All Devices Open Signal

[George Knighton]

When T-Mobile decided to lower the price of the Pixel 4 to 299.00, I couldn't resist replacing my V30 as my Android play phone. I like to be sure that I understand Android and what's going on.

The Android version of Open Signal works so much better than the iOS version.

Does anybody know why this would be, or if there are any plans to fix some of the features in the iOS version?

The iOS version has the same problem I originally wrote about (reporting physical SIM data even though eSIM is selected as primary). It also fails to report the signal direction or towers, and the Android version does that perfectly.

The Android version has a video test, too.

Why is it the iOS version is so far less well featured, and not working right with some other features?

 

[cmaier]

When T-Mobile decided to lower the price of the Pixel 4 to 299.00, I couldn't resist replacing my V30 as my Android play phone. I like to be sure that I understand Android and what's going on.

The Android version of Open Signal works so much better than the iOS version.

Does anybody know why this would be, or if there are any plans to fix some of the features in the iOS version?

The iOS version has the same problem I originally wrote about (reporting physical SIM data even though eSIM is selected as primary). It also fails to report the signal direction or towers, and the Android version does that perfectly.

The Android version has a video test, too.

Why is it the iOS version is so far less well featured, and not working right with some other features?

Probably because iOS, for security reasons, does not allow developers to access a lot of these sorts of low-level technical data.

 

[magicMac]

I'm not familiar with OpenSignal and you might want to direct your question to their dev support team. In terms of obtaining details about your mobile signal and tower info, there is a built in Field Test Mode (FTMInternal-4.app) on the iPhone - if you enter *3001#12345* into the phone app on iOS then you can retrieve information about the SIM, the IMS status, PDP info, and time-stamped info about UMTS/3G or LTE/4G channel size, frequency, TDD configuration (if applicable), HSDPA/HSUPA (if 3G), the phones Transmit power, mast/site ID and neighbour masts/site info and IDs, along with signal quality (SNR), signal level and noise level.

This might help with what you are trying to achieve. For this I can see where my mobile provider (o2-uk) has deployed their higher density 2x20MHz LTE channels on band40 (2300MHz TDD) since they don't publish it online, I can also see where they have re-farmed either, none, one, or both of their 5MHz slots on band8 (900MHz FDD) from 3G into "4G Voice", this one is published on their website but isn't completely clear due to overlapping coverage and which mast is supplying that coverage.

 

[teeshot44]

I'm not familiar with OpenSignal and you might want to direct your question to their dev support team. In terms of obtaining details about your mobile signal and tower info, there is a built in Field Test Mode (FTMInternal-4.app) on the iPhone - if you enter *3001#12345*

It's *3001#12345#* Missed a #.

 

[magicMac]

It's *3001#12345#* Missed a #.

thanks! finger memory

 

[SRLMJ23]

I'm not familiar with OpenSignal and you might want to direct your question to their dev support team. In terms of obtaining details about your mobile signal and tower info, there is a built in Field Test Mode (FTMInternal-4.app) on the iPhone - if you enter *3001#12345* into the phone app on iOS then you can retrieve information about the SIM, the IMS status, PDP info, and time-stamped info about UMTS/3G or LTE/4G channel size, frequency, TDD configuration (if applicable), HSDPA/HSUPA (if 3G), the phones Transmit power, mast/site ID and neighbour masts/site info and IDs, along with signal quality (SNR), signal level and noise level.

This might help with what you are trying to achieve. For this I can see where my mobile provider (o2-uk) has deployed their higher density 2x20MHz LTE channels on band40 (2300MHz TDD) since they don't publish it online, I can also see where they have re-farmed either, none, one, or both of their 5MHz slots on band8 (900MHz FDD) from 3G into "4G Voice", this one is published on their website but isn't completely clear due to overlapping coverage and which mast is supplying that coverage.

Where do you see all this? Especially where can I see if my carrier (AT&T) has deployed their higher density 2x20MHz LTE channels, or maybe it does not work that way in the U.S.?

For almost everything I look under, it says "Waiting for Update" but never updates, or "Come back later."

The only things that give me any info are:

LTE Neighbor Cell Meas
C-DRX
Serving Cell Meas
Serving Cell Info
RRC State
NAS

And really, those are not showing that much information.

 

[magicMac]

Where do you see all this? Especially where can I see if my carrier (AT&T) has deployed their higher density 2x20MHz LTE channels, or maybe it does not work that way in the U.S.?

For almost everything I look under, it says "Waiting for Update" but never updates, or "Come back later."

The only things that give me any info are:

LTE Neighbor Cell Meas
C-DRX
Serving Cell Meas
Serving Cell Info
RRC State
NAS

And really, those are not showing that much information.

serving cell info is probably your best bet. Regarding 2x20Mhz this is specific to o2 since they won band40 spectrum last year prior to 5G. But in any case you can get similar info applicable to AT&T.

the dl_earfcn under UMTS (3G) or dl_freq under LTE (4G) are both similar and the quickest option without prior experience is to use an online earfcn calculator to find out what this channel frequency equates to in MHz, I think you have LTE on 700MHz (band17) and a slightly different version of 2300MHz (band30) in the US right? This is where the carrier sits on the spectrum, it will vary from tower to tower and most towers will do both and will switch depending on signal quality and other weighted factors.

Similarly, dl_bw and ul_bw will be the Max LTE PHY rate (Not taking MIMO into account) and therefor you have to divide by 5 bits/hz to get the channel size (how much spectrum the carrier is using). So if you see dl_bw 25 then you are on a 5MHz LTE channel and if you see dl_bw 100 then you are on a 20MHz LTE channel. If your speed test actually goes above 100Mbps on a 20MHz channel, and there is no channel bonding then the mast is supporting MIMO. If the ul and dl EARFN is different then you are on FDD (tx and Rx are separate channels - good for voice and similar to Ethernet cable), if they are the same then you are on TDD (tx and Rx share same channel - similar to wifi at home)

 

[George Knighton]

Dialing the old field test string is useful for a lot of things, like seeing what band you're on, or what's the real RSSI in relation to the two bars you're looking at.

Open Signal does other things, and if they're going to say that it does those things, it should do them. IMHO.

The Android version works wonderfully and has more options than the iOS version.