do I solve my problem aside from moving somewhere closer to a tower?
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Judging by the fact they all have coax leads on them, they're specifically designed for permanent client installations such as home broadband or to build a small cell within or very near a home or building. Doing what you're wanting to do, as in creating a local cell that extends to where you're at and uplinking via LTE, is possible, but you'd have to clone a device that would authenticate on Verizon's network and I'm pretty sure that would be pretty illegal on a couple fronts.
Not sure where you live, but around where I'm at in the rural areas WiMax is a common broadband solution that provides pretty good data rates.
loonatik78 said:
Judging by the fact they all have coax leads on them, they're specifically designed for permanent client installations such as home broadband or to build a small cell within or very near a home or building. Doing what you're wanting to do, as in creating a local cell that extends to where you're at and uplinking via LTE, is possible, but you'd have to clone a device that would authenticate on Verizon's network and I'm pretty sure that would be pretty illegal on a couple fronts.
Not sure where you live, but around where I'm at in the rural areas WiMax is a common broadband solution that provides pretty good data rates.
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Are you suggesting I dump VZW?
omg people are you serious
loonatik78 said:
Some may claim to extend LTE passively, but if you look at the specification, it's pretty much impossible to do passively. About the closest you can get is to build a picocell; a cell that covers a small home or office area. The reason they don't work is because LTE, like GSM, uses time division duplexing. This requires an advance in signal broadcast to compensate for the speed of light so that the handset's signal always reaches the tower inside it's assigned time window. The delay is a function of distance. Once your distance is greater than the allowable advance of the specification, the tower will drop your signal regardless of how strong it might be.
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Are you for real LTE is nothing like gsm and tdma is completly different than gsm as well which stands for time division multiple access LTE is an IP. Based technology. With that said im waisting no more text on this fool.
Passive LTE Boost
flooritnfly said:
Are you suggesting I dump VZW?
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I know this is an old thread but just in case your still interested.
I have the Wilson Sleek LTE Booster. It took my Thunderbolt from Zero 3G to full 4G at my home. It was designed for mobile use but it works great. I know use it with an iPhone 5 with which it is even better. Wilson has a full home system that uses a directional outdoor antenna, and an indoor antenna that will connect an unlimited number of LT E devices all at once. I am getting this device soon.
been looking at these lately to boost my signal at home. I'm aware these incorporate data usage on top of mobile data plan such as downloading a 200mb file through 3g or 4g will also add same usage to your monthly with the ISP. luckily I'm just looking for better signal since I'm on wifi at home anyways while 3g or 4g is only on for mms which isn't often.
Do you get a decent signal outside your house? You can go with a booster if you do.
mjones73 said:
Do you get a decent signal outside your house? You can go with a booster if you do.
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kind of depending which room I'm in. if I'm upstairs and on side towards a tower I get 4-5 bars vs 2-3 everywhere else...sometimes one depending on Verizon's end
dyetheskin said:
kind of depending which room I'm in. if I'm upstairs and on side towards a tower I get 4-5 bars vs 2-3 everywhere else...sometimes one depending on Verizon's end
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I meant completely outside, they sell cell phone boosters where you mount an antenna outside of your house and feed it down to a booster in the house that repeats the signal inside. That method lets you help kill dead spots in the house and it still uses the towers vs your broadband connection.
As for the Verizon device, can't comment on it personally, I'm sure there are some reviews elsewhere in the forum. I don't think any data pulled over one of these would count against your Verizon data plan since it's coming over your broadband connection though, would be the equivalent of being on wifi.
Are you wanting to improve your voice connection or data connection? At a school I work at the Principal had a AT&T extender installed and it helps a lot with voice, but overall it was better to stay on wifi for the data connection.
Personally if it was me if your voice connection was good, I would just stick on Wifi for data if its not that great for 3G or 4G.
Lots of questions answered in this FAQ:
http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/Equipment/network_extender.html
I have one for voice and it works pretty well.
I keep it in my closet and it does the job, however there are some downsides.
It does not "extend" data, so I generally need to use WiFi in my house. I've heard the newer models will handle data as well; not sure if they handle 4G.
It does not hand-off to towers. This means you cannot initiate a call in your house then walk outside of the house; you'll drop the call. This applies for coming into your house as well.
This might be obvious, but it's reliant on how good your internet is. For example, while I was uploading my Google Music collection, I could not make calls using the extender because my connection was essentially tapped. I tried to set up QoS, but setting to low was the only thing that sort of worked.
I have one and Etherboo is correct. I'll add that they do not handle 4g. Doesn't matter because I use wifi at home.
That said, it works very well for voice. For some reason they need a GPS fix. Mine's in my basement office and I have to use the external GPS antenna that's provided.
So I've been reading up on the sprint airave, seems great. But I use my phones internet on my laptop and don't have a dedicated itnernet line....... Therefore using an airave is out of the question. Are there any other similar ways of boosting my signal strength or am I sh*t out of luck
[Edit]
Other than prls and different radios
Sent From My Eco 4g Using Mean 4.2
Phutt89 said:
So I've been reading up on the sprint airave, seems great. But I use my phones internet on my laptop and don't have a dedicated itnernet line....... Therefore using an airave is out of the question. Are there any other similar ways of boosting my signal strength or am I sh*t out of luck
[Edit]
Other than prls and different radios
Sent From My Eco 4g Using Mean 4.2
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I have an airave setup at my work & it works great. Have had very little problems with it. My only complaints with the airave is you can restrict which sprint #'s it will work on which is a great feature (can be any sprint # doesn't have to be on same account) however after settings it up over time #'s you put in seem to drop off. If your not authorized for the airave and you come into the office the airave actually makes the signal worse for the person on the phone over the tower. So if your not authorized the phone will see it but won't connect to it so the bars jump up and down making the signals even worse. I ended up shutting that feature off cause I was sick of having to re add numbers to the list. I just have it set to open now works fine. Also when your coming in from outside it won't let you hop on to the airave but if you are leaving it will transfer over to the tower. However I found this feature doesn't work very and a lot of times will drop the call. Sometimes it works but the handoff is not smooth at all and it breaks up. Also there is a very annoying dining sound when you are using the airave when a call first connects or you answer it. I have got use to it but there is no way to shut it off.
I also have a Wilson 841262 booster on order which doesn't need an internet connection. Although I can't provide a review for you since I haven't set it up yet, it does have great reviews and after much research seems to be the best value repeater. I didn't want a junk one or spend a grand on one so I think this is a good price point. I would stay away from the "desk ones" you want entire house coverage with decent signal output. I can let you know how it works once I get it running but if it works well at $350 while still steep is manageable. My only concern with this unit is how it will handle handoffs although your not really doing a hand off because say you start a call inside your house it's on the repeater then walk outside it should stay on the same tower it's not really handing off to a different tower but the phone still has to transition from the repeater base to the tower itself so I'm curious to see how well that works.