Database Info

Poor signal reception

Just got mine today, and unlike my Hermes & Kaiser it's unable to hold on to a T-Mobile signal in my lounge.
I wonder if it's faulty.
ROM version: 1.90.405.1 WWE
ROM date: 08/01/08
Radio version: 1.02.25.19
Protocol version: 52.33.25.17U

It's a possibility... I know I'm from the states, so different ballpark altogether, but mine has had much better reception (especially with holding 3G) than other phones I've used.

I would say after reading round the forums that the poor signal complaints all one one thing in common. T-Mobile UK.
I have the TYTN II as well on T-Mobile and it always has a good solid signal round my house with the 'H' showing all the time.
I got my Raphael today and reached the conclusion that T-Mobile must be having problems because the signal has been ropey to say the least plus it has been a struggle to get the 'G' to turn to a 'H'.
After reading the various discussions on here I can only put it down to the phone being a bit deaf. Lets hope HTC address this

Right two things.
a) I am on T-Mobile and have experienced the same thing. Slightly lower but not drastic reductions.
b) I spoke with T-Mobile yesterday and they said they were having some intermittent issues with their 3G network.

I've been having all sorts of trouble with web browsing on my Vario II over the last few months. The Touch Pro seems to be better but still not perfect, I'm probably going to change networks soon though.
I have a friend at work with an iphone 3G on O2 and he doesn't get very good 3G coverage in the office, but says it's fine at home. I think I'll move to Vodafone and see what they're like!

I aint too sure where we are at the moment with SPLs so not sure if it is wise to flash a different radio version yet, however it might be worth seeing if a radio update emerges to address these issues, gotta say where i am on vacation at the mo (Norfolk) has jack **** reception for TmobileUK.
Its full 5 Bars HSDPA back in York so when i get hold of my Raph i'll post some findings alongside my Hermes (TyTN) for comparison.

Is reception in Norfolk really that bad?
My brother can get a good enough reception to talk on his phone with Tmobile at our place there... While my phone on orange cant get anything at all...
I was told Tmobiles reception was better than oranges... :/
I was hoping i could get some sort for data connection working there.
Also has the Touch Pro got an Antenna plug inside it? So you could hook it up to a more powerful antenna?

Antenna location
Well I don't have Raph yet however I've seen a Manual.
It says that antenna o Raph is placed at the bottom of Raph's back. I think this is pretty idiotic because everytime you grab your phone you automatically cover the antenna.

I don't think that the poor reception is related to the T-Mobile network itself. I think the problem is the device.
If you read the other threads it's quite obvious that T-Mobile works better/fine with other devices (same SIM) as compared to the Touch Pro.
I'm quite sure we will get similar bad reception reports from other network users as well as soon as the devices gets available in other countries.
As the Diamond has similar problems I do not think it's a software issue, I think the problem is related to the slim housing (antenna setup) of the Diamond and as the Touch Pro is a takeover in lots of parts it might suffer the same problems.

Ok this doesnt sound good :/
Does the touch pro have an external antenna plug hidden inside the battery compartment?
Im not planning on carrying an antenna about with me all the time. But wouldnt mind one attached to my house in norfolk. Just so i can get some sort of data network.
So is there an antenna socket?
Most phones hide theres with a rubber plug.

foo said:
I'm quite sure we will get similar bad reception reports from other network users as well as soon as the devices gets available in other countries.
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Don't be so sure... With my Pantech Duo I would hardly ever touch a 3G signal down in my basement, with the Touch Pro I get HSDPA most of the time I'm down here. Best phone I've ever used when it comes to reception...

NutsyUK said:
Ok this doesnt sound good :/
Does the touch pro have an external antenna plug hidden inside the battery compartment?
Im not planning on carrying an antenna about with me all the time. But wouldnt mind one attached to my house in norfolk. Just so i can get some sort of data network.
So is there an antenna socket?
Most phones hide theres with a rubber plug.
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I BELIEVE I've heard of things you can get hooked up in a building where it receives signal at the top of the building (via an antenna) and amplifies it throughout (working similarly to a wireless router)... I think they use them in office buildings, to prevent loss of reception due to the sheer size of the structure. May be very expensive, but I haven't really looked into it. Anyone else heard of such things?

foo said:
I don't think that the poor reception is related to the T-Mobile network itself. I think the problem is the device.
If you read the other threads it's quite obvious that T-Mobile works better/fine with other devices (same SIM) as compared to the Touch Pro.
I'm quite sure we will get similar bad reception reports from other network users as well as soon as the devices gets available in other countries.
As the Diamond has similar problems I do not think it's a software issue, I think the problem is related to the slim housing (antenna setup) of the Diamond and as the Touch Pro is a takeover in lots of parts it might suffer the same problems.
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Id wait to see if a Radio update eliviates some of the issues, remember we are on a fledgling STOCK device at the moment, same thing happened with the Hermes and it was remedied quickly once a radio update was released (with the 0107 radio bootloader in it).
@NutsyUK
Well we stayed in Hickling last year and I got full HSDPA around there which was a surprise, where we are im in a fringe area methinks since all 4 networks are crap here (Horning)......depends where you are going?

krabicka3 said:
Well I don't have Raph yet however I've seen a Manual.
It says that antenna o Raph is placed at the bottom of Raph's back. I think this is pretty idiotic because everytime you grab your phone you automatically cover the antenna.
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I actually think this is quite a sensible location for it...
Yes, you would be covering the antenna if you are holding it "normally" i.e. browse web pages etc, but when you are on a call and you are holding it up to your ear you wouldn't be covering it at all because it's at the same end as the microphone! So at least having the antenna down there maximises your signal strength when you need it most!

After reading many posts saying that the Pro is weaker on TMobile I must ask which 3G band does TMobile operate on? Is it 2100?

I'm in Australia on Three's network and I must say the reception is very poor.
To the point I lose connection at times and have calls fade in/out.
This is coming from a P3600 which it replaced. That had better reception with one of the proven upgraded radio ROMs.
So I hope a future radio ROM upgrade addresses this, as I'm starting to really like this device.
My internet key for Three's mobile broadband which uses the same network can be right next to the Pro and have 4 bars (out of 4 or 5) while the Pro only shows 1 (P3600 generally has 1 bar less than internet key)

Mrjasjam said:
After reading many posts saying that the Pro is weaker on TMobile I must ask which 3G band does TMobile operate on? Is it 2100?
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Use this site to check your local cell information (UK).
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/
THis is what i have found in my area
3G Network 2100MHz (umts)
TMob 1800MHz (GSM)
O2 900/1800MHz (GSM), 2100MHz (umts)
Voda 900/1800MHz (GSM), 2100MHz (umts)
Orange 1800MHz (GSM), 2100MHz (umts)
Tmobile must piggyback other networks umts as i am unable to find a Tmob cell with umts!!! If thats the case, its not the phone at fault. Maybe someone can check in their area that receives 3g on Tmobile.
Doing a quick search, it appears That Tmobile piggyback the 3G network in the uk, yet there are no reports of poor coverage on the 3G network.

The 3 an t-mobile HSDPA networks merged a while ago. So it would be interesting to know if the poor reception occurs with a 3 SIM. I would imagine that is shouldn't make any difference if they operate on the same band.

ardsar said:
Use this site to check your local cell information (UK).
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/
THis is what i have found in my area
3G Network 2100MHz (umts)
TMob 1800MHz (GSM)
O2 900/1800MHz (GSM), 2100MHz (umts)
Voda 900/1800MHz (GSM), 2100MHz (umts)
Orange 1800MHz (GSM), 2100MHz (umts)
Tmobile must piggyback other networks umts as i am unable to find a Tmob cell with umts!!! If thats the case, its not the phone at fault. Maybe someone can check in their area that receives 3g on Tmobile.
Doing a quick search, it appears That Tmobile piggyback the 3G network in the uk, yet there are no reports of poor coverage on the 3G network.
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Click to collapse
Its been the following for a fair while:
O2 and Vodaphone : GSM900
Orange and Tmobile: GSM1800
AFAIK all four use UMTS2100 for thier 3G services.
Virgin mobile uses the tmobile network also.
Three: UMTS2100
However Three works on the same network ID as the O2 3G service which seems to take priority, however that might be an old story now?? Al i can remember is that several colleagues were told this by Three when they complained about calls cutting off many times.
Never been aware of tMobile "piggybacking" the 3G network since they were the first to offer 3G with the other networks following suit? It wouldnt make sence by looking at the data rate tarriffs each network offers since Tmobile is the only one to offer unlimited HSDPA, which surely would suggest the intrastructure is thiers out of majority??

My info was from this article originally:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile#United_Kingdom
It would definitely be interesting to know if the same problems occur with O2 etc...

What's the reported signal strength of the One S compared to other phones?

There have been a few reports that the One series has poor reception.
For example my HTC Desire constantly has about 7-9dB** lower signal than my old Nokia N79 - I was hoping that the new One S would have better reception, but the forums are complaining about fewer "bars" of signal strength. Unfortunately the latter is meaningless because "bars" are uncalibrated and signal level is highly dependent on exact position and whether the unit is held in the hand or not.
Rather than hearsay, I would like to know if One S owners could do a comparison with their old phone to see if it is much worse.
Using the *#*#4636#*#* code if you could report the signal level (dBm) and the connection mode (3G, 2G, GSM whatever) between your One S and old phone when lying in the same position on the desk*
*holding it in your hand, or putting it somewhere else in the room or changing the connection type or changing the carrier will all invalidate any meaningful comparison.
**
+3dB is a doubling in received power and +10dB is a 10x increase in received power, likewise -3dB and -10dB are halving and one tenth the power, so it's a significant difference.

OK, here's some evidence for you. HTC One S with Three UK monthly contract sim inserted and Motorola Defy+ with Three UK PAYG sim in. Both phones laid on desk in similar position with nothing to interfere with them.
HTC One S -105dBm (4ASU)
Motorola Defy+ -89dBm (12ASU)
This is pretty much what I've been getting with Network Signal app.
Incidentally, if I put the sim out the One S into the Defy+ then I still get -89dBm as you would expect as both sims use Three UK network. I can't put the PAYG sim into the One S as it's not a micro sim.
Pretty much damning evidence. Does mean the One S loses signal a lot faster when signal is marginal. Doesn't seem to be a great difference when signal is strong between the 2 which is a PITA when trying to show the problem in the Three shop If I go to York later I'll re run the test's and report back. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'll contact HTC support and see if they show any interest. Not overly hopeful of getting any where with Three customer support?

Richy101 said:
Pretty much damning evidence. Does mean the One S loses signal a lot faster when signal is marginal. Doesn't seem to be a great difference when signal is strong between the 2 which is a PITA when trying to show the problem in the Three shop If I go to York later I'll re run the test's and report back. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'll contact HTC support and see if they show any interest. Not overly hopeful of getting any where with Three customer support?
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Thanks for the data point. I'd say it's valid to take them to the Three shop, put them side by side and say look, there's a 16dB difference. (strictly speaking the noise figure of the receiver should also be known, but this is set in the GSM/UMTS specs and should be less than a dB or two difference).
It's been my belief that Nokia and Motorola have the best antenna engineers - all the Nokias I've owned have had great signal reception, despite the fact that the number of base stations was much lower in the late 90s early 2000s.

I cannot compare to old one, I got micro sim and dont have adapter yet (comming from ebay).
I found that I got alot lower signal, thought as I mvoed to micro sim I changed carrier...
Question - how much signal is needed for "OK", and at which point its to weak?

Stiflerlv said:
Question - how much signal is needed for "OK", and at which point its to weak?
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According to OFCOM the mimum signal level is -110dBm (including some fading margin).
At that level you will get very slow data speeds - I consider anything less than -90dBm as pretty low.
I was in the Vodaphone store and they had SIMs in a One X, One S and Wildfire S - all of these were within a few dB of eachother - unfortunately my (roaming) HTC Desire would not connect to Vodaphone.de, so I couldn't get a 4th reference point.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/3g_rollout/statement/statement.pdf
Currently I'm mostly interested in 3G reception - if this is poor then the phone will spend a lot of time (and battery) looking for signal, loosing contact, toggling back and forth between 2G and 3G etc. However, need to consider that 3G can exist on both 900 and 1800MHz in Europe. If poor antenna design is the culprit then this may only effect one of the bands, meaning that certain users have great signal, whereas others report poor reception.

aza314 said:
According to OFCOM the mimum signal level is -110dBm (including some fading margin).
At that level you will get very slow data speeds - I consider anything less than -90dBm as pretty low.
I was in the Vodaphone store and they had SIMs in a One X, One S and Wildfire S - all of these were within a few dB of eachother - unfortunately my (roaming) HTC Desire would not connect to Vodaphone.de, so I couldn't get a 4th reference point.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/3g_rollout/statement/statement.pdf
Currently I'm mostly interested in 3G reception - if this is poor then the phone will spend a lot of time (and battery) looking for signal, loosing contact, toggling back and forth between 2G and 3G etc. However, need to consider that 3G can exist on both 900 and 1800MHz in Europe. If poor antenna design is the culprit then this may only effect one of the bands, meaning that certain users have great signal, whereas others report poor reception.
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I mainly need this for calls (not so much data) so till 110 Im still ok?
I often get 100+ :/ Lowest I have seen is 90. Returning the phone hoping its glitch

Stiflerlv said:
I mainly need this for calls (not so much data) so till 110 Im still ok?
I often get 100+ :/ Lowest I have seen is 90. Returning the phone hoping its glitch
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At -110dBm you have very little margin. As long as you aren't walking around the house it should be ok.
But it really depends on the coverage in your area.
NB: the numbers are dBm and negative i.e. a -90dBm signal has a hundred times more power than a -110dBm signal:
10^((-90dBm-(-110dBm))/10) = 100

aza314 said:
At -110dBm you have very little margin. As long as you aren't walking around the house it should be ok.
But it really depends on the coverage in your area.
NB: the numbers are dBm and negative i.e. a -90dBm signal has a hundred times more power than a -110dBm signal:
10^((-90dBm-(-110dBm))/10) = 100
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Click to collapse
nice, comparing to my old HTC Tattoo and test simcard I got from carrier, Its around 15-20 dBm better signal for Tattoo...
Im gonna go for warranty I guess

Bump. Like to hear how it compares with other phones on the T-Mobile USA network.
Thanks in advance.

I was just going to create a new thread on this topic until I found this. I would have to say the reception on the one s is considerably worse than other tmobile phones. Today I traveled to an area with generally poor reception and my wife's blackberry bold 9900 had 1 bar of 4g while my one s had an "x" for not signal at all.
When I used my galaxy s2 in the same exact area i used to get at least 2 bars of 4g. It actually worries me that i get zero reception while our other phones were still on 4g, not even edge.
Can this be fixed with a radio software fix or is this a hardware issue? Im pretty pissed because I want to like this phone so much.
What are the experiences of others?

On tmo us, I'd have to say that my signal is the same as it was on my g2x. I'm either in an area with awesome signal (work), or an area with practically no signal (my 100 year old house).
I wouldn't call either situation dramatically different than the last few phones I've had.

Mike,
On one hand, I did some testing with a galaxy s2 and found ours to be comparable usually, but on the other, there are signal drops issues and the days switching so there still is something odd here.
I also hope to have it fixed by a radio update than a hardware one...
I also like this phone much except for its network issues.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

Well, HTC wanted my phone back in for investigation. Duly sent it back and it was pretty much turned round within the day. All they have done is load the latest software version which in truth if I'd not packaged it up on Monday could have done myself. I believe Three UK released the update on Monday anyway?
Network connection seems to be slightly better but not by a great deal. I'm not sure what I expected from HTC. If it's hardware there seems to be little knowledge of a problem with them and firmware/software they'll only have the latest versions and hope for the best. I'll just have to see how it goes for the time being. I always have the option to sell it and look for something else.
Not right impressed with HTC's packaging back of phone. I stupidly wrapped it in bubble wrap and put it in a box to dispatch. They simply found a box and chucked it in it so it was free to rattle about all the way home. As a result it has picked up a chip of the coating on it's top edge - unless it was done on the work bench. Certainly wasn't like that when it went as use a Case-Mate Tough cover. Not overly upset about that but should I mention this to HTC? Seems a bit of a poor do

I finally get my HTC One S TODAY! As soon as I do, I will do a comparison. I work for T-Mobile (until my call center closes), so I have a bunch of phones to compare with and test against.

I don't have another (working) phone to compare, but my circumstances make that moot anyway. I have the international One S on AT&T, and since the phone lacks the UMTS 1900 I expected to get lower than usual signal compared to my Desire (A8182, RIP), but hoped that most areas have been upgraded to 850 by now.
Anyway, at work (inside concrete block building with metal structure roof) I am getting between -107 and -88db, (with 10 asu?) depending on where in the building I am. In a larger city I usually get between -30 to -18db, But I do not live or work in a large city.
Even so, so far battery life is way over expectations. currently on 53 hours on a single charge, with 23% battery remaining.

I always get 3/4 bars like my Amaze.

mmceorange said:
I don't have another (working) phone to compare, but my circumstances make that moot anyway. I have the international One S on AT&T, and since the phone lacks the UMTS 1900 I expected to get lower than usual signal compared to my Desire (A8182, RIP), but hoped that most areas have been upgraded to 850 by now.
Anyway, at work (inside concrete block building with metal structure roof) I am getting between -107 and -88db, (with 10 asu?) depending on where in the building I am. In a larger city I usually get between -30 to -18db, But I do not live or work in a large city.
Even so, so far battery life is way over expectations. currently on 53 hours on a single charge, with 23% battery remaining.
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In another thread the box of the tmobile version says it has the 1900 UMTS band. You may be better of with an unlocked tmobile version.

Just tried at a TmoUS store. My HD2 had about -63dB, HOS on display had only -75~-79dB. Disappointed.

motionUS said:
In another thread the box of the tmobile version says it has the 1900 UMTS band. You may be better of with an unlocked tmobile version.
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I am sure you're right, but I like the look and feel of the "MAO" much much more than the gray/blue. If T-mobile (or better yet, Telus) gets the black version I will likely switch.

jjmai said:
Just tried at a TmoUS store. My HD2 had about -63dB, HOS on display had only -75~-79dB. Disappointed.
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That means absolutely nothing. You don't even know if they are connecting to the same cell site.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

How much can different phones affect signal strength?

So we've been testing a Verizon and T Mobile phone (currently have Sprint) as Sprint has been pretty poor in our area as of late. The T Mobile phone is a Galaxy Blaze, and with it we get amazing 4G signal in the street outside our house. However, we can move literally 3 feet closer to the house, and the signal will drop to absolutely nothing. Inside the house it just frequently switches between very low 4G and very low Edge signal. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Is there any chance that a different phone (we want Nexus 4's) would have stronger reception and not have this problem, or is our house pretty much screwed?

Different internal radios will be different, yes.
However, I get absolutely no signal in my house with my T-Mobile S3. I don't find this to be a problem since T-Mobile has native calling over WIFI. Whole house is covered by strong WIFI signal and the call quality has been pretty great when used that way. I don't know if you can get WIFI calling onto the Nexus 4, I would guess probably not but who knows (maybe someone has found a way) - I'd have to research that.
I don't know how well a signal repeater would work, but it seems like it could since you could place it outside the home where it would have access to a great signal and repeat it inside.
If your Sprint phone can roam on Verizon, I'd question how much of a difference it would make to switch to Verizon itself. I have had both and the signal in my home was basically the same - the Sprint phone was connected to the same Verizon towers the Verizon phone was. I'm sure there might be some technical reasons there would be differences at some point (radios, how roaming is dictated), but I never noticed them in practical use.
Depends on the plans you're looking at and where you're willing to compromise.

For whatever reason, roaming doesn't seem to fix the problem on Sprint here. Verizon gets great signal, but 4 days in the 2gb plan is clearly not going to work. This pretty much leaves T-Mobile our only choice. T-Mobile also seems to just get better and faster service everywhere we go, so it would still be better than Sprint, as we're used to not having service at home anyway. It would just be unfortunate to have to continue like that.

cellular signal strength

Has anyone else in this forum come across problems with signal strength? There is a thread in the Moto forum where this has been discussed in greater detail. The general consensus seems to be that the Z4 shows a signal about 10 or more dB weaker than other phones, such as the Z2 force. I can confirm this from my own experience and I'm posting here in hopes that a developer might have an idea for a solution, assuming the problem is not simply a bad antenna design, but a matter of control settings for the radio. It is extremely annoying to be at a remote location and have someone with a Z2 sitting next to you being able to watch videos online, while you cannot get any connection with the Z4. Both phones are with the same carrier (T-mobile), but the signal strength issues have also been reported on the Verizon network, so it does not appear to be carrier related, but rather a phone issue.
Looking forward to any response.

I have the same issue. Signal strength is awful. I feel like I have 3G or no signal on a regular basis. All in places where 4G wasnt an issue before. Streaming music cuts out randomly on roads I've been driving for years.

Yes I have experienced this as well, unfortunately this i believe is the result of getting a mid-range SOC. From what I am seeing here the Z2 uses an 8 series SOC, which is a flagship SOC and the chip itself is better radio modulation for stronger signal strength. The mid-rang 6 series in the Z4 dose not have as good modulation and there for less powerful signal strength compared to the 8 series chips. Our only hope is to cross our fingers for a firmware update to improve this a little bit, other wise we are stuck with what we have.
At least that is what I am reading when I look at this chart here > https://www.qualcomm.com/products/mobile-processors

I do not believe that the quality of the received signal depends in any significant way on whether the Z4 uses a flagship, or a mid-range SOC. The data throughput will be better on the flagship chip (at least in theory, depending on real-life available bandwidth), but the sending/receiving part of the radio should perform in the same ballpark, as far as the signal quality is concerned. Otherwise, the usability of all mid-range phones with that chip set would be affected (and budget phones would probably be useless).
I have done some extensive testing, at different times of the day, different weather conditions, different locations. I have tested both signal strength , and data speed, both downstream, and upstream.
In a nutshell, at a distance of about 3500 feet from the tower I'm logged into, I consistently get weak LTE signals, between -105dB and -110dB best case, but wildly fluctuating, to the point that the phone can barely hang on to the connection. At exactly the same conditions, I get good 3G HSPA+ connections at -87db to -89dB signal strength, and fairly stable. Although LTE should be considerably faster, the downstream and upstream speeds I get with HSPA+ are in the same range, or sometimes even slightly better, which comes as no surprise, as the phone struggles to keep the LTE connection.
As to the reason for this behavior, I still suspect that the antenna design has to do with the poor reception. I will try to narrow this down further, if I can.
Long story short, I still hope that there is a way to program the radio differently, such that it works with a higher gain (making up for the antenna?), better maintaining LTE connections. For the time being, I will continue to switch between LTE and 3G, depending on location. That way, I can at least maintain a connection. However, I do not consider that a solution, just a crutch.

I've had to go back to the Z3 for better cell reception.

I love my Moto Z4 (XT1980-3 amz), but I don't think the coverage or strength is the best - I feel like I get no coverage more often than my previous phones, a Google Pixel and a LG G4 (H815-TW).
Really the only times I have problems with reception, is when I am on a train - going through a cutaway, entering the city loop, or is absolutely packed (as well as half the trip on country trains). These are slightly more common since I have been on the Moto Z4, (Doesn't happen as often now I am with Telstra though, but never had Telstra on my Pixel or G4).
Coverage in Melbourne with the Moto Z4 is generally great, and same with around towns in West Gippsland (Country Areas), which you would expect as I am not with Vodafone.
I am now on Telstra, but until last week was on Optus - in Melbourne, Australia

Choosing/blacklisting cell towers

I’m not sure this is the place to ask or if someone who knows the board better can move this.
I’m using cell phones as rural internet because there’s nothing here other than signing a 2-year contract and using satellite internet, and there’s a fiber-optic project supposedly under a year away.
I recently got moved (Straight Talk) from AT&T towers to T-Mobile. Uptime is around 30%, and after observing and trying to use for a week or so I figured out: Some towers work, some don’t. I can see a signal strength in “about phone” around -115 dbm when there’s no internet, that’s more like -92 when it works. I can fairly reliably get on a working tower for a couple minutes by:
Go into Airplane Mode (Android 5.02) for a minute, turning the radio off, then back on. Turn the wifi hotspot back on. On the computer drop and reestablish the connections to the phone’s AP (ifdown, wait, ifup), ping something to test. Slightly cumbersome and it switches back fairly soon. Sometimes minutes, sometimes hours. How busy the phone system is may affect this.
This particular phone is rooted so I could edit some text files if I knew which. I don’t know if the weak signal tower doesn’t work just because of the weak signal or if it’s located someplace without internet. If I could choose a preferred tower, or blacklist the bad one, or set the minimum acceptable signal to like -100 dbm, those would all work. There are probably apps for this. Or maybe it’s control the phone companies don’t want you to have.

ab1jx said:
I’m not sure this is the place to ask or if someone who knows the board better can move this.
I’m using cell phones as rural internet because there’s nothing here other than signing a 2-year contract and using satellite internet, and there’s a fiber-optic project supposedly under a year away.
I recently got moved (Straight Talk) from AT&T towers to T-Mobile. Uptime is around 30%, and after observing and trying to use for a week or so I figured out: Some towers work, some don’t. I can see a signal strength in “about phone” around -115 dbm when there’s no internet, that’s more like -92 when it works. I can fairly reliably get on a working tower for a couple minutes by:
Go into Airplane Mode for a minute, turning the radio off, then back on. Turn the wifi hotspot back on. On the computer drop and reestablish the connections to the phone’s AP (ifdown, wait, ifup), ping something to test. Slightly cumbersome and it switches back fairly soon. Sometimes minutes, sometimes hours. How busy the phone system is may affect this.
This particular phone is rooted so I could edit some text files if I knew which. I don’t know if the weak signal tower doesn’t work just because of the weak signal or if it’s located someplace without internet. If I could choose a preferred tower, or blacklist the bad one, or set the minimum acceptable signal to like -100 dbm, those would all work. There are probably apps for this. Or maybe it’s control the phone companies don’t want you to have.
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It may be possible to exclude certain towers, but for all intents and purposes, it is not possible to include/select/lock-in specific towers. Here is why, if the tools and methods to do so were readily available, then, inevitably more people would use those tools and methods. The more people were to use those tools/methods, the more unstable the whole network would become because the system would not be able to shift the load between towers to equalize/stabilize the network as a whole.
This is because the system works by balancing load, sometimes a signal can be weaker than another but, at the same time, also be faster than other. Stronger signal does not always equal faster speeds.
The concept would be similar to having more than one router/wifi signal at home, then, having everyone in the house and any/all neighbors that are in range, all connected to the same signal/router. The signal they are all connected to would be slow and unstable, the system must have the ability to "bounce" everyone around between all of the routers in order to keep performance at optimum levels "across the board". If everyone is "locked" to the one signal/router, the system can't manage itself, which leads to degradation.
Poor signal in rural areas can be expected, there isn't much you can do about it. The towers are positioned to provide coverage to as many customers as possible from their location. Also, some of the issue in rural areas is a "line of sight" thing. The lay of the land can be a hindrance to signal.
I also live in a rural area of a rural town. I get crappy signal when using cellular network, more down time than up time. I deal with having a decent(but still slow) signal for 1-2 minutes and then when the phone's system runs the next wifi/cellular data re-scan to search for better signal, everything stalls as if I'm getting no signal and it doesn't resume until it either keeps the connection it already has or it just drops out completely for 5-8 minutes until the next time the re-scan can find a signal to connect to. Then the cycle starts over with decent signal for 1-2 minutes or so, until the next re-scan, anyway. I have to turn of mobile data when at home because the virtually continuous re-scanning drains the battery and the device runs warmer than it should normally.
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OK, thanks. Line of sight - I'm at 1600 Feet elevation, people driving by stop to use the cell service before they go back into the next valley.
I've been with Straight Talk since 2015, originally using AT&T towers, I think we used 13 GB of data last month. AT&T worked very well, I'd say faster than satellite internet. Verizon is also an option.
A weak signal isn't the same weakness for everyone, some people will actually be closer to it. And the population density isn't very high around here. Lat 42.65, lon -72.83. I pay about $60/month for "unlimited data", some fraction of that must end up going to T-Mobile. If the county weren't going to be getting fiber optic networking soon I'd expect the money might go into building out cell systems to handle the load. There seems to be no scaling back and limiting everyone to some number of KB/sec, with that number decreasing as more people use it. My data's either in service or it isn't. -115 dbm is weak by everything I've seen.
I also have a Huawei E3372 modem I can put my SIM into. I bought a pair of small gain external antennas with 3 meter cords. I'd need to get those up high and run something like a Raspberry Pi as a router.

ab1jx said:
OK, thanks. Line of sight - I'm at 1600 Feet elevation, people driving by stop to use the cell service before they go back into the next valley.
I've been with Straight Talk since 2015, originally using AT&T towers, I think we used 13 GB of data last month. AT&T worked very well, I'd say faster than satellite internet. Verizon is also an option.
A weak signal isn't the same weakness for everyone, some people will actually be closer to it. And the population density isn't very high around here. Lat 42.65, lon -72.83. I pay about $60/month for "unlimited data", some fraction of that must end up going to T-Mobile. If the county weren't going to be getting fiber optic networking soon I'd expect the money might go into building out cell systems to handle the load. There seems to be no scaling back and limiting everyone to some number of KB/sec, with that number decreasing as more people use it. My data's either in service or it isn't. -115 dbm is weak by everything I've seen.
I also have a Huawei E3372 modem I can put my SIM into. I bought a pair of small gain external antennas with 3 meter cords. I'd need to get those up high and run something like a Raspberry Pi as a router.
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I am on Straight Talk also, but I'm on the Verizon side. In my opinion, the Verizon side is little better and has somewhat better coverage than the T-Mobile, Sprint or AT&T side. Other than when at home, I get perfect signal strength, the only reason I get crappy signal is I'm one of the ones dealing with line of sight. I'm several miles outside of town in a low-lying area between two hills.
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I should try Verizon. They're the default for landlines here but I got the impression they only did contract phones. I have 3 working Motorola XT1527s plus my modem, not interested in some contract phone. This T-mobile experience is my first other than AT&T. There's a website where you can download APK files to sideload, that runs through T-Mobile last I knew.
I think I've figured out how to talk to a human at Straight Talk. Call during east coast business hours, and in the 2nd menu mention data issues. The night/weekend people never seem to accomplish anything. They're eager to help bit they're most effective at the bulk of common issues like billing or changing a SIM. Took me over 10 phone calls last time to get anywhere.