An app to tell me when I'm entering the no-signal-zone

[micky]

Intoduction will interest a few. Question is at the 3 stars ***.

Through the great advice of the people here I learned how to use Google
maps on the phone to notify a friend of my constant location when hiking
in the woods alone. So far always near Baltimore where there is cell
coverage almost everywhere (except maybe one valley which is full of
other hikers).

But now I'm on vacation and when I looked at the coverage map 5 years
ago in the very rural areas ther was only coverage on the main highways,
and I guess a few miles on either side.

How does that affect my system? GPS is everywhere, so I'll always know
where on the map I am, but if there is no cellular data coverage where I
am, will my friend, anyone, be able to tell where I am? GPS doesn't
work in both directions, right? So I guess google maps is sending
periodic, frequent signals to the cell phone of whomever I have chosen
with what, latitude and longitude, and that requires a data signal.
Right? So I'm stuck and I'd better not break my leg (as I have done
once before and I spent the night in a ditch and had to hop out by
myself the next morning because no one would have found me there, so my
concern is not just theoretical.) Right?

***
If I'm right and I'm stuck, is there an easy way to know when I've gone
out of range of the cellular signal. I can't be looking at the phone
all the time. I want it to beep or buzz or shock me when I'm at the
maybe-zone or entering the no-signal-zone.

What search terms should I use for to find an app that will do that?
Are there apps that do that? Any recommendations?

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 20.02.22 um 22:06 schrieb micky:

You always surprise me how it is possible to have a new issues with the
mobile phone every day.

There are bars at the top of the phone screen that indicate no signal.

And GPS is a one way signal and completely independent of the mobile
networks.

--
De gustibus non est disputandum

[micky]

In comp.mobile.android, on Mon, 21 Feb 2022 00:34:12 +0100, Joerg Lorenz

It surprises me too!

>There are bars at the top of the phone screen that indicate no signal.

I know but when I'm hiking along, I don't want to keep looking at the
phone when I should be looking at the scenery, both for the pleasue and
so I don't fall down and break my neck. When I finally look I might be
a mile from any signal. I might not know whether to go forward in a
loop trail or to go back.

If there is nothing like what I want, that's one thing, but I bet there
is.

>And GPS is a one way signal and completely independent of the mobile
>networks.

That's what I figured. So it won't help.

[badgolferman]

Joerg Lorenz <hugy...@gmx.ch> wrote:

>> Are there apps that do that? Any recommendations?
>
> You always surprise me how it is possible to have a new issues with the
> mobile phone every day.

You always surprise me how it is possible you did not understand what he
asked for.

> There are bars at the top of the phone screen that indicate no signal.

He knows that.
He asked for a beep.

How did you miss that?

[Andy Burnelli]

Joerg Lorenz wrote:

> There are bars at the top of the phone screen that indicate no signal.

We already covered this app in the past, where I have mine set to
a. Run in background
b. Show notifications
c. Auto start on device restart
d. Record statistics about network and traffic
<https://i.postimg.cc/BQMVhnGt/5gvslte01.jpg>

I don't see anything about a beep, but I separately covered how to get
notifications to beep in a recent thread by testing these free apps.
<https://i.postimg.cc/CLMxGL8g/billingerror01.jpg>

Look them up so that I don't have to constantly repeat what I teach.
Once you find the apps in those screenshots, set them up to beep.

When you set it up the way you like, report back the exact steps and I'll
test it for myself and for the others as I have moved on to the next test.

For example, I've been testing a dozen notification apps for a couple of
days but I haven't written the how-to-make-notifications-custom-beep
tutorial yet so that is still work in progress. (these things take weeks)

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 21.02.22 um 03:52 schrieb badgolferman:

What is your solution you wisenheimer?
What will micky do when he leaves the covered area on his track.
Committing suicide?

[Frank Slootweg]

micky <NONONO...@fmguy.com> wrote:
[...]

> ***
> If I'm right and I'm stuck, is there an easy way to know when I've gone
> out of range of the cellular signal. I can't be looking at the phone
> all the time. I want it to beep or buzz or shock me when I'm at the
> maybe-zone or entering the no-signal-zone.
>
> What search terms should I use for to find an app that will do that?
> Are there apps that do that? Any recommendations?

A long time ago, I used such an app, but it's no longer in Google
Play.

The app was:

'No Signal Alert'
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartandroidapps.missedcall>

While you probably can still get this app from another APK-website, it
probably is not up-to-date with current mobile technology, i.e. 4G/5G,
so it's better to search for an alternative.

I just did a search on 'No Signal Alert' and that gave many results
and probably includes some candidates.

<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=No%20Signal%20Alert&c=apps>

At the time (before finding my app) I searched on 'phone signal'.

A candidate from that original search which still *is* in Google Play:

'GSM Signal Monitor & SIM Card Info'
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=paskov.biz.noservice>

This app is the top-hit for a current search on 'No Signal Alert', so
it probably is worth your while to have a look at this one.

Good luck.

[Andy Burnelli]

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> 'GSM Signal Monitor & SIM Card Info'
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=paskov.biz.noservice>
>
> This app is the top-hit for a current search on 'No Signal Alert', so
> it probably is worth your while to have a look at this one.

I believe Frank is correct that the search terms are ambiguous, and hence it
will be more of a trial and error testing process than anything else.

Running the same searches Frank ran, but on Aurora with decent filters I
only found free, ad free, highly rated often downloaded apps.

For example, this app clearly shows signal, but it doesn't beep.
*Simple System Monitor* by Darshan Parajuli, 100K+, rated 4.1, gsf free
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dp.sysmonitor.app>
It has a network graph which is very interesting, where if it drops to
zero, then "maybe" that tells you there is no network, but I installed
it and looked for a "beep" but couldn't find any settings for that.

The next free gsf-free (etc) app on the list was this to test for micky.
*NetMonster* by Michal Mroèek, 100K+, rated 4.4 (normal free stuff)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.mroczis.netmonster>
When I ran this, it was more nicely tuned to the cellular network.
Interestingly there's an audible alert for a "new cell" and you had
a bunch of visual & vibration options to set, and you could even pick
a popup and any desired sound when the phone finds a "new" cell.

The next app on the list was really weirdly written as to what it does.
*Signal Recovery*, by HDM Dev Team, 100K+, 4.3, (all free)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.snowlife01.android.singnalrecovery>
"When you move from the location that is out of range or with weak radio
waves to the location within the range or with strong radio waves,
the radio waves are not recovered immediately. Usually cell-phones
receive radio waves every few minutes, therefore it is possible that
you stay out-of-range for a while even though you are in the location
with radio waves. (e.x.) You cannot send e-mails as still being
out-of-range, even though you have come out of a tunnel. You are
currently at such a location in a building where the radio waves are
weak and you want to find a location where the radio waves are strong,
but you cannot even wait for a few minutes to retrieve the radio waves
each time you move a little. With this app, you can send e-mails as
soon as you come out of the tunnel, or it is easier to find the best
location for radio waves at home or in a building, as it retrieves
radio waves at the location immediately."

That almost sounded like a joke, so caveat emptor. I will test it
when I get a chance but it's confusingly written, is it not?

In summary, there were plenty of "signal strength" testers, but it's hard to
find one that will provide a sound when you _lose_ the signal altogether.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ilabapps.signalstrength>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmail.androideve.signalstrengthchecker>

Since I'm kind hearted and always purposefully helpful, I'll keep looking.

[Andy Burnelli]

Joerg Lorenz wrote:

> What is your solution you wisenheimer?
> What will micky do when he leaves the covered area on his track.
> Committing suicide?

I found an app, after extensive searching, for micky that "may" work.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Njw312j1/lostsignal01.jpg>

*Cellular Connection Monitor* by Pavel Borzenkov (it has a 0 rating though)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simple.axanor.simpleconnectivitymonitor>

I only ask that the OP take a look and let us know if this serves the need.
"Did it ever happen to You that You were expecting an important phone call,
and after several hours just noticed that Your phone is out of service?

Well, not anymore. This small and simple app will notify You as soon as
Your device looses signal or unregisters from cellular network.

Features:
- Notification on signal loss - sound and vibration
- Channel selection for notification sound - use Alarm Channel to hear the
notification even in silent mode
- Notification's buttons are hidden if there are more notifications, to save
space. Use zoom gesture on notification to show buttons
- Log is saved in a text file in ASCII format - You can copy it to Your PC,
attach to message, etc.
- Optionally restart app on device start
- Restart after update if was running before update"

This actually took a decent amount of effort to find it, so I hope the OP
lets us know if this serves the need, but I haven't tested it fully yet.

The reviews, by the way, are all over the map so don't blame me.
I'm just trying to help the OP by being purposefully helpful.

[Andy Burnelli]

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> *Cellular Connection Monitor* by Pavel Borzenkov

> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simple.axanor.simpleconnectivitymonitor>

With those keywords, in Aurora, searching for free ad free apps, I find more
now, such as this one which says it provides an aural output when you lose
the Internet (notice that's _different_ from losing a cellular tower).
*Internet Connectivity Tester*, by Paul Rowe
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.boxhead.android.internettest>

"More often than not our devices become disconnected from the Internet
resulting in missed communications. Our devices may say they are
connected to the Internet when in reality they are not.

This is a simple tester application that periodically reads data
from a list of URLs. If there is a failure (or success) in reading
these URLs the application will notify you through aural notifications.
You can then act appropriately depending on these notifications.

Features:
- Notification when data can (and/or cannot) be read.
- Configurable testing frequency. "Do not disturb" feature.
- Ability to test wifi networks, cellular networks or both.
- Option to notify when completely disconnected from the Internet.

Again I stress this seems to be _different_ from the prior one:
a. One test the _cellular_ connection (reputedly)
b. While the other tests the _internet_ connection (reputedly)

Whether or not either is what the OP is asking for is unknown as yet.

[sms]

On 2/20/2022 1:06 PM, micky wrote:

<snip>

> What search terms should I use for to find an app that will do that?
> Are there apps that do that? Any recommendations?

I don't see any such app that still exists. There appears to have been
such an app in the past, see
<https://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/get-notification-alert-when-no-signal-is-found-in-android-phone/>.

I see something for the iPhone:
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/signal-alert/id377264979>.

[Andy Burnelli]

sms wrote:

> I don't see any such app that still exists.

I reported in this thread that such apps _do_ very much appear to exist.
1. *One beeps/vibrates/notifies when there is no cellular signal*
2. The other for Internet connectivity (whether cellular or wi-fi)

[Andy Burnelli]

Tutorial:
Create/edit/set custom notification sounds such as "You've Got K-9 Mail"
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/uQMbZIlhR1g>

[micky]

In comp.mobile.android, on Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:54:27 -0500, Andy

Burnelli <sp...@nospam.com> wrote:

>Joerg Lorenz wrote:
>
>> What is your solution you wisenheimer?
>> What will micky do when he leaves the covered area on his track.
>> Committing suicide?
>
>I found an app, after extensive searching, for micky that "may" work.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/Njw312j1/lostsignal01.jpg>
>
> *Cellular Connection Monitor* by Pavel Borzenkov (it has a 0 rating though)
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simple.axanor.simpleconnectivitymonitor>
>
>I only ask that the OP take a look and let us know if this serves the need.
> "Did it ever happen to You that You were expecting an important phone call,
> and after several hours just noticed that Your phone is out of service?
>
> Well, not anymore. This small and simple app will notify You as soon as
> Your device looses signal or unregisters from cellular network.

Well it sounds like just what i want. Thanks. I am a little trouble by
the 0 rating however. It has to be pretty bad to rate a zero.

Wait, at the second link it says 74 ratings averaging a 4. That's pretty
good.

>Features:
>- Notification on signal loss - sound and vibration
>- Channel selection for notification sound - use Alarm Channel to hear the
>notification even in silent mode

I never heard of sound channels before. The settings list Notification
Channel and Alarms Channel.

>- Notification's buttons are hidden if there are more notifications, to save
>space. Use zoom gesture on notification to show buttons
>- Log is saved in a text file in ASCII format - You can copy it to Your PC,
>attach to message, etc.
>- Optionally restart app on device start
>- Restart after update if was running before update"
>
>This actually took a decent amount of effort to find it, so I hope the OP
>lets us know if this serves the need, but I haven't tested it fully yet.

Yes, of course I'll get back to you. I've installed it and set the
settings, though the buttons to change the alart tone didn't do
anythuing. So I have the default whatever that is. Help also didn't do
anytying, but other than that it seemedd normal.

I can't actually test it for a week or two, or more, until I go
someplace that has no cellular signal. That's in the really rural areas
and away from the roads so I have to make a real effort to go there,
either hiking more than cellular range from a parking lot probably
fairly near the road, or driving on a a dirt road, which is iiuc a
violation of the rental contract. I've done it once, but I went only 5
MPH. I've been doing a lot of city walking, up to 6 miles a day. For
me that'a lot. And I need another week or two more walking/training at
least to be readiy to hike 10 miles.

I only go into so much detail so you'll know why I can't report how well
it owrks for at least two weeks, maybe 2 months.

But it's installed now and set to run on phone start, so if by some
fluke I'm in a lead-lined (or -bounded) room, I should get an alert.
Thanks

[sms]

On 2/24/2022 1:53 PM, micky wrote:

<snip>

> I can't actually test it for a week or two, or more,

<snip>

Sure you can. Wrap your phone completely in aluminum foil. The alert
should sound. If it doesn't sound, try calling the phone while it's
wrapped in foil, it should not ring. Be sure Wi-Fi is off so you know
that the notification is due to a loss of cell signal (if you have Wi-Fi
calling enabled).

[Andy Burnelli]

micky wrote:

> Well it sounds like just what i want. Thanks. I am a little trouble by
> the 0 rating however. It has to be pretty bad to rate a zero.

First off, I have been waiting patiently for micky to act like an adult,
which I commend him for doing so just now, so I won't treat micky in this
thread as he treated me in the a.h.r newsgroup when I asked him politely to
stop endlessly spamming a home-repair group with political nonsense.

To my request, micky told me he had every right to spam any newsgroup he
wanted to spam, and he _continued_ to spam to death that newsgroup, to the
point that I personally got Paolo to put a.h.r in his aioe banlist, and I
got a few others banned from their accounts, but I couldn't get micky banned
from his account.

Since Usenet is water under the bridge, I'll ignore that moving forward as I
gave up on trying to clean the a.h.r group of cesspools like micky was.

> Wait, at the second link it says 74 ratings averaging a 4. That's pretty
> good.

I have been testing all the apps I list (I _always_ test them but not always
before I post them as I was trying to solve your problem set for you).

I don't personally like the apps I suggested, and I don't normally suggest
any app with a rating less than 4+ with at least 100K+ downloads, but this
isn't a common app.

I tested all of them and what happened unfortunately is I was being notified
to death where I eventually resorted to writing a tutorial as a result on
how to set custom notifications that speak words like:
"*App so-and-so claims you just lost your cellular signal*"

To purposefully help others, I wrote up a tutorial for all to benefit.
*Tutorial: Create/edit/set custom notification sounds such as "You've Got K-9 Mail"*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/uQMbZIlhR1g>

>>Features:
>>- Notification on signal loss - sound and vibration
>>- Channel selection for notification sound - use Alarm Channel to hear the
>>notification even in silent mode
>
> I never heard of sound channels before. The settings list Notification
> Channel and Alarms Channel.

I saw that. I left it at "notification" channel since I also don't have any
familiarity with an "alarms channel" in so much as how it differs.

If others out there who know more than micky and I do can explain what the
significance of having that choice in a "you lost cellular signal" audible
is, please let us both know as I randomly left it at the Notification
default (as I recall).

>>- Notification's buttons are hidden if there are more notifications, to save
>>space. Use zoom gesture on notification to show buttons
>>- Log is saved in a text file in ASCII format - You can copy it to Your PC,
>>attach to message, etc.
>>- Optionally restart app on device start
>>- Restart after update if was running before update"
>>
>>This actually took a decent amount of effort to find it, so I hope the OP
>>lets us know if this serves the need, but I haven't tested it fully yet.
>
> Yes, of course I'll get back to you.

Thank you for saying that as I had to prompt you where I've noticed you
never responded to my help on a variety of your recent threads (e.g., the
mirror link), and you're not even the worst offender of them all.

I've noticed the scumbags are always the ones who don't thank people for
helping them, especially as it appears I put more effort into helping them
than they take in asking the questions without even reading the help that I
often spend hours preparing for them. Carlos is one of those scumbags, as
his thread on deleting app icons proves, so I was very much aware that you
hadn't responded until I had to ask you directly to respond to my help.

BTW, I repeat that I likely spent _more_ time looking for the app than
anyone else did, and certainly more than you did, and that's why I was
looking for a response from you that you saw the help I had provided.

People like Carlos are truly unprepossessing as they don't even do that.

> I've installed it and set the
> settings, though the buttons to change the alart tone didn't do
> anythuing. So I have the default whatever that is. Help also didn't do
> anytying, but other than that it seemedd normal.

I would suggest a custom audio notification as there are so many beeps
coming out of a typical Android phone that I don't know how anyone makes any
sense of them.

I repeat it drove me nuts testing these apps for you because some beep on
_both_ the connection and disconnection (but they won't let you set a
_different_ beep for each!) and others kept a heartbeat of beeping every few
(settable) minutes, which is fine, I guess, if I wanted to hear my phone's
connection heartbeat, but I was looking for what _you_ want, which I agree
with you is a nice thing to have.

You want a notification when the cell signal is lost.
That's reasonable.

Bear in mind I did not look at "payware" or "adware" so there may be a
zillion apps that I did not find that do what you want, but let's first
exhaust the free ad free apps first, I agree.

> I can't actually test it for a week or two, or more, until I go
> someplace that has no cellular signal. That's in the really rural areas
> and away from the roads so I have to make a real effort to go there,
> either hiking more than cellular range from a parking lot probably
> fairly near the road, or driving on a a dirt road, which is iiuc a
> violation of the rental contract. I've done it once, but I went only 5
> MPH. I've been doing a lot of city walking, up to 6 miles a day. For
> me that'a lot. And I need another week or two more walking/training at
> least to be readiy to hike 10 miles.

I understand.
I had the same problem.
I tested the apps by turning on airplane mode, but that's a crutch.

I don't really like the apps, but they're still worth testing first.

> I only go into so much detail so you'll know why I can't report how well
> it owrks for at least two weeks, maybe 2 months.

Thank you for the courtesy of letting me know this a I always look at all
the threads where I help people to see if they benefited from the help.

As I said, I don't have high expectations for these apps, but they're the
only free ad free ones I could find for you so far.

> But it's installed now and set to run on phone start, so if by some
> fluke I'm in a lead-lined (or -bounded) room, I should get an alert.
> Thanks

You are welcome.
I help others out of the goodness of my heart.
And I keep up on the threads for a while (until they go stale, of course).

I repeat I don't particularly like these apps all that much, but they're all
I could find, and I noticed that others couldn't find much more so that's
what we have at this time.

In the future, I'll update this thread if I find something better.

[sms]

On 2/24/2022 1:53 PM, micky wrote:

<snip>

> I can't actually test it for a week or two, or more,

I installed the app and tested it by putting my phone in a Faraday cage
of foil and sheet metal. Works fine.

One issue with the app is that there must be absolutely no signal for it
to signal an alert. A weak signal, too weak to make or receive a call
but still detectable, will not cause it to trigger.

It's also not clear what happens when the phone has a signal but the
signal is for coverage is on a network that it can't roam on. Since even
a phone that can't roam onto an available network can still make 911
calls on that network, I would think that the no signal alert would not
trigger if you're in an area where your provider has no coverage but
that other providers do. If you're on Verizon (not a Verizon MVNO or
Visible, or Verizon-owned prepaid) this is not much of an issue since
it's unlikely that you'd be in an area where AT&T or T-Mobile have
native or roaming coverage but that Verizon doesn't, but if you're on
T-Mobile, which lacks coverage in many areas where AT&T and Verizon have
coverage, it would be a big issue. It would also be an issue on AT&T,
though less than on T-Mobile.

What would be a nice app is one that looked at the radio signal strength
and triggered at a certain level, rather than at absolutely no signal.

This reminds me of the old issue with Sprint, and roaming. Sprint would
roam on Verizon in areas where there was no Sprint signal, but there had
to be absolutely no Sprint signal for the phone to roam. Often there was
a very weak Sprint signal, too weak to make or receive a call, but the
phone would not roam. There was an Android app, at the time, that would
force Verizon roaming by turning off the phone's 1900 MHz radio (app
didn't work in Florida in parts of Texas where Verizon was 1900 MHz
only). There were also ways to modify the PRL (Preferred Roaming List)
to force Verizon roaming.

[Andy Burnelli]

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> Well it sounds like just what i want. Thanks. I am a little trouble by
> the 0 rating however. It has to be pretty bad to rate a zero.

> Wait, at the second link it says 74 ratings averaging a 4. That's pretty
> good.

Thank you for downloading from the Google client as I got it from the Aurora
client so I wasn't aware of the difference in ratings between the clients.

I strive to learn how to be powerful on Android, so I opened a thread on it:
*Anyone have an explanation for the discrepancy in GP client app ratings?*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/yGVrK5nwzZc>

>> I never heard of sound channels before. The settings list Notification
>> Channel and Alarms Channel.
>
> I saw that. I left it at "notification" channel since I also don't have any
> familiarity with an "alarms channel" in so much as how it differs.

I'm embarrassed that I just belatedly realized the app claimed a reason!
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simple.axanor.simpleconnectivitymonitor>
"*Use Alarm Channel to hear the notification even in silent mode*"

In case there are more reason to learn about, I opened this thread to learn:
*What's different about the Alarm Channel vs the Notification Channel*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/MervAOhIE4E>
--
Ignorance can be cured; it's low IQ stupidity that can't possibly be cured.

[Andy Burnelli]

micky wrote:

> Yes, of course I'll get back to you. I've installed it and set the
> settings, though the buttons to change the alart tone didn't do
> anythuing. So I have the default whatever that is. Help also didn't do
> anytying, but other than that it seemedd normal.

Thank you again for testing the apps and for reporting back your findings.
I understand what you claim above as I "think" it happened to me also.

I tested more than a half-dozen apps so I'm not sure if what I saw was in
the app that you tested, but I do agree that at one point the buttons in one
of the half dozen lost-cell-signal notification apps I tested did the same.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Njw312j1/lostsignal01.jpg> Testing alert apps

So I believe you that the set-sound buttons might not work... at first.

But they _do_ work because I have mine set to a custom sound just fine.
<https://i.postimg.cc/8zRjbV12/lostsignal03.jpg> Custom verbal alert

I thank you for testing the app and for writing up what you found as I
learned from your results (e.g., I didn't download from the Google client so
you saw different ratings than I saw) - which I appreciate that you did.
<https://i.postimg.cc/x1Y5Tv6L/lostsignal02.jpg> Play Store client ratings
--
Usenet is a team sport where each person adds unique value in their own way.