topic Signal curiosity in Get Support

Signal curiosity

Pawprints1986 — Mon, 23 May 2022 02:50:27 GMT

Wasn't sure where to put this

So, I've been playing a bit with an app that measures signal. It's got a total of 6 readings - it offered me a free update to the pro version so of course I said yes lol

But for whatever reason, the 5 other readings all seem better strength than the one my device chooses to use. Anyone with more know how about this stuff happen to know why this is

I've cropped out possible location revealing info, but these are all from the same screen cap (I don't have an app that will merge these together)

The last 4 seem to be the same actually, but why isn't my device defaulting to the second reading ? 🤔

This is under wcdma only

Re: Signal curiosity

Pawprints1986 — Mon, 23 May 2022 02:56:28 GMT

The same under LTE at least seems to make sense with the order it's choosing, though reception itself is worse (which is why I'm not looking forward to wcdma sunset in a couple years)

Re: Signal curiosity

JL9 — Mon, 23 May 2022 03:34:48 GMT

What app is this?

Re: Signal curiosity

computergeek541 — Mon, 23 May 2022 04:07:04 GMT

@Pawprints1986 wrote:
Wasn't sure where to put this

So, I've been playing a bit with an app that measures signal. It's got a total of 6 readings - it offered me a free update to the pro version so of course I said yes lol

But for whatever reason, the 5 other readings all seem better strength than the one my device chooses to use. Anyone with more know how about this stuff happen to know why this is

I've cropped out possible location revealing info, but these are all from the same screen cap (I don't have an app that will merge these together)

The last 4 seem to be the same actually, but why isn't my device defaulting to the second reading ? 🤔

This is under wcdma only

The phone will choose the best connection automatically. There are many factors to consider including battery consumption, capacity, terrain, etc. Also, the strongest signal is not always the best. A phone could decide to connect to band 2 for a number of different reasons, although band 5 would almost always be stronger due it being a lower frequency. There's also the issue of potential cell breathing where you could be sent to a different "tower" as the coverage of one of those towers shirnks when capacity is near saturation. While I'm not too familar with the technical aspects, some devices might not even be reporting pure signal strength but rather the "cleanliness" of the signal. I have a hunch that @sheytoon could probably explain that better.

Re: Signal curiosity

Korth — Mon, 23 May 2022 04:35:10 GMT

@computergeek541 wrote:
The phone will choose the best connection automatically ...

The best signal ... that it can use, that's it's allowed to use.

The local network machinery is spewing radio to every device in range almost indiscriminately. The phone radio hardware itself might even be capable of interfacing with all sorts of frequencies, bands, channels, and protocols that it isn't actually using.

Because the provider is only allocating certain signals (along with limited signal provisions) to each subscriber. All the rest of the radio traffic to and from the network is essentially irrelevant "signal" the phone does not and cannot actually use. It's chatter and packets from all the other subscribers who are active within range of the local network. The fancy app probably measures everything the device radio is able to detect but most of what it's monitoring appears to basically be noise instead of signal.

Re: Signal curiosity

Pawprints1986 — Mon, 23 May 2022 06:50:59 GMT

@JL9 it's called "network cell info" - there's a lite version and full version

I was playing with "lte discovery" before that, but then it forced an update which took away most of the info, I couldn't see signal strength at all, just which lte band, and on wcdma not even that much, so it became quite useless 😕

Re: Signal curiosity

JL9 — Mon, 23 May 2022 15:34:54 GMT

great thanks for the heads up

Re: Signal curiosity

sheytoon — Mon, 23 May 2022 17:37:39 GMT

3G channels are 5 MHz wide, but LTE channels have different bandwidths, namely 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz. When measuring the signal strength, 3G uses RSSI to measure the total wideband power, but LTE uses RSRP, which are specific pilot signals on some subcarriers. It's not an apples to apples comparison.

For a 20 MHz LTE channel, the RSRP value tends to be about 30 dB lower than RSSI.

As for the readings reported in the app, it's hard to say without having more info. It's possible those readings are not accurate for the 3G neighbour cells.

Re: Signal curiosity

Pawprints1986 — Fri, 27 May 2022 01:15:47 GMT

Just for kicks, I tried the same bands at a family members home, which is not ground floor of a 3 story apartment, fairly close to another 3 story apartment building... wish they made signal boosters made for apartments in a city, but they all need to go on the roof of a house which I can't do (and those sticker things I've heard are just cheap crap)

Re: Signal curiosity

Community_QA — Mon, 30 May 2022 01:58:00 GMT

@sheytoon that are some great info. you work in Telus? or at least in the industry?

Re: Signal curiosity

sheytoon — Mon, 30 May 2022 12:02:47 GMT

I work in the industry 🙂