| field test - specific tower ID Hey guys. I have a question concerning field test information - Is there a way, say, certain numbers in the field test, to identify which tower it is I am uniquely using at a given moment?
I have been doing field tests and trying to find which tower I am using. First I will take one at home, and then drive up to the nearest towers and try it again, but it seems all of my site ID numbers never change! So I can't tell which tower I'm using except for the frequency channels and and PN offsets, etc. which is a good guess at best (since many of my towers are the same with those also).
What do you guys think? I was using the VZ access manager software but I'm sure the sprint software's field test info is basically the same, and I know the "experts" tend to hang out on this forum so I thought I would post the question here. Thank you!!!!! |
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| You could possibly just call VZ and they will give you the nearest tower locations sometimes even providing the exact address. They may also tell you what tower you are currently connected to if they will pull it up in real time. Do you have reason to suspect that you have multiple towers within your area? You can try »www.antennasearch.com/ and see if there is a virizon tower(s) within your area. Are you using just your modem or do you have an external antenna from which you are trying to access. If you are using your modem then your modem will try to access the tower with the best signal strength. A pointed external antenna such a parabolic or yagi antenna will allow you to aim and therefore direct towards a specific tower. What kind of speeds do you get from the mutliple towers you are using at home and under the tower and what kind of setup are you using at home?
Doc |
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| Hey! I didn't know they would give addresses. That is good information. I have done the antennasearch thing and a couple of other websites (man, that 4 mile radius with antennasearch is just painstakingly not enough) and I am connecting using a directional antenna (yagi in this case; most of my towers are 850mhz, some of the at&t towers around here (and a couple of sprints of course) use the 1900). I've got it narrowed down to a couple of towers in a general direction, and the speeds I'm getting at the base of the towers are near the same to those I get at home.
I guess I don't really HAVE to have the tower information to find a fast tower and point my antenna, because even driving to the base of a fast tower I can get the frequency and location information there, plug it into my GPS and use that to help me point an antenna at home if need be.
I am just more curious than anything I think, as to which towers I was already connecting to, and thought surely there would be some kind of unique identifying information in the field test screen.
Plus, if I was trying to find a specific tower without doing the GPS thing I could throw up the antenna and start turning it until I found a signal from the tower I wanted, and then narrow in on that signal without messing with the GPS. |
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| "Plus, if I was trying to find a specific tower without doing the GPS thing I could throw up the antenna and start turning it until I found a signal from the tower I wanted, and then narrow in on that signal without messing with the GPS."
I think it would just be easier to have the tower information, verified by you driving to those locations if you want. Then just using simple compass degrees/longitude/latitude to point the yagi. Like I said, depending on who you get at VZ they may give you your status in real time connection.
For the 4 mile radius problem, I generally will use a church or some other address from google maps in order to get within the area. Of course it helps if you have a general idea already as to where the towers might be in this case scenario.
"speeds I'm getting at the base of the towers are near the same to those I get at home."
You really can't ask for better than that. What kind of speeds and signal are you getting on your current tower? |
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| I may do that with a compass, or GPS if I have to. I'm still interested in finding out a way to read the specific tower information from a field test, as it seems the site ID isn't it. Somehow google does it with google mobile maps (when no GPS information is available, it puts your radius centered over the cell tower you are using), so it has to be available somewhere if somebody knows how to get it? Thanks guys.
Good idea on the 4 mile problem. It is just so much work! I emailed to ask them about their radius limit to see if it could be (or considered in the future) to be expanded for more rural areas but I haven't heard back yet.
My closest Verizon towers are extremely slow. About .5Mbps down on a good day (or a good time). I have since gone with AT&T that has thrown up some towers recently (or actually rented space on existing SBA towers...another good place to get tower information with long. and lat.'s is map.sbasite.com for the ones they own). There is a list of tower companies in this thread: »www.tomshardware.com/forum/12572···ocations And another good website is here: »www.cellreception.com/towers/ (note that not all towers show up in all places)
This really isn't about tuning my connection so much as figuring how how to do this. I have a small tech business and once I get proficient with what towers do what in the area, and where they are, I will likely install systems for others. I'd like to be armed with as much information as possible, which mapping is definitely a way to zero in on a tower but I'd love to be able to know definitively which tower I am connected to without having to map. |
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| reply to diggs
Here is some information I found for you. » www.opencellid.org/» www.smartmobiledevice.co.uk/» forums.wirelessadvisor.com/cell-···est.html» www.tuaw.com/2010/08/03/hacksuga···-signal/Basically what it sums up is that they are trying to uitlize the cell Id in order to get geographical location (latitude/longitude) so like you stated for positioning antenna or on clients. It seems the link under wirelessadvisor is interesting. Of course the program may not be readily available depending on your phone. I do not feel like the field test mode for the modem is very comprehensive could be just my modem but some of these other applications on iphone/blackberry as stated above seem like a better interface. Maybe someone else could chime in with more information on the particular matter. doc |
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| Wow Doc, that is awesome! You didn't have to go to that much trouble, thanks. That will be some good reading. It seems like this is a lot harder than I though it would be. I thought maybe I was overlooking something - I'm going to look at the different field tests I have available on a device or two carefully and see if I can find a number that changes. If I can't, oh well. Looks like from what you found other people have run into this too and it isn't that simple. Thanks Doc! |
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| reply to dr_anthony
Some of the cell id things, opencellid, navizon, and that field test app for the iphone! That looks awesome. I didn't know there were such things. |
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| Don't know if it will really help, but here is what I did recently in my area:
Drive to a known tower. Use the ##DEBUG mode of your connection manager to identify the Service Pilot number in use by each of the three directional antennas. (Ideally, you want to be a couple hundred yards out from the tower in three directions 120 degrees apart.)
If you can do this for all of the towers in your area, you will have a way of knowing which one you are connected to at any given time. And if you find a service pilot number whose location you don't know, then there is a tower out there you don't know about. |
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| Service pilot number, those are the PN's right? That's pretty smart. And about the distance and angles from the towers also. I haven't looked really closely at that because I figured several might be the same, but maybe not! That will be something I will try next time I check it out. Thanks! |
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