The conversation below is what sparked these two related questions:
*How much does unlimited everything typically cost in Europe & in the UK?*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/8fhfuD-NhF8/m/SsEQkLqQAAAJ>

Question 1:
Is it possible to _manually_ switch towers w/o changing your location?

Question 2:
How do they even know that you're hotspotting/tethering to a given tower?

Almost always we find a way around every arbitrarily imposed restriction.

===< here is the conversation that sparked those two questions >===
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote
>> I think Ofcom have now ruled in the UK that data is data so if you're
>> allowed X GB to use on your phone you must legally also be allowed to
>> use any or all of it for tethering.
>
> Nice.
>
> They probably gave things like 50 GB assuming that most people would not
> use them, whereas people that connect a computer or two will use the data.

Just to be clear on how the 5GB/month/tower tethering/hotspotting
limitation works in the USA on a typical post-paid T-Mobile plan...

Here's my understanding based on experience & T-Mobile's explanations
1. The 5GB/month is per tower and that's high-speed tethering/hotspotting
2. If you move to another tower, that 5GB/month/line is still available
3. After that, T-Mobile _never_ shuts data down - but it slows down
4. T-Mobile sends a text at 80% (my grandkids get warned all the time)
5. For a one-time $10 (I believe) you can add another 50GB per month
6. Which, like all T-Mobile plans, you can cancel the next day if you like

What I'd like to know is how they know you're tethering/hotspotting?
Also if it's possible to _manually_ switch towers w/o changing location

Wally J wrote:

> Is it possible to _manually_ switch towers w/o changing your location?

i'd have thought the only factor in your control is to change what
band(s) your phone is using, but since it will chose the fastest when
left to itself, you will most likely be slowing your connection down by
forcing it e.g. from 5G to 4G/3G, and may end up on the same tower anyway.

> Question 2:
> How do they even know that you're hotspotting/tethering to a given tower?

They can "know" you're hotspotting by deep inspection, e.g.if http
headers show "internet explorer" you're probably not using an android
phone, also the TTL fields of packets are clues

> Just to be clear on how the 5GB/month/tower tethering/hotspotting
> limitation works in the USA on a typical post-paid T-Mobile plan...

Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the country
(or when roaming, if appropriate).

On 16/12/2023 15:59, Andy Burns wrote:
> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the country
> (or when roaming, if appropriate).

I imagine that rule is to avoid people using the mobile network for a
high volume fixed connection, for which they should have their own fibre.

On 2023-12-16 16:45, Wally J wrote:
> The conversation below is what sparked these two related questions:
> *How much does unlimited everything typically cost in Europe & in the UK?*
> <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/8fhfuD-NhF8/m/SsEQkLqQAAAJ>
>
> Question 1:
> Is it possible to _manually_ switch towers w/o changing your location?
>
> Question 2:
> How do they even know that you're hotspotting/tethering to a given tower?

Tethering, in the conversation you quote below, doesn't refer to be
using a given tower. Tethering is simply connecting a computer to a
mobile phone, so that the phone provides internet.

We said nothing about choosing the tower, that is nothing we have
control about.

And there is nothing in our contract about they measuring how much we
use a given tower.

However, someone that uses a single tower is possibly tethering, so they
might be using this criteria to find those users easily. It is not a
restriction, just a method to find those users. But not all tethering
users are in that circumstance.

> Almost always we find a way around every arbitrarily imposed restriction.
>
> ===< here is the conversation that sparked those two questions >===
> "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote
> >> I think Ofcom have now ruled in the UK that data is data so if you're
> >> allowed X GB to use on your phone you must legally also be allowed to
> >> use any or all of it for tethering.
> >
> > Nice.
> >
> > They probably gave things like 50 GB assuming that most people would not
> > use them, whereas people that connect a computer or two will use the data.
>
> Just to be clear on how the 5GB/month/tower tethering/hotspotting
> limitation works in the USA on a typical post-paid T-Mobile plan...
>
> Here's my understanding based on experience & T-Mobile's explanations
> 1. The 5GB/month is per tower and that's high-speed tethering/hotspotting
> 2. If you move to another tower, that 5GB/month/line is still available
> 3. After that, T-Mobile _never_ shuts data down - but it slows down
> 4. T-Mobile sends a text at 80% (my grandkids get warned all the time)
> 5. For a one-time $10 (I believe) you can add another 50GB per month
> 6. Which, like all T-Mobile plans, you can cancel the next day if you like
>
> What I'd like to know is how they know you're tethering/hotspotting?
> Also if it's possible to _manually_ switch towers w/o changing location

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 2023-12-16 19:50, David Woolley wrote:
> On 16/12/2023 15:59, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
>> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the
>> country (or when roaming, if appropriate).
>
> I imagine that rule is to avoid people using the mobile network for a
> high volume fixed connection, for which they should have their own fibre.

Why?

I am free to contract anything that is on offering.

There are people that can not contract fibre. There may be no fibre in
the area; the location may be rented, installing fibre prohibited; the
location could be temporary.

In fact, at one location I use a SIM inserted into a router. The company
sells these SIMS specifically for this usage.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

David Woolley wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
>> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the
>> country (or when roaming, if appropriate).
>
> I imagine that rule is to avoid people using the mobile network for a
> high volume fixed connection, for which they should have their own fibre.

For a few weeks while emptying-out my parents house, I lived there,
phone line and broadband had long been cut off and my normal mobile
phone gets rubbish coverage there, so I used a MiFi on a different
network, with an unlimited SIM I used data in the same fashion as I
would at home, and clocked up 200GB usage with no eyelids batted by the
mobile provider.

David Woolley <david@ex.djwhome.demon.invalid> wrote:
> On 16/12/2023 15:59, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
>> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the country
>> (or when roaming, if appropriate).
>
> I imagine that rule is to avoid people using the mobile network for a
> high volume fixed connection, for which they should have their own fibre.

Why? Mobile data is more expensive so the internet provider will be more
than happy to be charging for it. They would rather you didn't go to fibre.

On 2023-12-16 18:50:37 +0000, David Woolley said:
> On 16/12/2023 15:59, Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
>> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the country
>> (or when roaming, if appropriate).
>
> I imagine that rule is to avoid people using the mobile network for a
> high volume fixed connection, for which they should have their own
> fibre.

That may have been the original reason years ago, but it no lnoger makes sense.

Today you can get home internet connections that use the 4G or 5G
mobile network via a SIM-capable router/modem. It's often called
"wireless broadband". I'm using one right now. :-)

The modems connect to the same mobile network towers and use normal
SIMS with their own phone numbers, but they usually can't be used for
normal mobile phone calls or text messaging (other than the provider
sending text messages to you, which is rather ridiculous since most
users do not even know the messages arrive - there's no light on the
modem, no app on the computer, you have to instead log on to the modem
itself via your web broswer).

Here are the "wireless broadband" plans from the mobile network
companies here in New Zealand:

- One NZ (which was formerly Vodafone NZ)
<https://one.nz/broadband/wireless-broadband/>

- Spark (formerly Telecom NZ)
<https://www.spark.co.nz/online/broadband/buy-plan?category=wireless>

- 2Degrees
<https://www.2degrees.nz/broadband/wireless-broadband?discount=yes>

Many other internet providers have similar "wireless broadband" plans,
but they will use one of the mobile networks above anyway.

It gets even sillier. When you're at home, you can of course have your
mobile phone connected to your home network and obtaining it's internet
connection via the modem/router from that over the 4G / 5G mobile
network ... and it costs you less than simply using the phone "mobile
data" (after you have used up the 'free' data allowance most mobile
phone plans come with).

Basically the restrictions and distinction between "mobile data" and
"wireless broadband" simply come down to the provider's greed. - they
just want to charge more for "mobile data" on your mobile phone.
There's zero difference in how it is used or accessed. :-\

In comp.mobile.android, on Sat, 16 Dec 2023 18:50:37 +0000, David
Woolley <david@ex.djwhome.demon.invalid> wrote:

>On 16/12/2023 15:59, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
>> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the country
>> (or when roaming, if appropriate).
>
>I imagine that rule is to avoid people using the mobile network for a
>high volume fixed connection, for which they should have their own fibre.

I live in the US and I"m not aware of a per/tower limitation. I lived
off my phone's hotspot for several days, but even then my usage probably
wasn't enough to go over even a low limit, if there had been one.

Probably mint mobile which uses t-mobile towers.

On 16/12/2023 19:56, Chris wrote:
> Why? Mobile data is more expensive so the internet provider will be more
> than happy to be charging for it. They would rather you didn't go to fibre.
>

This is really a continuation of the thread about "unlimited" use.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>> Just to be clear on how the 5GB/month/tower tethering/hotspotting
>> limitation works in the USA on a typical post-paid T-Mobile plan...
>
> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the country
> (or when roaming, if appropriate).

Per tower limits always are going to be better than per device limits are.

Think about the math when more than one tower in your location ends up
giving you as many five gigabytes as towers your device can connect to.

"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote

> Tethering, in the conversation you quote below, doesn't refer to be
> using a given tower. Tethering is simply connecting a computer to a
> mobile phone, so that the phone provides internet.

Good point.

The _only_ reason I lump hotspotting & tethering is that T-Mobile does.
The limitations for each are combined and therefore treated the same.

Yes that's odd.
But that's my understanding of how T-Mobile USA does things.

To me, the definition of hotspotting is sort of like this:
a. Your phone has access to have cellular data via a tower connection
b. You make your phone an access point
c. Any number of Wi-Fi clients can access that cellular data through it

To me, the definition of tethering might be sort of something like this.
a. Your phone has access to have cellular data via a tower connection
b. You connect your phone by cable to a PC (USB-C to USB-A for example)
c. A single PC can access that cellular data through that wired connection
--
Note that I've hotspotted at times, but I have never tethered.
I do not know if tethering requires anything special on the PC.

Peter wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation
>
> Per tower limits always are going to be better than per device limits are.
>
> Think about the math when more than one tower in your location ends up
> giving you as many five gigabytes as towers your device can connect to.

It would hardly ever benefit me ...

My phone gets 20GB/month allowance and rarely uses half of that which
will be spread across numerous towers while I'm away from home and my
broadband/wifi.

For the last few months I've had a mifi with unlimited data purely
because of one location I visit that has almost zero coverage on my
phone's network, so all that data is a single tower and is over
5GB/month. In fact my phone uses wifi calling over the mifi when I'm
there, so I then get good phone coverage and good access from the laptop.

In comp.mobile.android, on Mon, 18 Dec 2023 04:24:27 +0000, Andy Burns
<usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

>Peter wrote:
>
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation
>>
>> Per tower limits always are going to be better than per device limits are.
>>
>> Think about the math when more than one tower in your location ends up
>> giving you as many five gigabytes as towers your device can connect to.
>
>It would hardly ever benefit me ...
>
>My phone gets 20GB/month allowance and rarely uses half of that which
>will be spread across numerous towers while I'm away from home and my
>broadband/wifi.
>
>For the last few months I've had a mifi with unlimited data purely
>because of one location I visit that has almost zero coverage on my
>phone's network, so all that data is a single tower and is over
>5GB/month. In fact my phone uses wifi calling over the mifi when I'm
>there, so I then get good phone coverage and good access from the laptop.

So the mifi is using a different cellular carrier than your phone is???
Is that why it works?
>

Peter <confused@nospam.net> wrote:
> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>>> Just to be clear on how the 5GB/month/tower tethering/hotspotting
>>> limitation works in the USA on a typical post-paid T-Mobile plan...
>>
>> Per tower? to us in europe that seems an odd limitation, we pay per
>> device and can use the specified amount of data anywhere in the country
>> (or when roaming, if appropriate).
>
> Per tower limits always are going to be better than per device limits are.
>
> Think about the math when more than one tower in your location ends up
> giving you as many five gigabytes as towers your device can connect to.

Pointless as users have no control over which tower they control to. I have
never heard of such an idiotic system.

Would also be a nightmare for the network to manage.

micky wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> For the last few months I've had a mifi with unlimited data purely
>> because of one location I visit that has almost zero coverage on my
>> phone's network
>
> So the mifi is using a different cellular carrier than your phone is???
> Is that why it works?

Indeed; there are four mobile operators in the UK, with quite a lot of
mast sharing between them, and numerous MVNOs piggy-backing on the four.
Only one operator gives good coverage at my late parents' house and
that's not my phone's operator, and I can't roam.

So it's worthwhile at the moment to pay for two SIMs ... when I'm there
I need good voice and data for work (phone line is disconnected) so my
mobile phone uses wifi calling through the mifi to get excellent signal,
I could probably get away with 50GB or 100GB/month, but the marginal
cost to unlimited is small enough to justify.

Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote

> Pointless as users have no control over which tower they control to. I have
> never heard of such an idiotic system.
>
> Would also be a nightmare for the network to manage.

Just to be clear, Chris, we're talking also to Android users, not only iOS
users, where on Android, I've almost never failed to do whatever I want to.

So I'm pretty sure you _can_ control the tower you connect to, Chris.
<https://i.postimg.cc/BQMVhnGt/5gvslte01.jpg> LTE is currently selected

Andy Burns (who knows more than I do about it) already reflected on one way
but I'm also aware of other potential methods (some of which I've tried).
<https://i.postimg.cc/FFByv7Ps/bands01.jpg> Hidden Network-Mode Activity
<https://i.postimg.cc/ZKnwPGQ0/bands02.jpg> Hidden Band-Selection Activity
<https://i.postimg.cc/L5CZHt2k/bands03.jpg> Band selection options

In summary, rest assured, on Android & on Linux you can do almost anything
you want to (we just need to learn the best methods to choose the tower).
*Have you ever tethered? How does it work?*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/XqUmekUNHFA>
--
All the screenshots in this post are those taken by me on my own phone.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote

>> Is it possible to _manually_ switch towers w/o changing your location?
>
> i'd have thought the only factor in your control is to change what
> band(s) your phone is using, but since it will chose the fastest when
> left to itself, you will most likely be slowing your connection down by
> forcing it e.g. from 5G to 4G/3G, and may end up on the same tower anyway.

Hi Andy,

I greatly appreciate your input as you know more about Android than I'll
ever know, where you know I have debug tools that tell me sectors & bands.
<https://i.postimg.cc/CKFhMZtS/signal03.jpg> celltower realtime debug

It would be very convenient to arbitrarily choose towers given we already
know at any given time all neighboring towers and the bands they support.
<https://i.postimg.cc/N0fx62rz/speedtest18.jpg> Neighboring cells & bands

I agree it's trivial to choose the band you want to use, where I have done
that using a one-tap shortcut to a hidden Android band-selection activity.
<https://i.postimg.cc/L5CZHt2k/bands03.jpg> Band selection options

And I thank you for outlining the caveat that any restriction will likely
lower speeds, and perhaps might not change the all-important Tower ID
because there are plenty of sector antennas which show up in diagnostics.
*Firebase? Where is your Android cell tower connections log?*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/iT4i40Ze5QY/>

But remember, I _already_ can already switch between _three_ cell 'towers'.
a. My femtocell
b. My cellular repeater
c. Whatever tower my phone connects to

Where, it's unambiguous which sector antenna I'm connected to at any time.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Gtywwn8f/signal01.jpg> cell tower id connected to

At home I mostly connect first to my femtocell but if there is no Internet
then my cellular signal (I'm not sure about data) comes from a repeater.
<https://i.postimg.cc/XJChDCPr/spare-access-points.jpg> Home cell repeater

My WISP Internet drops relatively frequently as it comes from miles away.
<https://i.postimg.cc/VvqLKQtQ/wifi.jpg> Typical range is about 10 miles

But here in the mountains, the power goes off twice a month for a day at a
time, so often neither my Internet nor my cellular repeaters are working.

Then I'm connected to the nearest cellular tower, which, luckily, is only
about five miles (by land) away - which is likely only a mile or two LOS.

Luckily, Android tells you the "neighboring cells", which if I understand
what they might be referring to, those are nearby possible cell towers.
<https://i.postimg.cc/BvnxJ0hd/speedtest24.jpg> Note neighboring cells

Do you think that's what "Neighboring Cells" refers to in the debug tools?
--
If so, I would like to be able to manually switch to those neighboring
cells, as the debug tools tell me their signal strength and their bands.

On 2023-12-18 07:22, Wally J wrote:
> Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote
>
>> Pointless as users have no control over which tower they control to. I have
>> never heard of such an idiotic system.
>>
>> Would also be a nightmare for the network to manage.
>
> Just to be clear, Chris, we're talking also to Android users, not only iOS
> users, where on Android, I've almost never failed to do whatever I want to.
>
> So I'm pretty sure you _can_ control the tower you connect to, Chris.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/BQMVhnGt/5gvslte01.jpg> LTE is currently selected
>
> Andy Burns (who knows more than I do about it) already reflected on one way
> but I'm also aware of other potential methods (some of which I've tried).
> <https://i.postimg.cc/FFByv7Ps/bands01.jpg> Hidden Network-Mode Activity
> <https://i.postimg.cc/ZKnwPGQ0/bands02.jpg> Hidden Band-Selection Activity
> <https://i.postimg.cc/L5CZHt2k/bands03.jpg> Band selection options
>
> In summary, rest assured, on Android & on Linux you can do almost anything
> you want to (we just need to learn the best methods to choose the tower).

You've not shown ANYTHING that suggests you can choose which TOWER your
phone connects to.

Wally J <walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote:
> Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote
>
>> Pointless as users have no control over which tower they control to. I have
>> never heard of such an idiotic system.
>>
>> Would also be a nightmare for the network to manage.
>
> Just to be clear, Chris, we're talking also to Android users, not only iOS
> users, where on Android, I've almost never failed to do whatever I want to.
>
> So I'm pretty sure you _can_ control the tower you connect to, Chris.

I doubt it very much. It defeats the whole purpose of a cellular network.

> <https://i.postimg.cc/BQMVhnGt/5gvslte01.jpg> LTE is currently selected

LTE is not a tower. Post a video capture of you manually hopping between
towers.

> Andy Burns (who knows more than I do about it) already reflected on one way
> but I'm also aware of other potential methods (some of which I've tried).
> <https://i.postimg.cc/FFByv7Ps/bands01.jpg> Hidden Network-Mode Activity
> <https://i.postimg.cc/ZKnwPGQ0/bands02.jpg> Hidden Band-Selection Activity
> <https://i.postimg.cc/L5CZHt2k/bands03.jpg> Band selection options

Again, bands not towers. You'll know full well that each individual tower
will have many bands so you can use bands as a proxy for towers.

You've yet to also demonstrate you being to get 5GB of data per tower. Show
a screenshot of your billing broken down by tower.

> In summary, rest assured, on Android & on Linux you can do almost anything
> you want to

Not denying that. A lot of times these efforts also break other
functionality. Or are so tortuous to do that it is not worthwhile beyond
academic interest.

On 18/12/2023 15:54, Wally J wrote:
> It would be very convenient to arbitrarily choose towers given we already
> know at any given time all neighboring towers and the bands they support.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/N0fx62rz/speedtest18.jpg> Neighboring cells & bands

The aim of the network will be to use the capacity of the towers most
effectively to handle the current traffic. If users can selfishly
optimise the choice of tower, it will mean the network, as a whole, will
not work as a well.

How clever they are at doing that may vary, but they have a picture of
all the users and all the towers they can see, not just the towers one
user can see.

In comp.mobile.android, on Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:15:52 -0000 (UTC), Chris
<ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:

>Wally J <walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote:
>> Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote
>>
>>> Pointless as users have no control over which tower they control to. I have
>>> never heard of such an idiotic system.
>>>
>>> Would also be a nightmare for the network to manage.
>>
>> Just to be clear, Chris, we're talking also to Android users, not only iOS
>> users, where on Android, I've almost never failed to do whatever I want to.
>>
>> So I'm pretty sure you _can_ control the tower you connect to, Chris.
>
>I doubt it very much. It defeats the whole purpose of a cellular network.

That's a little strong. It ignores the design of a cellular network,
perhaps would be a good way to phrase it. But the purpose is not to let
the system assign cell towers. The purpose is to make phone calls and
ata available to people wherever they are even if they are moving. Since
he's getting his data, he hasnt' defeated the purpose, let alone the
whole purpose.

This is not to say I disagree with anything else you've said.

>> <https://i.postimg.cc/BQMVhnGt/5gvslte01.jpg> LTE is currently selected
>
>LTE is not a tower.

Exactly

>Post a video capture of you manually hopping between
>towers.
>
>> Andy Burns (who knows more than I do about it) already reflected on one way
>> but I'm also aware of other potential methods (some of which I've tried).
>> <https://i.postimg.cc/FFByv7Ps/bands01.jpg> Hidden Network-Mode Activity
>> <https://i.postimg.cc/ZKnwPGQ0/bands02.jpg> Hidden Band-Selection Activity
>> <https://i.postimg.cc/L5CZHt2k/bands03.jpg> Band selection options
>
>Again, bands not towers. You'll know full well that each individual tower
>will have many bands so you can use bands as a proxy for towers.
>
>You've yet to also demonstrate you being to get 5GB of data per tower. Show
>a screenshot of your billing broken down by tower.
>
>> In summary, rest assured, on Android & on Linux you can do almost anything
>> you want to
>
>Not denying that. A lot of times these efforts also break other
>functionality. Or are so tortuous to do that it is not worthwhile beyond
>academic interest.
>
>

David Woolley <david@ex.djwhome.demon.invalid> wrote

> The aim of the network will be to use the capacity of the towers most
> effectively to handle the current traffic. If users can selfishly
> optimise the choice of tower, it will mean the network, as a whole, will
> not work as a well.

Thanks for your help and advice as this task seems easy to do at this point
(although every neighboring-tower situation will present its own issues).

Luckily, my aim is EXACTLY the same, to optimize my phone's capacity,
where at this point the question is only asking HOW it can be done to
choose your own tower in order to gain the additional 5GB/line/month/tower
so it's a valid and similar pursuit.
> How clever they are at doing that may vary, but they have a picture of
> all the users and all the towers they can see, not just the towers one
> user can see.

Luckily, I can see EXACTLY what they see with respect to my phone, which
means I can see every sector antenna (called "neighboring cells") &
frequency - so I too can be "clever at doing it" - which is why I asked.

In summary, I think it can easily be done to manually switch towers, but of
course I haven't tried it yet - but I agree with Andy Burns that frequency
changes should do the trick (where the potential loss in speed is offset by
the purposeful gain in overcoming "per-congested-tower" data limitations).

So far, theoretically attacking this problem set, the solution is...
1. You survey the local towers (trivial) and see all neighboring cells
2. You set your phone bands (trivial) to the bands of specific cells

Of course, the "realistic" part that will depend purely on the data is that
maybe the next-nearest sector antenna uses the _same_ bands.

Only the real data knows for sure.
--
Almost never (if ever) do we fail to do what we want on our own phones.

On 2023-12-19 09:29, Wally J wrote:
> David Woolley <david@ex.djwhome.demon.invalid> wrote
>
>> The aim of the network will be to use the capacity of the towers most
>> effectively to handle the current traffic. If users can selfishly
>> optimise the choice of tower, it will mean the network, as a whole, will
>> not work as a well.
>
> Thanks for your help and advice as this task seems easy to do at this point
> (although every neighboring-tower situation will present its own issues).
>
> Luckily, my aim is EXACTLY the same, to optimize my phone's capacity,
> where at this point the question is only asking HOW it can be done to
> choose your own tower in order to gain the additional 5GB/line/month/tower
> so it's a valid and similar pursuit.
>
>> How clever they are at doing that may vary, but they have a picture of
>> all the users and all the towers they can see, not just the towers one
>> user can see.
>
> Luckily, I can see EXACTLY what they see with respect to my phone, which
> means I can see every sector antenna (called "neighboring cells") &
> frequency - so I too can be "clever at doing it" - which is why I asked.
>
> In summary, I think it can easily be done to manually switch towers, but of
> course I haven't tried it yet - but I agree with Andy Burns that frequency
> changes should do the trick (where the potential loss in speed is offset by
> the purposeful gain in overcoming "per-congested-tower" data limitations).
>
> So far, theoretically attacking this problem set, the solution is...
> 1. You survey the local towers (trivial) and see all neighboring cells
> 2. You set your phone bands (trivial) to the bands of specific cells
>
> Of course, the "realistic" part that will depend purely on the data is that
> maybe the next-nearest sector antenna uses the _same_ bands.
>
> Only the real data knows for sure.

You literally (and quite obviously) have no clue about any of this.

Using <news:04h3oih1dfk8iov04m08qqapd0ct771ak1@4ax.com>, micky wrote:

>>You've yet to also demonstrate you being to get 5GB of data per tower. Show
>>a screenshot of your billing broken down by tower.

What kind of person asks for a personal bill?
Especially when it's the normal T-Mobile charges?
Are you accusing him of lying about the 5 gigabytes per tower per month?
Why don't you call T-Mobile and ask if you are so sure that he is lying?