On Wednesday, 21 September 2022 at 10:26:06 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
> I'm getting some conflicting info re pinning down what cell gives me the
> best mobile BB service.
>
> Eg, Cellmapper doesn't show a cell (that I can see with my eyes) as
> being on 3 near me but the 'Network Cell Info' app on a phone with my
> Smarty SIM is shown as connecting to it? [1]
>
> Also, the connection info as presented on my TP-Link MR600 seems quite
> slow to update, seeming to require a browser refresh on the status page,
> not very good when 'sounding' for the best signal strength with my
> directional antennae?
>
> So can anyone recommend a good 'tool', be it phone app or combo of apps
> or even a 4G router / dongle that can take an external aerial that is
> good for cell deveining please? ;-)
>
> Even a basic 4G router with a single external antenna might be worth
> buying, especially if it's status page is realtime and ideally included
> cell IDs etc?
>
> Cheers, T i m
>
> [1] When it looked like this particular cell supported 3 I put the
> Smarty SIM back in the router and pointed the MiMo rigged LPDA antenna
> at it and fairly quickly got a 4G+ indication on the front of the router
> and in the stats. It didn't seem to be using channel aggregation and the
> speedtest wasn't very good though. ;-(

Network Cell Info Lite is quite good and seems to work out where cells are, however it gets the distance to 5G cells wrong by half.

Not tried the pro' version.

Not all cells operate in all bands (sometimes you can tell from the radiators) and perhaps the three cell you can see operates in one your phone does not support.