How I brought my cellular signal from -100dBm to -53dBm at home

[Stijn De Jong]

Just in case you want this information, I was able to bring my cellular
signal from -100 dBm to -50dBm at home using these three free devices from
the carrier:
http://i.cubeupload.com/sSOph0.jpg

I used my Android phone to check exactly which of the three devices worked
best to give me the best cellular signal strength:
http://i.cubeupload.com/HIz95n.jpg

At the same time, I set up five different access points within the house to
get the best coverage for WiFi (in case I wanted to use WiFi calling):
http://i.cubeupload.com/5QyGiz.jpg

The three devices are two different types, where this one is a pure
cellular signal booster (the other ties to your router):
http://i.cubeupload.com/NhwUFR.jpg

To see exactly when each of the three micro towers was the one I was
connecting to, I set up this IMEI catcher which pinged me visually and with
a beep whenever it saw a new cell tower not in the whitelist:
http://i.cubeupload.com/JUrONL.jpg

In the end, I was able to figure out which device of these two types gave
the best signal strength overall for my needs inside my house (and in my
yard).
http://i.cubeupload.com/RJ3cs6.jpg

Feel free to ask questions if you want to do the same for your home because
I boosted both my WiFi signal strength (using transmitters that dwarf the
power of a typical home WiFi router) and my cellular signal strength
without any investment in money.
http://i.cubeupload.com/EZvpx3.jpg

[micky]

In sci.electronics.repair, on Tue, 28 Feb 2017 05:15:08 +0000 (UTC),

Stijn De Jong <stijnd...@nlnet.nl> wrote:

>Just in case you want this information, I was able to bring my cellular
>signal from -100 dBm to -50dBm at home using these three free devices from
>the carrier:
>http://i.cubeupload.com/sSOph0.jpg

These seem to be for LTE.

>I used my Android phone to check exactly which of the three devices worked
>best to give me the best cellular signal strength:
>http://i.cubeupload.com/HIz95n.jpg

I like this meter. Does it only measure HSPA? If it measures others
too, can I install it on my phone? What is it called.

>At the same time, I set up five different access points within the house to
>get the best coverage for WiFi (in case I wanted to use WiFi calling):
>http://i.cubeupload.com/5QyGiz.jpg
>
>The three devices are two different types, where this one is a pure
>cellular signal booster (the other ties to your router):
>http://i.cubeupload.com/NhwUFR.jpg

They also seem to be for LTE??

[Stijn De Jong]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:40:32 -0500, micky wrote:

>>Just in case you want this information, I was able to bring my cellular
>>signal from -100 dBm to -50dBm at home using these three free devices from
>>the carrier:
>>http://i.cubeupload.com/sSOph0.jpg
>
> These seem to be for LTE.

When I complained to T-Mobile that my cell signal was around -105 dBm, they
sent me the signal booster, which recently died in all the power outages
we've been having, so they sent me a second signal booster and what people
seem to call a femtocell that connects to the router.

They all seem to be labeled "LTE":
https://u.cubeupload.com/sSOph0.jpg

>>I used my Android phone to check exactly which of the three devices worked
>>best to give me the best cellular signal strength:
>>http://i.cubeupload.com/HIz95n.jpg
>
> I like this meter. Does it only measure HSPA? If it measures others
> too, can I install it on my phone? What is it called.

I think it measures everything found in the USA.
You can refer to this thread for the tools used.
From: Stijn De Jong <stijnd...@nlnet.nl>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android,misc.phone.mobile.iphone
Subject: Which app do you use to scan/debug GSM/CDMA cellular tower
signal strength?
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 01:52:24 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <o830kn$bvh$1...@gioia.aioe.org>

If you put that message id into this site, it should pop up:
http://al.howardknight.net/

You can find the entire thread here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.home.repair

Which reports this URL which contains scores of screenshots and
recommendations for both Android and iOS devices.

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/PC0ePLqaD5w/HoH7HiLsBwAJ

The goal is for each user to improve upon the tribal knowledge of all.

[Stijn De Jong]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2017 20:38:14 +0000 (UTC), Stijn De Jong wrote:

> You can find the entire thread here:
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.home.repair

My mistake.

That was the wrong search url as it was for alt.home.repair:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.home.repair

This is the right url for Android:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.mobile.android

While we're at it, this is the right url for iPad:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.mobile.ipad

And this is the right url for iphones:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/misc.phone.mobile.iphone

You'll find probably a hundred very detailed screenshots in that thread.
For example, here are the dramatic results of just one experiment!

http://i.cubeupload.com/jqV5cR.jpg

Without the tools, it's hard to tell exactly which device is doing what:
http://i.cubeupload.com/RLxLv5.jpg

[Stijn De Jong]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:40:32 -0500, micky wrote:

>>The three devices are two different types, where this one is a pure
>>cellular signal booster (the other ties to your router):
>>http://i.cubeupload.com/NhwUFR.jpg
>
> They also seem to be for LTE??

I'm ignorant of what acronym should I be looking for?

I must confess that I'm not sure what the significance of your question
about LTE is, but mostly because I'm pretty ignorant of the various
acronyms (EDGE, HSPE, LTE, etc.) even though I see them on my phone at
times.

All I know is I asked T-Mobile for better cellular signal (I don't really
do data on the phone except on WiFi). They gave me these three devices.
https://u.cubeupload.com/sSOph0.jpg

They're all labeled "LTE" but I don't really know what to make of that
since they all seem to give me better signal strength in different ways.
http://i.cubeupload.com/RU3rGl.jpg

What I find most useful is that I went from -100dBm to -50dBm, which is a
jump of about half a million times stronger signal.
http://i.cubeupload.com/RUsTGy.jpg

Note that -50dBm is about as good as is humanly possible even if you were
standing right in front of a cellular tower.

If someone can give me a quick rundown on what acronyms are important in
this endeavor, I'd appreciate it.

Remember, I only asked for them to increase my "cellular signal".
I didn't ask for LTE (and I don't use cellular data to any extent).

This survey, for example, at my house, says UMTS (whatever that means):
http://i.cubeupload.com/3y52PN.jpg

Yet, this survey, again in the same location, says HSPA (whatever that's
telling me):
http://i.cubeupload.com/tLTJFw.jpg

So does this survey in the same location:
http://i.cubeupload.com/9MCM5S.jpg

And this one too:
http://i.cubeupload.com/WA3BwE.jpg

Yet, this survey, same place, just says GSM/CDMA:
http://i.cubeupload.com/U1aqb7.jpg

I admit I really don't understand what these acrynyms are trying to tell me
since my own surveys shown above show an alphabet soup of acronyms at
various times in my tests.

What should I be concluding from all these acrynyms at my one location?

[micky]

In sci.electronics.repair, on Tue, 28 Feb 2017 20:38:14 +0000 (UTC),

Stijn De Jong <stijnd...@nlnet.nl> wrote:

Great.

>
>If you put that message id into this site, it should pop up:
> http://al.howardknight.net/

I just searched on the subject in my list of posts (another advantage of
off-line readers.) Then I looked for the day an date.

>
>You can find the entire thread here:
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.home.repair
>
>Which reports this URL which contains scores of screenshots and
>recommendations for both Android and iOS devices.
>
>https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/PC0ePLqaD5w/HoH7HiLsBwAJ

That sounds interesting too.

But from the post you referred me to, I found 4 that sound quite nice.
However I'm like a duck, and I like most whatever I have imprinted on,
so I'm startign with the one I looked at in this thread.

>The goal is for each user to improve upon the tribal knowledge of all.

I'll try to do my share.

I've only installed network Cell Info Lite and it has more information
that I can absorb. Phone and wifi. And it knows all about both sim
acrds etc.

And it has an FAQ *and* an online manual. Most apps I see don' thave
either. i have to guess at how they work.

On map, it has a red line that I t hought would point toward the tower,
but it points** towards a strictly residential area. There are two cell
towers right next to the supermarket I go to about 4 blocks away, I
figured one was mine, but it is ignoring both of them. Sometime I will
take the phone over there and see what it says.

**It was a long red line but the line got shorter and it added the image
of a tower, and there might actually be one there now. There wasn't a
few years ago It would only be 7 blocks from the one I know about.
Is't that closer than need be? At any rate, I'll go over there and
see. It's an apartment complex that might want extra money for
permitting a tower.

Thanks. P.s, this was so much fun I may not wait til tomorrow to get
a second one.

[pf...@aol.com]

The troll is back, please DON'T FEED THE TROLL.

[Stijn De Jong]

On Wed, 01 Mar 2017 00:48:31 -0500, micky wrote:

> I just searched on the subject in my list of posts (another advantage of
> off-line readers.) Then I looked for the day an date.

That works also.
Especially since it was very recent, so everything is up to date.

> But from the post you referred me to, I found 4 that sound quite nice.
> However I'm like a duck, and I like most whatever I have imprinted on,
> so I'm startign with the one I looked at in this thread.

The cost of freeware is finding a good one.
If I had to recommend a single program, it would be the one you chose.

It reports more information than I understand, but what matters most is the
signal strength coupled with the exact micro or femto tower you're using
(bearing in mind all the neighbors have them also so you wouldn't know
whose you're connecting to if you don't know the unique cell tower cellid.

>>The goal is for each user to improve upon the tribal knowledge of all.
>
> I'll try to do my share.

The main confusion I have, especially since I don't do cellular data at
home, is the functional practical significance of all these acronyms:
EDGE http://i.cubeupload.com/QxYc3v.jpg
HSPA http://i.cubeupload.com/mTTuMA.jpg
HSPA+ http://i.cubeupload.com/RXx4QM.jpg

> I've only installed network Cell Info Lite and it has more information
> that I can absorb. Phone and wifi. And it knows all about both sim
> acrds etc.

I only have one SIM card, so that's nice that it tells you what you need
for both, especially if they use different carriers.

> On map, it has a red line that I t hought would point toward the tower,
> but it points** towards a strictly residential area.

That whole online-database tower-map stuff is crowd-sourced data, which may
or may not be accurate. It's all that the iOS users can do, so, it's
certainly better than absolutely nothing, but if you have an Android phone,
you can obtain the exact cell tower ID, which if you want to know where it
is, and if it's a major tower (not someone's home femtocell like I have),
then it will be on a map somewhere.

You have to be very careful about the open-source tower databases though
because they don't locate the tower - they locate the *average* of all the
cellphones that report that tower to the app developers.

Again, it's all that the iOS people have, but if you have an Android phone,
you have the real tower id (which you can get the location from more
reliably from carrier maps).

> There are two cell
> towers right next to the supermarket I go to about 4 blocks away, I
> figured one was mine, but it is ignoring both of them. Sometime I will
> take the phone over there and see what it says.

Bear in mind from the tower ID, in some cases, you can figure out exactly
which sector antenna you're connected to! They have three sectors, alpha is
north, beta is southeast, and delta is southwest. Each carrier uses a
different system, but it's documented somewhere how to figure out which
sector antenna you're connected to (if it is a sector antenna) just from
the cell tower id.