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Cell tower prioritization, load-shedding etc
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2018-06-23 at 9:43 AM UTCPower in SWIM's area has been in and out, mostly out, for the last ~12hrs. SWIM uses his cellphone tether for internet connection ( his piece of smegmacock-covered-in-dogshit samsung hunk of garbage (( never buy this shit! and fuck them for making it )) )
Anyway a while after the power went out the connection speed started declining, at some point the indicator at the top of the screen stopped reading the usual FULL bars of "LTE+" and started showing "H" H+" or 1 or 2 out of 4 bars of "LTE" The experience -even on highly advanced modern websites such as NIS- was reminiscent of using dial-up
Earlier in the evening I figured lots of people that would ordinarily be watching cable/satellite television and/or using their cable/DSL internet were now bored and resorting to using their cellphone's data connection. But it's late as fuck and still sucking ass now.
Since I don't know where cell sites near me are located I can't know if my nearest tower(s) were victim of the power outage but since it is still slow I am assuming it was and hasn't normalized itself yet. Just started thinking about how cellular and other infrastructure behaves when operating overloaded and/or on backup/standby power. I figure the wireless provider's equipment is ran through battery backup/UPS power with a standby generator to take over if the power doesn't come back in a few minutes. I would be quite surprised if there is heavy demand for data access at this hour but I'm still seeing unusually slow speeds - perhaps a real person has to intervene and "switch things back to normal".
Got me thinking about emergency situations and the towers becoming saturated with calls to where you couldn't get a line in or out. -
2018-06-23 at 9:49 AM UTCInteresting concept.
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2018-06-23 at 9:57 AM UTC*sheds ur connection to improve experience for others*
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2018-06-23 at 10:08 AM UTC
Originally posted by A College Professor Got me thinking about emergency situations and the towers becoming saturated with calls to where you couldn't get a line in or out.
voice connections take less of the limited channels on a base station than data connections. in case of a large-scale emergency they could prioritise voice calls over data to reduce the load, but I couldn't tell you how much a single tower could handle - it was like 10 years ago I worked at a telco, back when 3g/UMTS was the standard
That said though, congestion or contesting of tower resources won't typically reduce your signal; you'll get full bars but still have to eat shit as far as connection speeds go. -
2018-06-23 at 7:16 PM UTC
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2018-06-23 at 7:21 PM UTCTry Open Signals App on Android, I use it when I have to troubleshoot connectivity issues. It helps me find decent cell towers and it's just matter of moving my phone near to it to get a handshake. It works most of the time.
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2018-06-23 at 8:09 PM UTC
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2018-06-24 at 4:18 AM UTC
Originally posted by esbity That white van down the street…
Lol, thats mine
Originally posted by Dfg Try Open Signals App on Android, I use it when I have to troubleshoot connectivity issues. It helps me find decent cell towers and it's just matter of moving my phone near to it to get a handshake. It works most of the time.
cool, thx. Playing around with it -
2018-06-24 at 5:09 AM UTCthinking about this makes me curious whether those 'stingray'-type devices, ie. fake base stations for data interception, significantly affect cell traffic in the area... especially considering how common they're becoming
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2018-06-24 at 5:15 AM UTC
Originally posted by aldra That said though, congestion or contesting of tower resources won't typically reduce your signal; you'll get full bars but still have to eat shit as far as connection speeds go.
stop trying to be a mod.
and if your nearest cell is fully occupied wont they switch you to the next closest cell ??? -
2018-06-24 at 5:17 AM UTC
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2018-06-24 at 5:19 AM UTCdepdends on how close your next nearest tower is - there are algorithms in place to determine whether it's more worthwhile to wait for a channel or hand off to the next tower, which may be significantly further away
typically though when you see actual congestion issues it's because they didn't plan for the amount of usage in the area so all of the nearby towers are getting hammered -
2018-06-24 at 5:29 AM UTC
Originally posted by aldra depdends on how close your next nearest tower is - there are algorithms in place to determine whether it's more worthwhile to wait for a channel or hand off to the next tower, which may be significantly further away
typically though when you see actual congestion issues it's because they didn't plan for the amount of usage in the area so all of the nearby towers are getting hammered
no, every cell has a limited slot just like how every ip submask [or whatever its called] has only 256 allotments. -
2018-06-24 at 7:46 AM UTC
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2018-06-24 at 7:49 AM UTCdont be racist against vans wtf
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2018-06-24 at 9:40 AM UTCJust like everyone else in this thread I don't have a clue - unlike everyone else I'll actually admit it.
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2018-06-24 at 11 AM UTCOr you could just kill yourself and your entire family and then none of you will have to worry about any of this ever again
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2018-06-24 at 11:02 AM UTC
Originally posted by A College Professor Power in SWIM's area has been in and out, mostly out, for the last ~12hrs. SWIM uses his cellphone tether for internet connection ( his piece of smegmacock-covered-in-dogshit samsung hunk of garbage (( never buy this shit! and fuck them for making it )) )
Anyway a while after the power went out the connection speed started declining, at some point the indicator at the top of the screen stopped reading the usual FULL bars of "LTE+" and started showing "H" H+" or 1 or 2 out of 4 bars of "LTE" The experience -even on highly advanced modern websites such as NIS- was reminiscent of using dial-up
Earlier in the evening I figured lots of people that would ordinarily be watching cable/satellite television and/or using their cable/DSL internet were now bored and resorting to using their cellphone's data connection. But it's late as fuck and still sucking ass now.
Since I don't know where cell sites near me are located I can't know if my nearest tower(s) were victim of the power outage but since it is still slow I am assuming it was and hasn't normalized itself yet. Just started thinking about how cellular and other infrastructure behaves when operating overloaded and/or on backup/standby power. I figure the wireless provider's equipment is ran through battery backup/UPS power with a standby generator to take over if the power doesn't come back in a few minutes. I would be quite surprised if there is heavy demand for data access at this hour but I'm still seeing unusually slow speeds - perhaps a real person has to intervene and "switch things back to normal".
Got me thinking about emergency situations and the towers becoming saturated with calls to where you couldn't get a line in or out.
That is not how you use the em dash -
2018-06-24 at 1:49 PM UTCUse an Android App like Open Source or similar to find towers and Connection Stabalizer to direct the signal a little bit better. When heavy breathing occurs on a tower or if hand offs are slow from mast to mast it usually depends on what frequency a provider uses or where you are. 1700 and 2200 are usually bad with poor penetration in buildings...950 more reliable. Both voice and data can be disrupted depending on locations also and if you root your phone you have more options. For a car something like a Wilson weBoost 3G will help a fair bit for about $90 and especially in storms unless you can afford or need the more expensive ones. A Stingray BTS can be defeated somewhat with extreme encryption although you still can be pin pointed and an App like IMSI-Catcher Detector may warn you. A red flag may also be your own provider peeking or even a S-criminal. Easy solution...don't use your phone for BS.
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2018-06-26 at 11:32 PM UTC
Originally posted by joerell Use an Android App like Open Source or similar to find towers and Connection Stabalizer to direct the signal a little bit better. When heavy breathing occurs on a tower or if hand offs are slow from mast to mast it usually depends on what frequency a provider uses or where you are. 1700 and 2200 are usually bad with poor penetration in buildings…950 more reliable. Both voice and data can be disrupted depending on locations also and if you root your phone you have more options. For a car something like a Wilson weBoost 3G will help a fair bit for about $90 and especially in storms unless you can afford or need the more expensive ones. A Stingray BTS can be defeated somewhat with extreme encryption although you still can be pin pointed and an App like IMSI-Catcher Detector may warn you. A red flag may also be your own provider peeking or even a S-criminal. Easy solution…don't use your phone for BS.
cooool!
I been trying to decide between a "booster" or a dedicated 4G modem/router for my vehicle. I can't find any 'boosters' / amplifiers that can utilize MIMO, they all seem to have a connection for ONE outdoor antenna, and ONE inside. But the Cradlepoint and Peplink modem/routers have dual outside cellular antenna connections. I'm reading that running MIMO antennas can be an enormous boost to transfer speeds, so that seems to be the obvious advantage of getting a dedicated modem. I just wish the standalone 4g modems also had a phone jack so you can use a cheap phone to use it for calling as well.
For omni-directional automobile cell antennas I can't really find much besides low-profile types. I envisioned something like those 6 or 8' whip antennas they use for CB radios. I guess that style of antenna isn't good for the higher frequencies? Just seems like something taller would be better..
I guess day to day I would just use it for web surfing around town, but it would be really sweet to squeeze calling abilities out into dead zones where a handset alone can't get through.
