Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote

> 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.

One option is to check out the towers nearest wherever you are.

Is this a reasonably accurate listing of known UK cellular providers?
<https://www.cellmapper.net/>
Menu > Provider > United Kingdom

1. Vodafone UK - United Kingdom - 23415
2. O2-UK- United Kingdom - 23410
3. EE - United Kingdom - 23430
4. 3UK - United Kingdom - 23420
5. EE (former Oraqnge PCS Ltd.) - United Kingdom - 23433
6. Sure Ltd. - United Kingdom - 23455
7. EE/Emergency Services Network - United Kingdom - 23432
8. JT (Jersey) limited - United Kingdom - 23450
9. Three Broadband (Former UKB) - United Kingdom - 23451
10. Jersey - Airtel-Vodafone - United Kingdom - 2343
11. Manx Telecom - United Kingdom - 23458
12. Provider 315 - United Kingdom - 234315
13. FMS Solutiuons Limited - United Kingdom - 2344
14. BT 5G test network - United Kingdomx - 23476
15. ESN - United Kingdom - 23431
16. Provider 200 - United Kingdom - 234200
17. Vodaforne Ltd (C&W) - United Kingdom - 2347
18. 234 207 - United Kingdom - 234207
19. 234-159 - United Kingdom - 234159
20. BT OnePhone Limited - United Kingdom - 2348
21. O2 Trial Network - United Kingdom - 2342
22. Provider 73 - United Kingdom - 23473
23. 23486 - United Kingdom - 23486
24. Telet Research - United Kingdom - 23588

> Only one operator gives good coverage at my late parents' house and
> that's not my phone's operator, and I can't roam.

Regarding that you can't roam, I've never understood roaming.
<https://i.postimg.cc/7hFSk55g/roaming01.jpg> My roaming settings

I have free roaming in the USA & Europe but I'm not sure if roaming apples
to both phone calls and data or only to data as it's called "data roaming"
on the phone (but T-Mobile says it's free roaming, sans a distinction).
Android 13 Galaxy Settings > Connections > Mobile networks >
Data roaming = on/off

Is roaming only for data?
If not, is there another setting elsewhere for "cellular" roaming?
--
Usenet is a wonderful way to meet smart people on both sides of the Pond.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote

> 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.

I have both a cellular repeater and a femtocell, which, if I ever wanted
to, I could _move_ it (much like you did with your MiFi, whatever that is).
<https://i.postimg.cc/XJChDCPr/spare-access-points.jpg> Cellular Repeater
<https://i.postimg.cc/fTpN70Lf/femtocell.jpg> Cellular Femtocell

Legally I'd be in the wrong, at least in the USA, I think, because my
personal cell towers are registered with the FCC (I believe) to my home.

But I can't imagine why the repeater or femtocell wouldn't work, as they're
not "tied down" to anything inside the home that I am aware of. Are you?

Technically, if not legally, wouldn't both the free T-Mobile cellular
repeater & the free T-Mobile cellular femtocell work anywhere in the USA?

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote

> 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.

Good news!

I just checked a world-wide cell-tower band-location map which shows
T-Mobile towers near me which list all bands that each tower serves.
<https://www.cellmapper.net/>

Some towers have double the number of bands, so the lack of overlap
will (in some cases) make it very easy to choose cell tower by band.
<https://i.postimg.cc/YCG9NHzT/roaming02.jpg> Tower location by band

This is an indication that what Andy Burns said "might" work in that I can
set my phone to one of those two non-intersecting bands to connect to it.
<https://i.postimg.cc/L5CZHt2k/bands03.jpg> Band selection options

Wally J <walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote

> <https://www.cellmapper.net/>

While that site tells you the bands per carrier per tower, this site seems
to have performance over time (but not all towers have been tested AFAICT).

<https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/cell-tower-map-united-states/>

Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote

>> 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.

Hi Chris,

I realize your iPhone is crippled, but on Android we can see nearby towers.
<https://i.postimg.cc/4xgmTTgm/wifi01.jpg> graphical radio debuggers
<https://i.postimg.cc/Hn05bQwG/wifi02.jpg> Cellular-Z by Jersey Ho
<https://i.postimg.cc/fLC4zcm6/wifi04.jpg> Many signal strength apps

And on Android, it's literally trivial to set the bands we wish to use.
<https://i.postimg.cc/FFByv7Ps/bands01.jpg> Hidden Network-Mode Activity

It's a hidden activity, but anyone who knows Android knows how to find it.
<https://i.postimg.cc/ZKnwPGQ0/bands02.jpg> Hidden Band-Selection Activity

And on Android (not iOS) we can see exactly what band & unique sector
antenna we're connected to and we can also see nearby neighboring cells.
<https://i.postimg.cc/CKFhMZtS/signal03.jpg> celltower realtime location

While you can't do that on the crippled iPhone, even you can use the web.
<https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=310&MNC=260&type=LTE&latitude=38.0&longitude=-122.0>

So it's definitely possible.
But we all would likely agree choosing your tower by band is inefficient.

The question is only whether or not we are intelligent enough to figure out
how to do it more directly - e.g., by blacklisting/whitelisting tower IDs.
<https://i.postimg.cc/dVQJkL02/bands05.jpg> Tower by supported bands

> Post a video capture of you manually hopping between towers.

Again, I realize you hate that the iPhone is crippled, but on Android we
can easily set EARFCN so "hopping between towers" is certainly possible.

What we want though is a more direct way, e.g., blacklisting PCI or CellID.

> 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.

Again, you're thinking like crippled iPhone users & not like Android users.
We're empowered to see all neighboring towers & bands they support.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Gtywwn8f/signal01.jpg> cell signal strength graph
<https://i.postimg.cc/xCbVQ2pj/signal02.jpg> cell signal strength graph
<https://i.postimg.cc/CKFhMZtS/signal03.jpg> celltower realtime location

If you stop thinking like crippled iPhone users, you would be able to help.

> 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.

I'm not sure what you're insinuating, as usually you complain whenever
something is on Android you can't do on iOS (which is a lot of things).

Suffice to say that there are plenty of T-Mobile USA plans that limit the
amount of hotspotting you can do, and, in fact, they likely limit it on
purpose because they also want to sell you a mifi device for home Internet.

"Q: Can a hotspot replace home internet?
A: Hotspot devices, mobile hotspots, and their plans were made
for limited high-speed data usage on the go. These are not intended
to replace your home internet."
<https://www.t-mobile.com/devices/iot/hotspots>

If you look at T-Mobile's plans on public resources, you'd see all sorts of
prices and limitations on hotspotting for both tablets and for cellphones.
<https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/affordable-data-plans/hotspots>

>> 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.

Well, I have never approached even 1GB of hotspot/tethering data myself.
But it's a worthwhile endeavor to be able to choose the tower at will.

This thread has shown that it's definitely possible to see all the nearby
tower sector antennas & the bands that they support (at least on Android).

Given it's trivial to set the bands on Android, your argument that setting
the bands manually is "so tortuous to do that it's not worthwhile" may be
the case (even on Android, & certainly the crippled iPhone couldn't do it).

But I'm not on the crippled iPhone (although I do have plenty of iPads).
So I'll continue to seek a way to manually connect to unique celltower IDs.
--
An intelligent person doesn't give up the moment the marketing people tell
him to buy more product to do what they can do if they're smart about it.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> 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 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.

Thanks, as always, for adding value to the thread discussion, Andy.

What we almost always accomplish, working together, is doing whatever it is
we want to do, where at this point, we want to choose the exact cell tower.

In trying to understand everything you said, first I had to look up what
"mi-fi" means, where T-Mobile says this about the registered trademark:

"Q: What is the difference between hotspot and Mi-Fi?
A: MiFi is a registered trademark that many people use to refer
to a hotspot device. Both MiFi devices and hotspot devices
allow you to connect to the internet on the go by creating
a secure wireless network for you, your family, or friends."
<https://www.t-mobile.com/devices/iot/hotspots>

Later on in that FAQ, they explain pretty much (without saying it outright)
why they limit the hotspotting/tethering to 5GB per month per line per
congested tower - given it would negate the need to buy Internet service.

"Q: Can a hotspot replace home internet?
A: Hotspot devices, mobile hotspots, and their plans were made
for limited high-speed data usage on the go. These are not intended
to replace your home internet."
<https://www.t-mobile.com/devices/iot/hotspots>

I noticed also that some T-Mobile plans do offer unlimited hotspot, but
those are slower speeds (which all T-Mobile data plans will do, AFAIK).
<https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/affordable-data-plans>

Each plan, as you must be aware, offers different hotspot limitations.

Mine is 5GB per month per line per congested tower which I never even get
close to reaching, but the kids on my plan get to that point frequently.

I suspect it's trivially easy to whitelist or blacklist cell tower IDs.
But I don't know how to do that yet. That's why I asked here first.
--
Usenet is a wonderful way to meet smart people on both sides of the Pond.

Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote

> 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.

Hi Chris,
I welcome any useful input as it's only an "idea" at the moment, mainly
because (a) we almost never fail to do what we want to do, and
(b) because it's trivial to survey available sector antennae by unique ID.

You're completely correct that bands alone aren't the perfect way to choose
a cell tower - even as turning bands on and off is trivial to do.

Note that the question is asking _what_ we can do, not what we will do.
The bands of nearby towers are trivial to test and also trivial to set.
But that doesn't mean changing bands is the best way to choose a tower.

The whole point of the question was to find the _best_ way to choose towers
(where, let's never forget, almost never do we fail to do what we want to).

> You've yet to also demonstrate you being to get 5GB of data per tower.

Chris. This is standard T-Mobile policy. I don't need to "show" something
that is common knowledge. Are you accusing me of lying? Why? What for?

> Show a screenshot of your billing broken down by tower.

Jesus Christ, Chris.

What's no longer shocking is how you iKooks hate that your iPhones are
crippled such that you are now demanding me to prove what EVERYONE on
T-Mobile USA already knows (as it's the standard T-Mobile billing policy).

It's fine that you _hate_ that your iPhone is crippled, Chris, but asking
me to prove T-Mobile's well-publicized billing policy is childish of you.

If you child-like Apple iKooks want to claim everyone is a liar so that
they have to prove even T-Mobile's publicized policy, then sue me in court.

Sheesh. Seriously Chris... what's your problem? You think everyone lies?

It's no longer shocking how childish these low-IQ ignorant uneducated
iKooks are simply because they _hate_ their iPhones are crippled.

>> 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.

Almost never have I ever failed to do what I wanted to do on Android,
Chris, and I can do a _lot_ of things most people don't know how to do.

That was the whole point of asking this question, Chris...
To find out from those who know more than I do how easy/hard it would be.

So far, the only viable suggestion is the following (trivial) actions:
1. Survey the bands of the neighboring sector antennas (trivial to do)
2. Determine the band that allows you to connect to the desired antenna
3. Set the phone to that band (which is trivial to do on Android).

I agree with you, Chris, that even as this is easy to do, it's not optimum.
Which is why the question was asked in the first place.

To find out if someone out there knows more than I do who can help.
--
Usenet is a wonderful way to meet smart people on both sides of the Pond.

Wally J <walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote

> Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote
>
>> 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.
>
> Hi Chris,
> I welcome any useful input as it's only an "idea" at the moment, mainly

Ooops. Ignore that post as I had originally responded and then decided to
be nicer in my response since Chris was only trying to help.

On 2023-12-20 19:07, Wally J wrote:
> Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote
>
>>> 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.
>
> Hi Chris,
>
> I realize your iPhone is crippled, but on Android we can see nearby towers.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/4xgmTTgm/wifi01.jpg> graphical radio debuggers
> <https://i.postimg.cc/Hn05bQwG/wifi02.jpg> Cellular-Z by Jersey Ho
> <https://i.postimg.cc/fLC4zcm6/wifi04.jpg> Many signal strength apps
>
> And on Android, it's literally trivial to set the bands we wish to use.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/FFByv7Ps/bands01.jpg> Hidden Network-Mode Activity

Which is not setting which tower to which you connect.

Using <news:um0cfn$ud88$1@dont-email.me>, Alan wrote:

> Which is not setting which tower to which you connect.

Not sure how it works on ios but the free llamalab "automate" app can tell
android to use any desired cell tower which does what the op is asking for.
https://llamalab.com/automate/

Cell tower pick
A decision block that lets the user choose nearby cellular towers.
https://llamalab.com/automate/doc/block/cell_site_pick.html

The fiber will pause until the user has chosen one or more cell towers,
cancelled the dialog or the timeout expired.

The initial cell towers input argument can be a single cell, a text of
comma separated cells, an array of single cells or a dictionary where each
key is a single cell.

Cell format
A cell is text that begins with a network type followed by one or more
optional hexdecimal properties separated by colon:

Network Properties Example
CDMA SID:NID:BID cdma:43ad:5f3:2da
GSM LAC:RNC:CID gsm:ca::427
LTE TAC:CI:PCI lte:ca:ca:427
WCDMA LAC:CID wcdma:54ae:3d57
UMTS PSC umts:503
TD-SCDMA LAC:CID tdscdma:54ae:3d57
NR NCI nr:3d743a23d
Input arguments
Initial cell towers - initially shown and selected cells, even if not
nearby, default is none.
Subscription id - id of subscription (SIM) to scan for cells, default is
the system default subscription. (Android 10+)
Timeout - time until the notification/dialog is automatically canceled,
default is no timeout.
Notification channel - UUID of notification channel used for shown
notification, default is the flow default or Flow.
Show window - whether to show the dialog window directly without having to
tap the notification. Requires the "appear atop of other apps or parts of
the screen" privilege on Android 10+.
Output variables
Picked cell towers - variable to assign an array of picked cells.

Updated on Nov 16, 2023
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate

Alan wrote on Tue, 19 Dec 2023 09:37:30 -0800 :

>> 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

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

Why haven't you offered any advice if you know so much about how to do it?

Anyways, there is this Dec 30, 2020 video on cell tower & channel locking.
https://youtu.be/BGCq2BrACSg

The video shows the guy connected to one tower, and then connecting to two
other towers in sequence just by locking his channel to their ARFCN & PCI.

For each of the towers, he then tests his download speeds so that he can
choose to manually connect to the fastest tower of those his phone can see.

He first uses a free app called Net Monitor Lite to determine the ARFCN &
PCI of nearby cellular towers which are available for him to connect to.

Then they enter EngineerMode with ""#*3646633#*#*" which can be saved for
reuse in autodialing (eg set the phone to autodial when a key is pressed).

In EngineerMode they click on Channel Lock, they select SIM 1 of two SIMs,
they click Enable Lock, and they enter an available ARFCN & PCI identifier.

The JRD Engineering Mode access code can be different for each smartphone.
https://utilitiesone.com/jrd-engineering-mode-what-it-is-and-how-it-can-enhance-your-smartphone-experience

Samsung uses a different USSD code "*#0011#" to enter Service Mode instead.
https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/03/24/android-what-is-engineer-mode-and-what-are-its-benefits/

What I do is I keep a separate dialer for such things, so that it doesn't
get in the way of my default dialer. Once you get into Samsung Service Mode
you press the three dots (top right) and select Key Input to enter "Q0".

You can also use com.samsung.android.dialer to save as a speedial their
advanced ServiceMode using "*#2683662#" but it's easier to use an app.
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=mtk%20engineering%20mode&c=apps

Here are the first 3 free apps that come out of that google play search.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Go.EngModeMtkShortcut
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mtkeng.anubhavraj.mtkengineermode
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.princewellinc.supermtkengineering

There's probably something similar for the iphone owners on this thread.

On 20 Dec 2023 23:07:41 -0400 Wally J wrote:
>
>In trying to understand everything you said, first I had to look up what
>"mi-fi" means, where T-Mobile says this about the registered trademark:
>
> "Q: What is the difference between hotspot and Mi-Fi?
> A: MiFi is a registered trademark that many people use to refer
> to a hotspot device. Both MiFi devices and hotspot devices
> allow you to connect to the internet on the go by creating
> a secure wireless network for you, your family, or friends."
> <https://www.t-mobile.com/devices/iot/hotspots>

I first came accross 'mifi' when my fellow sailors started installing them
on their boats - in the early 2010s. Local wifi networks spang up in every
marina. 'mifi', after one of the first devices, was commonly used to refer
to these devices on forums when discussing how to get local Greek or
Turkish SIMs for them. A mifi was a /private/ LAN. The same device in the
home tends now to be called a 'wireless router' in the UK I think.

"Hotspot" apparantly came from T-mobile. From wikipedia:

"The first commercial venture to attempt to create a public local area
access network was a firm founded in Richardson, Texas known as PLANCOM
(Public Local Area Network Communications). The founders of the venture
.... dissolved the firm in 1998, while Goode and Jackson created MobileStar
Networks. The firm was one of the first to sign such public access
locations as Starbucks,[35] American Airlines,[36] and Hilton Hotels.[37]
The company was sold to Deutsche Telecom in 2001, who then converted the
name of the firm into "T-Mobile Hotspot". It was then that the term
"hotspot" entered the popular vernacular as a reference to a location
where a publicly accessible wireless LAN is available."

--
(Remove numerics from email address)

Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> wrote

> A mifi was a /private/ LAN. The same device in the
> home tends now to be called a 'wireless router' in the UK I think.
>
> "Hotspot" apparantly came from T-mobile. From wikipedia:

That's interesting. Thanks for adding to our combined tribal knowledge.
I'm surprised T-Mobile came up with "hotspot" and it's not trademarked.
The Mi-Fi seems to be trademarked, even as it's probably in common usage.

Wally J <walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote:
> Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote
>
>>> 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.
>
>
> So it's definitely possible.
> But we all would likely agree choosing your tower by band is inefficient.
>
> The question is only whether or not we are intelligent enough to figure out
> how to do it more directly - e.g., by blacklisting/whitelisting tower IDs.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/dVQJkL02/bands05.jpg> Tower by supported bands
>
>> Post a video capture of you manually hopping between towers.
>
> Again, I realize you hate that the iPhone is crippled, but on Android we
> can easily set EARFCN so "hopping between towers" is certainly possible.
>
> What we want though is a more direct way, e.g., blacklisting PCI or CellID.

Ah, so despite your assertion that it's possible you've not been able to do
it yet.

>> 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.
>
> I'm not sure what you're insinuating, as usually you complain whenever
> something is on Android you can't do on iOS (which is a lot of things).
>
> Suffice to say that there are plenty of T-Mobile USA plans that limit the
> amount of hotspotting you can do, and, in fact, they likely limit it on
> purpose because they also want to sell you a mifi device for home Internet.

I see the confusion now. You think hotspotting is the same as choosing a
tower. It isn't.

Any hotspotting limits are artificial and set by the provider. We used to
have that in the UK, but no longer. They were futile and easily
circumvented by fiddling with TTL settings on the device using the hotspot
AP somehow.

It was also commercially dumb as they were limiting their ability to charge
for data access.

> "Q: Can a hotspot replace home internet?
> A: Hotspot devices, mobile hotspots, and their plans were made
> for limited high-speed data usage on the go. These are not intended
> to replace your home internet."
> <https://www.t-mobile.com/devices/iot/hotspots>
>
> If you look at T-Mobile's plans on public resources, you'd see all sorts of
> prices and limitations on hotspotting for both tablets and for cellphones.
> <https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/affordable-data-plans/hotspots>

Correct. An artificial limitation. A hotspot/mifi can easily be used as
your default source of internet at home.

> Well, I have never approached even 1GB of hotspot/tethering data myself.

I've often used >1GB a day when hotspotting. Usually when doing video calls
away from work or home. Despite using a "crippled" iphone. lol.

I have lots of mobile data included in 30-day rolling contract so it's
often easier to use mobile data rather than any "free" wifi.

> But it's a worthwhile endeavor to be able to choose the tower at will.

Only for the most idle of minds.

Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote

>> What we want though is a more direct way, e.g., blacklisting PCI or CellID.
>
> Ah, so despite your assertion that it's possible you've not been able to do
> it yet.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for all your supportive suggestions and purposefully helpful advice.

Here's where I am at the moment, although I only tested this once so far.
<https://i.postimg.cc/jj0wcy8f/servicemode01.jpg> Samsung Service Mode

There's still a bit of knowledge that I need to absorb to perform the task.
<https://xdaforums.com/t/quick-guide-how-to-enable-and-use-servicemode.3109579/>
<https://xdaforums.com/t/tricktips-mtk-phones-dial-secret-codes.2313812/>
<https://xdaforums.com/t/engineer-mode-code-for-samsung-android.4614917/>
<https://convergeddevices.net/how-to-enter-engineering-mode-in-samsung/>
<https://www.wikihow.com/Put-Your-Android-in-Service-Mode>
<https://xdaforums.com/t/switching-cell-tower.4191443/>
<https://teamandroid.com/samsung-secret-codes/>
<https://technastic.com/samsung-secret-codes/>
etc.

>> Suffice to say that there are plenty of T-Mobile USA plans that limit the
>> amount of hotspotting you can do, and, in fact, they likely limit it on
>> purpose because they also want to sell you a mifi device for home Internet.
>
> I see the confusion now.

I saw the posts from the others so the summary of how to do it is, so far:
1. We knew we could do it with band selection, but, better than that
2. We can use Engineering/Service Mode <https://youtu.be/BGCq2BrACSg>
3. Or we may it with LLamalab automation <https://llamalab.com/automate/>

Dunno which is the easiest to do just yet as I haven't done them all yet.

> You think hotspotting is the same as choosing a tower. It isn't.

I'm pretty sure nobody disagreed with my definition of hotspotting
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/XqUmekUNHFA>
(although it was interesting to find out T-Mobile originated the term)

> Any hotspotting limits are artificial and set by the provider.

Yup. That's the reason for asking the question of switching towers in the
first place; although there is merit also in using only the fast towers.

> We used to have that in the UK, but no longer. They were futile and easily
> circumvented by fiddling with TTL settings on the device using the hotspot
> AP somehow.
> It was also commercially dumb as they were limiting their ability to charge
> for data access.

Luckily, there are 3 suggested ways to manually choose towers on Android.
<https://i.postimg.cc/jj0wcy8f/servicemode01.jpg> Samsung Service Mode

Engineering/Service Mode seems to be the easiest so I'll try that first.
1. Survey the nearby cell towers & write down the ARFCN & PCI
2. Enter Engineering/Service Mode & set the ARFCN & PCI

>> If you look at T-Mobile's plans on public resources, you'd see all sorts of
>> prices and limitations on hotspotting for both tablets and for cellphones.
>> <https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/affordable-data-plans/hotspots>
>
> Correct. An artificial limitation. A hotspot/mifi can easily be used as
> your default source of internet at home.

Agreed. I never disagree with anyone who presents a sensible assessment.
>> Well, I have never approached even 1GB of hotspot/tethering data myself.
>
> I've often used >1GB a day when hotspotting. Usually when doing video calls
> away from work or home. Despite using a "crippled" iphone. lol.

I never disagree with anyone who makes a claim that their phone can do
something that every phone can do, Chris. Nobody said iPhones can't do it.
> I have lots of mobile data included in 30-day rolling contract so it's
> often easier to use mobile data rather than any "free" wifi.

Understood. I have free everything, including Internet where I get mine
from a WISP tower that is about ~10 kilometers away line of sight.
<https://i.postimg.cc/VvqLKQtQ/wifi.jpg> Distance is calculated at 10.4 km

So for me also, there's no reason to seek a different tower other than to
circumvent any 5GB/month/line/tower artificial limits imposed by a carrier.

One issue though, is my "access points" are likely huge compared to yours.
<https://i.postimg.cc/YqTk0q1T/ap.jpg> Cellular repeater & home Wi-Fi APs

>> But it's a worthwhile endeavor to be able to choose the tower at will.
>
> Only for the most idle of minds.

Please keep in mind we almost never fail to do whatever we want to do.
It's the American way (good old Yankee ingenuity) to do whatever we want.

If for no other reason, we can choose the tower with the fastest speeds.
In fact, that's exactly what this guy did <https://youtu.be/BGCq2BrACSg>.
--
On the Internet you can solve difficult problems with the help of others.

On 2023-12-21 06:26, david wrote:
> Using <news:um0cfn$ud88$1@dont-email.me>, Alan wrote:
>
>> Which is not setting which tower to which you connect.
>
> Not sure how it works on ios but the free llamalab "automate" app can tell
> android to use any desired cell tower which does what the op is asking for.
> https://llamalab.com/automate/
>
> Cell tower pick
> A decision block that lets the user choose nearby cellular towers.
> https://llamalab.com/automate/doc/block/cell_site_pick.html
>
> The fiber will pause until the user has chosen one or more cell towers,
> cancelled the dialog or the timeout expired.
>
> The initial cell towers input argument can be a single cell, a text of
> comma separated cells, an array of single cells or a dictionary where each
> key is a single cell.
>
> Cell format
> A cell is text that begins with a network type followed by one or more
> optional hexdecimal properties separated by colon:
>
> Network    Properties    Example
> CDMA    SID:NID:BID    cdma:43ad:5f3:2da
> GSM    LAC:RNC:CID    gsm:ca::427
> LTE    TAC:CI:PCI    lte:ca:ca:427
> WCDMA    LAC:CID    wcdma:54ae:3d57
> UMTS    PSC    umts:503
> TD-SCDMA    LAC:CID    tdscdma:54ae:3d57
> NR    NCI    nr:3d743a23d
> Input arguments
> Initial cell towers - initially shown and selected cells, even if not
> nearby, default is none.
> Subscription id - id of subscription (SIM) to scan for cells, default is
> the system default subscription. (Android 10+)
> Timeout - time until the notification/dialog is automatically canceled,
> default is no timeout.
> Notification channel - UUID of notification channel used for shown
> notification, default is the flow default or Flow.
> Show window - whether to show the dialog window directly without having to
> tap the notification. Requires the "appear atop of other apps or parts of
> the screen" privilege on Android 10+.
> Output variables
> Picked cell towers - variable to assign an array of picked cells.
>
> Updated on Nov 16, 2023
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate

Thanks.

That's interesting and useful information.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 2023-12-21 07:49, Andrew wrote:
> Alan wrote on Tue, 19 Dec 2023 09:37:30 -0800 :
>
>>> 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
>
>> You literally (and quite obviously) have no clue about any of this.
>
> Why haven't you offered any advice if you know so much about how to do it?

Nobody knows how to do it (till you and David posted how). Only one
saying that it is easy, but going wrong about it, others telling him
"no, that was is not it", and others waiting and wondering :-)

>
> Anyways, there is this Dec 30, 2020 video on cell tower & channel locking.
> https://youtu.be/BGCq2BrACSg
>
> The video shows the guy connected to one tower, and then connecting to two
> other towers in sequence just by locking his channel to their ARFCN & PCI.
>
> For each of the towers, he then tests his download speeds so that he can
> choose to manually connect to the fastest tower of those his phone can see.
>
> He first uses a free app called Net Monitor Lite to determine the ARFCN &
> PCI of nearby cellular towers which are available for him to connect to.
>
> Then they enter EngineerMode with ""#*3646633#*#*" which can be saved for
> reuse in autodialing (eg set the phone to autodial when a key is pressed).
>
> In EngineerMode they click on Channel Lock, they select SIM 1 of two SIMs,
> they click Enable Lock, and they enter an available ARFCN & PCI identifier.
>
> The JRD Engineering Mode access code can be different for each smartphone.
> https://utilitiesone.com/jrd-engineering-mode-what-it-is-and-how-it-can-enhance-your-smartphone-experience
>
> Samsung uses a different USSD code "*#0011#" to enter Service Mode instead.
> https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/03/24/android-what-is-engineer-mode-and-what-are-its-benefits/
>
> What I do is I keep a separate dialer for such things, so that it doesn't
> get in the way of my default dialer. Once you get into Samsung Service Mode
> you press the three dots (top right) and select Key Input to enter "Q0".
>
> You can also use com.samsung.android.dialer to save as a speedial their
> advanced ServiceMode using "*#2683662#" but it's easier to use an app.
> https://play.google.com/store/search?q=mtk%20engineering%20mode&c=apps
>
> Here are the first 3 free apps that come out of that google play search.
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Go.EngModeMtkShortcut
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mtkeng.anubhavraj.mtkengineermode
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.princewellinc.supermtkengineering
>
> There's probably something similar for the iphone owners on this thread.

Thank you :-)

--
Cheers, Carlos.