[Q] The "Cell-ID Related" Thread - Galaxy S 4 Mini Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello.
I'm looking for an app or any other solution, so that I could view and log Cell IDs of 2G/3G/LTE cells – as many as possible, that means even neighboring cells, even of a foreign networks.
As far as I know, to these days, for Samsung phones there are only:
1. apps, that can log serving Cell IDs, but not neighbor Cell IDs
2. apps, that don't show Cell IDs when in a foreign network
3. apps, that are functioning oddly, eg. they show neighboring Cell IDs, but not serving Cell IDs (and vice versa), or don't show some values (like PCI/PSC).
Above mentioned applies to all apps like G-Mon, G-NetTrack, Netmonster, Parizene Netmonitor. The amount of info provided by these apps is very dependent on Android version and on that whether the ROM is stock or AOSP, but in most cases is insufficient.
4. rather unusable and plain adb radio logs, that are logging serving Cell IDs, but no neighbor Cell IDs on stock ROMs – and vice versa on AOSP ROMs (wtf).
If someone could fix most of these „problems“ and make the phone show and log everything possible Cell ID related, like on good old Symbian Nokias, it would be really great.
I know there are heavy times with API implementation on Samsung phones (some cellinfo functions are completely missing etc.), but on the other side I'm surprised nobody is actually interested in investigating it and making it work better (or at least it looks like that).

B. U. M. P.

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Importing Phone Contacts to Desire

Hi
Just discovered this excellent forum.
What a difference 4 years makes, have gone from a 2006 Sony Erickson W810 walkman phone to this and its just a little bit different shall we say.
I'm still playing with it. trying to get it set up etc. Have tried to bluetooth across my phone contacts from the Sony (before the number transfer takes place on 6 April) and message comes up saying that the Desire is awaiting 'acceptance of the transfer). Symbols have appeared on the top of the Desire.
Where do i go to accept the contact list transfer?
Any other 'top tips' woulod be greatly appreciated.
Can you also watch 'live' TV i.e. Sky sports through the Sky player.
I read on UK hot deals forum how to speed up the 3G, this seems to be working.
Other probably stupid questions:
On a PC you would set up a firewall, virus protection for the internet etc. Do you not have to do this when accessing the net via a phone? What happens with span, hackers etc if you accidentially access 'dodgy sites' shall we say.
Have to say loading apps looks a little complicated for the novice, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.
I think I can address a couple of issues, just not the BT issue.
Live TV?
Well, I don't think there's an app for live TV (at least here in the UK). However a site which broadcasts live TV (probably requiring Flash) may work. Though Flash is known not to work great yet so don't get your hopes up. Would love to be wrong on this point though. I saw a friend in Sweden watch live TV on his iPhone with a station specific app, over wifi. Was kinda cool!
No idea what you're talking about with speeding up 3G. Maybe you can share...
Virus/firewall protection?
Ah yes, that old nut. I'm guessing that they break down into 2 groups, one's that scan constantly and one's that scan occasionally. The 1st offers highest protection but requires highest resources and thus few people will use it on mobile devices. The 2nd is more possible and is available.
But then you have the issue of risk. Many argue, in short, there's not enough risk (even though malicious software does exist). There's not enough devices to make it worthwhile (the same arguements of why Macs don't have so many viruses) and even if there are millions of devices running the same software, the proportion of people that have stuff that is worth stealing puts the value even lower.
I'm sure when mobile devices are more integrated, more powerful (though running Google Earth on my desktop a few years back was hard enough, so to see it on my Desire...!) and when they hold/access more valuable data (i.e. more mobile banking and passwords on mobile devices), then the risk will no doubt also increase.
TV Catchup is the place for live tv. like its been said not sure of with the flash as my desire is on charge and i havent tried it yet.
if your old phone can sync contacts to outlook then do that and save the contacts as a csv file.
then go to google mail and import the .csv file
Thats the theory that worked for me. Your best bet is to google search the rest

[Q] How to modify radio CDMA parameters?

I have been having a lot of trouble with my Epic's radio behavior since the EC05 radio update. It seems that the normal Samsung "radio stupidity" that I have seen in several of their devices is worse than ever now. The best radio for call performance I have used so far was DG27's (though not data). Essentially, what it is as far as I can determine by using utilities to monitor radio operation, is poor CDMA handoff configuration.
What it does is, for no good reason, switch from a cell site providing a good signal level, to one providing a bad signal level for no reason. Either this, or it holds onto a weakening set of towers while moving, until it goes out of their range and the call drops. The phone will then display the no service message for a few seconds, and then will pick up perfect signal from a different set of towers. I can even watch this happen by driving down a given road while on a call, with another phone in my cup holder. The Epic will start to break up and show very low signal levels, while the other is doing perfectly. Additionally, the direction you drive down this (2 lane) road also has an effect.
I have fixed this before on non smartphones by altering some of the CDMA radio values. T_Add, T_Drop, T_Comp, T_Tdrop. My solution is to increase the threshold on T_Comp a little bit, and drop the T_Tdrop also a little bit. The problem is that I cannot figure how to do this on this phone. Very little radio information seems to be available, and the utilities I have do not work completely on this model.
This issue with how they program their radios seems to be a common Samsung problem, to a much greater degree than with other manufacturers. Sanyo, Palm, and Motorola seem to do a much better job with this, even in cases where they use the same radio chipsets.
I am feeling like a lot of people will find this matter interesting and/or of benefit to resolve.
The only problem I see and I'm sure someone will correct me is the RIL is closed source. Also android was designed around gsm and not cdma. This makes the manufacture and carrier to design a "wrapper" to get the RIL to work on cdma. Now if samsung would release the source.code I'm sure making changes wouldn't be so hard
On a side note I know there's a dialer code ( I forget what it is ) that you can go and play with some settings. One of them being able to switch to cdma instead of cdma/gsm that it is by default.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Maybe try ##3282# or *#147852#
My data does the same thing on ec05. I'll have perfect signal and then all of a sudden nothing for like a minute and then it comes back. Least im not the only one
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
musclehead84 said:
My data does the same thing on ec05. I'll have perfect signal and then all of a sudden nothing for like a minute and then it comes back. Least im not the only one
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It isn't the data driving me nuts. Data sessions pick up again quickly. It's the dropped calls. Either way, it is partially a symptom of the same problem. The phone is promoting weak towers, sometimes in favor of strong ones, to the active set - which it should not be.
MysteryEmotionz said:
The only problem I see and I'm sure someone will correct me is the RIL is closed source. Also android was designed around gsm and not cdma. This makes the manufacture and carrier to design a "wrapper" to get the RIL to work on cdma. Now if samsung would release the source.code I'm sure making changes wouldn't be so hard
On a side note I know there's a dialer code ( I forget what it is ) that you can go and play with some settings. One of them being able to switch to cdma instead of cdma/gsm that it is by default.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No and yes. CDMA support was a hack in versions prior to 2.0. Android 2.0 (and later) has inbuilt features intended to support CDMA networks. Some of the companies are still using some legacy code, and some of nomenclature used within the system parameters still reflects GSM however.
This, however, is irrelevant in my belief. I do not think that these parameters are a function of RIL, as RIL is simply the intermediary between the "computer" and "telephone" components in a smartphone. I believe that these issues exist purely, or nearly so, within the "telephone" section of the device.
running_the_dream said:
Maybe try ##3282# or *#147852#
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is this ##147852#? I cannot find it in any information I have, and it has no effect on the phone itself.
Not ###47852#. *#147852#. I don't know the name of the dialer. I call it the master meenu. It basically let's you access various front end user settings on the phone. I have used it to reset my 4g radio. Anyway, you may try the testing/phone information menu to change the cdma setting. I'm totally taking a shot in the dark on that, but it does seem to allow you to alter the radio preference.
running_the_dream said:
Not ###47852#. *#147852#. I don't know the name of the dialer. I call it the master meenu. It basically let's you access various front end user settings on the phone. I have used it to reset my 4g radio. Anyway, you may try the testing/phone information menu to change the cdma setting. I'm totally taking a shot in the dark on that, but it does seem to allow you to alter the radio preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, totally misread that. Nothing seems to apply however, as I do not think it is a software parameter on the phone end. The WiMAX radio is software controlled, through a driver in the operating system. The combination of CDMA radio and baseband processor are more or less an independent device which essentially lives on its own, with its own configuration. It is told what to do through the RIL, which is a piece of software that allows the computer aspect of the phone to talk to the radio, passing it instructions which it then acts upon according to its own programming and configuration. The RIL also allows the radio to communicate its status to the rest of the system.
I am really thinking that this will not be a setting that can be modified from within the phone itself, but will require some external involvement, similar to QPST. On this chipset, however, QPST does not appear to be able to manage these parameters.
If you find out any more info please pass it along. Thank you.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
Ah that's really interesting. Wish I could help.

[Q] TILT 2 Privacy Policy Has DIRECT Parallels w/ the IPHONE location tracking policy

So its all over the news that Iphones, and Ipads are tracking the coordinates of their users, along with timestamps 24/7 UNENCRYPTED. I was researching this topic and found an article clearly suggesting that the same thing is going on with the Rhodium/Tilt 2, this was hinted at by this site showing HTC Sense's "Privacy" policy, which clearly states that HTC has the right to collect, store, transmit, and share a users location data. So can anyone do some filesystem digging and figure out to what extent were being subjected to this on our phones? On the Iphone you cant turn off the automatic tracking at all, unless you jailbreak the phone. Im wondering if the same is the case for our phones?, also wondering where this location history file could be stored, how much is stored, how much its accessed/transmitted, and most importantly whether its encrypted or not? And anything else that may be interesting. We all have a right to privacy, having an unencypted history of everywhere you've been should be disturbing to anyone, because well, first of all its unencrypted. Second of all, this feels like the gov't's solution to not having to put a chip in each of our necks like a dog, one by one. You want your girlfriend snooping and seeing on a map that you were at the nudie bar? This can cause all kinds of problems in peoples lives. Access to a map like with the Iphones location history is a stalkers dream. Unencryptedly disturbing. So lets figure out how data is used, stored, and gathered on our phones, and what to do about it, based on what the Iphone does I'm not confident right now that turning off the location setting will stop this. Below is HTC Sense's "Privacy" Policy.
From HTC’s Sense Privacy Statement:
"To provide location-based services, HTC and its partners may collect, use, transmit, process, store and share precise location data about your device. Location information may be transmitted even when you are not using a third party location-sharing service. This information may include but is not limited to your device ID and name, device type and real-time geographic location of your device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by HTC and its partners to provide and improve location-based products and services. You may also be able to submit to HTC location data such as “Points of Interest,” voice notes to share with friends, and other information. HTC may also supplement the information it collects with information obtained from other companies. HTC may share geographic location data with application providers when you opt in to use their location-based services. By enabling or using the location-based services or features (such as displaying your phone location, posting Footprints, etc.) and applications that depend on location-based information, you agree and consent to HTC collecting, using, transmitting, processing, storing and sharing information related to your account and the devices registered to your account for purposes of providing such location-based services or features to you. You may withdraw this consent by turning off the “HTC Locate” function in the location settings (as applicable) on your device. Some location-based services that HTC offers, such as the “HTC Locate” feature and remote lock or remote erase functions, require your Personal Information for the feature to work. If you use third party services that use or provide location data as part of the Service, you are subject to and should review the third party’s terms and privacy policy regarding the third party’s use of location data. Location data provided by the Service is not intended to be relied upon. HTC and its partners do not guarantee the availability, accuracy, completeness, reliability, or timeliness of location data or any other data displayed by the Service. The “HTC Locate” feature is intended for your personal use only to locate, send a message to, or remote lock or remote erase your own device. The location-based services are not intended or suitable for use as an emergency locator system."
Turn GPS off, problem solved?
Would using a non HTC/Sense rom solve the problem, if it exists?
I use android, no problems on my end
rhod 110
ryannathans said:
I use android, no problems on my end
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha!
Good one.
(Android tracks your location too)
toadlife said:
Hahaha!
Good one.
(Android tracks your location too)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, not as serious as everyone has made the iphone issue though
With the Iphone, turning off the GPS doesnt disable this, the phone will resort to cell tower triangulation instead, which is something even an old school Nokia can achieve, nevermind our phones. The only way to turn the tracking off w/ the Iphone is to jailbreak it, or take the battery out. Ill bet anything that our phones are the same way. Its so cute having the weather right on your phone displaying the exact town you're in and temperature, but i'm sure after reading that "privacy" policy that thats all recorded somewhere on the phone, coordinates etc. And even if you can somehow be sure the location feature is turned off and not recording, theres got to be a history file still left behind, which needs to get tossed.

[Q] android most annoying bugs

hi,
well i'm against that policy, not able to post at developer threads under 10 posts, else I would have question that directly,...
I've tried several roms and ended at slim beam, first to 4.2.1 which states at stable but also tested the new one 4.2.2 build 2.5
actually i'm fine with the roms, also slim bean but I do have a 3 major issues with all of them which may be related to S3 and asop/cm:
1.) problem using my apple iphone earbuds (yes I'm a iphone user too)
sometimes after mute the microphone, it won't work after de-mute, keep on muted !
microphone not working after re-connecting earbud on a running call, sometimes no audio on earbuds too, sometimes audio even do not work for the whole device -> reboot etc,...
I've found several possible solutions, non of them has worked.
why android doesn't work with that kind of TRRS earbuds, are they incompatible from hardware point of view, do I need special ones which will work on S3.
2.) problem with direct dialing from calendar, not respecting RFC2806
i really need this very often to join conference calls, sometimes the host creates an conf call and including a number with pin as the location.
well almost every mobile os recognizes this and i'm able to direct dial in on selecting the string: iphone, win, even blackberry, but not android.
i know there might be additional apps which can handle this, but it should be implemented into core apps as this is a well known standard and specified in a RFC.
3.) not recognize AP with highest signal strengh within same SSID
it seems that android devices are not able to seamless switch over to different AP within a wifi network with same SSID.
if moving out of range of AP1 and into range of AP2, android devices for some reason are not able to switch to AP2 (with higher signal strengh), therefore it states at AP1 without beeing able to establish any connectivity (because AP1 out of range). as workaround users needs to disable/enable wifi ;-(
this is also something where I have to find a workaround in my current project (creating huge wifi network over europe), because market share of androids is that high and it still have this serious annoying bug.
thanks,
nean
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1. Headphones > Most likely thats just an issue with roms that are version > 4.1.2. Not all the bugs have been worked out, see if you can replicate it with another pair of headphones.
2. I suspect the same thing is going on here, or you would need some more powerful calendar sort of app.
3. This isnt because it doesnt recognize, its because Android is still connected to the last network and says to itself "no need to scan again, I'm already connected". This has to do with how the OS is implemented, not because its a bug with Android. I'm also fairly sure that most other devices do the same thing
CNexus said:
1. Headphones > Most likely thats just an issue with roms that are version > 4.1.2. Not all the bugs have been worked out, see if you can replicate it with another pair of headphones.
2. I suspect the same thing is going on here, or you would need some more powerful calendar sort of app.
3. This isnt because it doesnt recognize, its because Android is still connected to the last network and says to itself "no need to scan again, I'm already connected". This has to do with how the OS is implemented, not because its a bug with Android. I'm also fairly sure that most other devices do the same thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply.
ad 1,2,3.) hmmm, is this working on googles stock os and eg on nexus?
ad 3.) this is only related to android devices, as tested in the lab with several other handheld devices with different kind of os'es. ios, blackberry, windows mobile, etc, all work and do seamless switchover except android. well the last known network and the new one is actually the same wifi network which is specified due SSID, so if android's rescan logic is related to that kind of info it may be wise to consider acces point strength as well, just like all the other os'ses,....
nean24 said:
ad 3.) this is only related to android devices, as tested in the lab with several other handheld devices with different kind of os'es. ios, blackberry, windows mobile, etc, all work and do seamless switchover except android. well the last known network and the new one is actually the same wifi network which is specified due SSID, so if android's rescan logic is related to that kind of info it may be wise to consider acces point strength as well, just like all the other os'ses,....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you test using stock os and not a AOSP rom like stated in the OP? You can't blame the OS for a issue if it is moded in any shape or form. Try using straight up stock TW and see if it works. AOSP and CM are not 100% designed to work on this phone flawlessly.
tazfanatic said:
Did you test using stock os and not a AOSP rom like stated in the OP? You can't blame the OS for a issue if it is moded in any shape or form. Try using straight up stock TW and see if it works. AOSP and CM are not 100% designed to work on this phone flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats correct, but it doesn't work on galaxy stock os either, that's why I've tried custom roms just to find out if its related to samsung stock rom or if its a general android behavior. well the outcome was that it works on aosp/cm a bit "better" (shorter timeout) but not seamless.
my intention is not about to blame anyone, just like to find out where I can adress this issue, or do I need to get in contact with google?
rgrds

Model iterations & WIFI Problem

I hope to benefit from someone's WIFI expertise.
Bought for my wife a T-Mobile branded SGS3 replacing her older SGS4G ["S 4G"] model for more power, memory, etc etc. I noticed from the beginning that, compared to all my other handsets, tablets, PC/laptops, this one was troubled on WIFI connections. Found lots of posts around the web, read up on fixes. Gathered the tools together, erased the ROM completely, started from scratch with stock T-Mo ROM, rooted and debloated it. Made some of the standard changes to WIFI options: stopped scanning, disabled power-saving, reset the home/office WIFI to channel 11 , "N" band only. Things improved in that stable, controlled setting.
but 'on the road' with multiple hotspots, hotels, offices, T-mo data service, etc it is still very difficult to use. It will drop otherwise good WIFI connections, and hang in the midst of operating on WIFI. To give a simple example: go somewhere new, find WIFI, connect to WIFI, check EMAIL, Facebook, Messages - find 10 or so messages unread unresponded, try to download/read/respond and the device will get maybe one or two, then simply stop responding. Wait a minute or two and you get the "WIFI Connected" notice again. repeat, repeat...
What I wonder: how many variants of hardware have there been for T-mo, USA, GS3? Is there a model version I can get that avoids this issue?
cognus said:
I hope to benefit from someone's WIFI expertise.
Bought for my wife a T-Mobile branded SGS3 replacing her older SGS4G ["S 4G"] model for more power, memory, etc etc. I noticed from the beginning that, compared to all my other handsets, tablets, PC/laptops, this one was troubled on WIFI connections. Found lots of posts around the web, read up on fixes. Gathered the tools together, erased the ROM completely, started from scratch with stock T-Mo ROM, rooted and debloated it. Made some of the standard changes to WIFI options: stopped scanning, disabled power-saving, reset the home/office WIFI to channel 11 , "N" band only. Things improved in that stable, controlled setting.
but 'on the road' with multiple hotspots, hotels, offices, T-mo data service, etc it is still very difficult to use. It will drop otherwise good WIFI connections, and hang in the midst of operating on WIFI. To give a simple example: go somewhere new, find WIFI, connect to WIFI, check EMAIL, Facebook, Messages - find 10 or so messages unread unresponded, try to download/read/respond and the device will get maybe one or two, then simply stop responding. Wait a minute or two and you get the "WIFI Connected" notice again. repeat, repeat...
What I wonder: how many variants of hardware have there been for T-mo, USA, GS3? Is there a model version I can get that avoids this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the phone running full MD5 firmware?
Hardware issue if no restoring was done between devices.
Aerowinder said:
Is the phone running full MD5 firmware?
Hardware issue if no restoring was done between devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, in fact I made utterly sure because somebody else asked the same question, same issue. still very flaky. no odd modems or other custom 'wares, just rooted and a few unnecessary apps uninstalled. how many models of this are there, were they made in different locales?
I assume the SoC is the same, but what about antennae, internal connections, etc? any evil interactions between radios? we don't use Bluetooth, so that one stays off all the time assuming the softswitch works
cognus said:
yes, in fact I made utterly sure because somebody else asked the same question, same issue. still very flaky. no odd modems or other custom 'wares, just rooted and a few unnecessary apps uninstalled. how many models of this are there, were they made in different locales?
I assume the SoC is the same, but what about antennae, internal connections, etc? any evil interactions between radios? we don't use Bluetooth, so that one stays off all the time assuming the softswitch works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as far as how many there are? A LOT! LOL! I'd imagine a few hundred thousand US variants, and for the T999 and its variants, close to a hundred thousand maybe? I really don't know, and those numbers did not come from anywhere but my head!
But as far as manufacturing, I am pretty sure they are all built in the same place. But, this does not mean that all of the components are from one location. In fact, from batch to batch of the same part, it can vary by where it was made, but also by what company made it. This is unlikely when dealing with the critcal parts such as the SoC, but the WiFi chip is a Broadcom chip. I have no idea if there are multiple manufacturing locations for it, but it is possible. The memory in all devices often varies greatly by the manufacturer.
Anyway, I do agree with Aerowinder. It is most likely hardware related. I'd look into a Warranty or Insurance exchange.

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