Apps to show mobile cell tower details

[pistonheadforum]

Hello,

What apps are available that show cell tower details (cell ID, location, frequency used etc)?

I remember seeing an engineer have something for his mobile that he used to perform a mobile site survey and it showed a whole list of interesting details.

Thanks in advance.

[pistonheadforum]

Should have said ... this would be for iphone - (not sure if they are more restrictive) engineer was using andriod (but don't know which app).

Thanks.

[Mr E]

For iPhone.

• 3001#12345#*

[pistonheadforum]

Mr E said:

For iPhone.

• 3001#12345#*

Thanks for that - most interesting!

[pistonheadforum]

Is there something that can make it more friendly (don't mind paying for an app).

Something that shows of google maps location or distance to towers but also (most important) shows the frequencies used for that provider/tower.

Thanks in advance.

[hairy v]

Anything for android Mr E?

[Mr E]

Easy to understand is a bit tricky, RF propagation in the real world is witchcraft.

Ive used “nemo handy” years ago to good effect. It’s not an app and it’s not cheap.

I’d expect android to have more options as the chipset and os are more accessible. I don’t know of a built in field test mode I’m afraid.

What exactly are you trying to measure?

[pistonheadforum]

Mr E said:

What exactly are you trying to measure?

Thanks for assistance. I'm trying to use an SDR to understand the frequencies used in mobile towers, their spectrum usage and their signal strength from a range of locations.

[megaphone]

I use www.cellmapper.net on my laptop, works well, but they don't do an iPhone app AFAIK

[Mr E]

pistonheadforum said:

Thanks for assistance. I'm trying to use an SDR to understand the frequencies used in mobile towers, their spectrum usage and their signal strength from a range of locations.

Depending on the tech, the various cells could be on the same frequency.

Signal strength and signal/noise are your key metrics.

So, from the following grab on iOS field test, I can see




I’m on an LTE cell on band 7 with uarfcn (frequency) shown just off screenshot (sorry, cheap phone).
My reference signal recieved power is -78. Which is “ok”. Better than -50 is good. Anything over 130 is poor. Your mileage may vary.

There’s quite a lot of cool info here actually, but it’s not easily understandable (even with many years working in comms)

Ec/no is sig/noise
Various bandwidths and frequencies also listed. There’s a really useful dump of cell reselect params for the terminally afflicted (me)

[xx99xx]

I use an an app called 'network cell info'. It's android so not sure if there's an iPhone version but gives lots of stats and a map.

[jurbie]

megaphone said:

I use www.cellmapper.net on my laptop, works well, but they don't do an iPhone app AFAIK

No use for the op as it doesn't work on the Iphone but the cellmapper Android app is great as it creates a crowd sourced map so just leave it running on your phone and at the end of the day upload your data.

Just remember to go into the settings and create a geofence around you house otherwise it becomes very obvious where you live. Not a massive problem as there is nothing to link you to the data but it does highlight that an RF nerd lives there.

[anonymous-user]

Two!

They’re bloody everywhere!

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

After reading this thread I downloaded the Network Cell App. What bemuses me now though is that I don't appear to be connected to the EE phone mast that is a few hundred yards across two fields in a direct line of sight from my house, rather I connect to two other masts located significantly further away...

[xx99xx]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

After reading this thread I downloaded the Network Cell App. What bemuses me now though is that I don't appear to be connected to the EE phone mast that is a few hundred yards across two fields in a direct line of sight from my house, rather I connect to two other masts located significantly further away...

Same here. It suggests I'm connected to Southampton which is over 100 miles away so I'm not sure that is correct.

[anonymous-user]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

After reading this thread I downloaded the Network Cell App. What bemuses me now though is that I don't appear to be connected to the EE phone mast that is a few hundred yards across two fields in a direct line of sight from my house, rather I connect to two other masts located significantly further away...

There could be a number of reasons for this.

Firstly, not all cells provide the same service so for example your phone may want to connect via 4g VoLTE for quality voice calls but your local cell may not offer that technology. It may be 2g or 3g and so your phone connects to a cell further away which does support the technology it wants.

It could be that your local cell is overwhelmed and near capacity. In that case your phone will be aware in the background of other viable cells to enable it to hand off from cell to cell as you move around or just to maintain service in the event of losing signal. This enables seamless service and is sometimes heard when a momentary cut off occurs in a call as you’re travelling. It could be that your phone has decided your local cell is busy and better service can be received from cells further afield.

It could also be that your local cell may not serve the area you’re in even though it’s closest. It’s quite common for cells to cover very specific and often irregular shaped areas. I see it quite often on new estates or places which have previously suffered poor service. It’s quite common to have a cell designed to have a very linear service area to serve along motorways and trunk roads.

xx99xx said:

Same here. It suggests I'm connected to Southampton which is over 100 miles away so I'm not sure that is correct.

In the 15 years I’ve been involved in RF Propagation Surveys I’ve come across one cell tower that serves an area this wide so it is remotely possible but almost certainly a mistake. It might just be an issue with the app you’re using or the way the app acquires the data from your phone.

[camel_landy]

In my RAN Engineer days, we used to use an app called Nero, to analyse things.

HTH

M

[Mr E]

camel_landy said:

In my RAN Engineer days, we used to use an app called Nero, to analyse things.

HTH

M

Are you sure it wasn’t Nemo?

[tangerine_sedge]

sebdangerfield said:

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

After reading this thread I downloaded the Network Cell App. What bemuses me now though is that I don't appear to be connected to the EE phone mast that is a few hundred yards across two fields in a direct line of sight from my house, rather I connect to two other masts located significantly further away...

In the 15 years I’ve been involved in RF Propagation Surveys I’ve come across one cell tower that serves an area this wide so it is remotely possible but almost certainly a mistake. It might just be an issue with the app you’re using or the way the app acquires the data from your phone.

100 miles really? I thought the cell footprints were significantly smaller than that (I think 35 miles radius for 2G was as big as it got? Of course RF propogation is weird, so possible to physically get larger than this, but not by design or planning! Agreed though for the OP, it's probably an error in the cell reference data showing the wrong cellsite.

[camel_landy]

Mr E said:

camel_landy said:

In my RAN Engineer days, we used to use an app called Nero, to analyse things.

HTH

M

Are you sure it wasn’t Nemo?

Close enough…

Yeah, considering how crap I am with names, it was probably Nemo.

M