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[Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
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Netmon like program to provide cellular info. Reason for creation was to learn a bit more about cellular networks and dbus, and I like apps to support portrait mode :)
What does it offer:
The package can be found in the extras-devel repository. P.s.: - The country and operator codes are retrieved from an internal list and will not be up-to-date nor complete. |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
In an installation time dependence python-pyside.qtmaemo5 demands. ;)
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Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Very nice. IMO we needed a replacement for netmon as it was crashing for me intermittantly.
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Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Nice application, is there any way to get RF parameters like RSCP, EcNo etc etc?
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Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Instant subscribe, download and testing :) No bugs so far, despite pestering it with modem turned off, or during mode change - got "ade's quality" stamp on it, good work and thanks.
Would it be possible to measure signal strength of mobile networks in area, when querying them via "Mobile Networks" tab? It would become very handy tool to probe area for best GPRS/3G data plan/prepaid, instead of buying one prepaid per every operator, and testing signal one-by-one. Also - but you probably thought about it yourself, already - maybe some switch to trigger auto-update of data, at user configurable interval? (1 sec, or 2 sec, or 3 sec, or...). /Estel |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
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I have never remembered to report it. |
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Secondly there is very little official N900 documentation on these matters. Most is found out by the Maemo community itself. I doubt it if this info can be retrieved, but if you can point me to some commands.... Quote:
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P.s. QtMobility should be able to give a little more info (like if a dual sim card is used), but with this module loaded, PySide crashes everytime in my environment. |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Nice one. Good one!
It does not offer more information on network than netmon, right? But SIM info is pretty cool. Estel's wish to have info on scanned networks would be very handy. But I also do not know it is possible at all. One remark regarding the scan: Could you please add a 'Cancel' button? It is annoying to have no chance to abort the scan in any way. |
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I removed the cancel button (which is default), but I will see if I can make it work gracefully once I put it back. |
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I agree with Estel_ it would be nice to have something like to probe all networkcells and display info about them. Sort of promiscius mode/kismet like for celltowers only.
However I am well aware theres many closed / not documented stuff on this subject, too bad :( Anyway thanks for this program, Ade :) Also, it reminds me of this application for s60/symbian: http://www.patrickfrei.ch/phonetinfo/index.html |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
New version in the opening post, which deals with improving the progress bar while scanning networks.
If I am going to work on it more, refreshing to displayed information will be the focus. P.s. some more screenshots (and info if you can read russian :)) can be found here: http://linuxcenter.kz/page/cellnet-i...emo-nokia-n900 |
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Version 0.0.1-2 now to be found in the openingspost.
This time most values displayed will be updated when they change (signal strength, operator, cell-id etc). As soon as the display is off, changed signal receiving is turned off. This could mean a little battery saving, but also a not 100% accurate state display just after the screen is turned on again. Going through the sources of Netmon was very helpful for me, so thanks to Spag for creating this program. |
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Good. It's the same with the time displayed in hildon-status-bar: it doesn't update itself when the screen is off. Best wishes. |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
As the autobuilder is working again: the latest version is now available in extras-devel.
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Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Can it be used to automate the n900? Lyk invoking actions when it enters specific cells:)
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Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
We have other package for that (actions, when it enters specific cell[s])
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Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Version 0.0.1-3 is send to extras-devel.
A short explanation on the latest change: Choosing "Current cellular info" will show extra information if an internet connection is present. It will search and display the geographic coordinates of the celltower found on opencellid.org. These coordinates are then used to find and display the postal location of the celltower (using maps.googleapis.com data). The info should be updated if the cellid changes. I don't know how thorough the opencellid.org databases is, but it is way to big to store locally on the phone :) |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Hey ade,
thanks for that little nice feature. Not yet updated, so question in advance: is it possible to select/deselect that internet access in settings? If not, I would like to ask for this? (I do not like to spread my coordinates througout the internet without knowing) |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
@peterleinchen, you are spreading your coordinates anyway (through your IP address - granted not as accurate as cell tower location).
If you are concerned, you can always go offline before running cellnet-info. |
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Well, simple "toggle" in options to enable or disable enhanced info (*needs internet connection) wouldn't hurt.
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New version (0.0.1-4) made searching for cell tower location optional.
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Well, in my case the cell tower location showed up a whole 8 minutes off.
Still, thanks for the update ;) |
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Hey ade,
I found a small bug/glitch. When you have a network connection, but that network does not provide full internet access (like behind the "Great Firewall"), then after trying to fetch location info, the program is frozen and needs a restart. Thanks. |
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I now tried to include a 10 seconds timeout. As the autobuilder is stuck frequently (version 0.0.1-6 which fixes a utf-8 issue is still waiting there), could you try cellnet-info_0.0.1-7 for me? Thanks in advance. |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Hey ade,
sorry to say that this does not fix the behaviour. I tried it with 1-6 (which I was informed about to update a week ago) at home, but could not reproduce. So I reinstalled to 1-5, but could also not reproduce (tinkering with local ad-hoc WLAN and my hosts file). Either it worked or I got a pop up. But today I passed a WiFi Hotspot and here I could reproduce it. After pushing "current cellular info" the app is still responding to button pushes, but no action happens anymore. Seems like a endless loop/timeout in background. So my guess is you check via nslookup (or similar) for resolving of hostname and if successful, then try to fetch info? This would explain behaviour I have seen, as this hotspot needs some http site access/registration before you have real internet access. Would like to check myself in sources, but I am a bit handycapped atm. |
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For the record: you did test with cellnet-info version 0.0.1-7 (found in the attachment)? Because that's the one I adapted for this, and you are mentioning reinstalling version 0.0.1-5..
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Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Sorry to barge in like this but don't all net-aware apps suffer the same thing at public hotspots with a login portal? That's at least my experience: email doesn't update. navigation apps can't find themselves, Skype can't log on... until you go to the damn portal and type your creds.
FWIW, I have installed 0.0.1-7 from the attachment and it works fine but I have yet to try it at a local supermarket with such a hotspot. BTW all versions consistently show the cell tower location about 8" (about 8 miles or 13 km) off. That's of course a database error, not yours but I wonder how do such things happen? My provider moved a tower and forgot to update the database? |
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If you really think your cell tower coordinates are incorrect, you could report it at http://www.opencellid.org. Providers keep there celltower locations secret, the information is purely bases on community input. |
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I first tried with 1-6, then reimstalled 1-5 and then of course tested 1-7. @pichlo Yes, a lot of those hotspots work like that. And that is where you may see this behaviour (also/first had it behind a hotel hotspot WITH credentials typed, but China). @ade Sorry, didnt have time to test more, had to catch my train. --edit Checked one more time with 1-7 and it indeed returns. But only after more than 30 seconds. That long time no response at all. |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
I was wondering, if this:
http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...0&postcount=30 ...could be (ab)used to get information about band we're using and show it in cellnet? --- Also, "kinda" request - currently, "signal strength" is funny, I get 100% all the time, despite ~10 dbm differencies. Would it be more sane to calculate it basing on CSQ (which is based on SNR), where CSQ 32 = 100% signal (impossible in real-life), and CSQ 0 = 0% (no signal)? It would give some meaningful results, as current signal strength % is quite useless. Also, just a dumb question - shouldn't it be -n dBm, instead of n dBm? Aren't RSSI ratios presented as negative values (higher = closer to 0 = better)? /Estel |
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dbus-send --system --print-reply --type=method_call --dest=com.nokia.phone.net /com/nokia/phone/net Phone.Net.get_current_cell_info Edit: oh, wait, did you mean "I have no idea" or really "I have now idea"? I missed the "w" in "now" somehow, excuse me... :o |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Sorry, I meant "no idea".
I know this command, but it does not contain the used gsm band :( |
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edit: in fact, Code:
find / -name "*.so*" -print |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
First of all, thanks a lot for your super-fast and detailed reply. As usual, an "ade's mark" of support quality should be stamped on your releases and visible from application manager :)
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That's why, for cellular-network tech oriented communities, those things are considered useless, and they reffer to -dBm *and* it's equivalent CSQ values, exclusively. While CSQ is not ideal (different modem manufacturers assign different things to CSQ=0, aka "no signal"), it is still more real-life useful, because CSQ=32 always mean *true* 100% signal strength (aka unreachable in real life), so any other CSQ - often calculated into %, by community software (as opposed to "vanilla" connection managers), gives some real insight on how close to that theoretical "ideal" our signal is. Also, for our use case, having signal-bar from status menu cloned into % for cellnet-info, is (IMHO) less useful, than having "from zero to theoretical maximum", more precise measurement. Sure, dBm value next to % provides it, but why not have it calculated as % for "on first glance" experience, instead of doing math in our head every time ;) BTW, if at+csq would give same results, it would mean that they really, *REALLY* screwed it. In no way anyone could ever get CSQ=32 (100%), and even CSQ=31 is rarely seen. Meanwhile, we're getting so-called 100% signal strength, as no rarity. Cheers, /Estel // Edit I really appreciate efforts to get band readings, attempted by more knowledgeable ones. I feel it little irritating, that ages-old nokia phones have super-precise readings from their hidden netmon program (do not confuse with N900's netmon in repos, which is just using the same name), including even *channel* (equal value to few MHZ that we're transmitting at), and we're struggling to get band :| But, maybe that's one of limitations we must accept - then, even band response from modem would be nice to have. |
Re: [Announce] Cellnet-Info for N900
Changelog 0.0.1-8:
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* corrected dBm sign
@Estel: These are some numbers I consequently measure in my area: Code:
Signal strength CSQ |
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In case you would like to fix it *without* query'ing CSQ from modem (which gives a little strange replies, anyway), I've prepared a simple algo to calculate CSQ from dBm (which you have access to, already). It is cellular variant, the most commonly used one (at least in cellular network communities): Code:
CSQ 0 = 113dBm Thinking about that, you may skip calculating CSQ entirely - just check lowest and highest dBm values from algo above, and assign percents, from best to worst. /Estel |
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