GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

Hello everybody,

Since i have my N900, i am searching for a Netmonitor/Fieldtestdisplay application.
I was absolutely sure there will be something like this when i bought it because its linux and open source.Therefore i have not sought about this before. that was a mistake.
There is Netmon, but its really simple, not what i am looking for.
The best would be an application like FTD in Symbian.
This must be possible, the values are in the unit. Otherwise you could not make a call in the cellular network.
Is it possible to show this data in the terminal ?
I need the neighbour cells CI and RSSI. Without this there is no real netmonitor.
How works the phone with the OS ?
Ist there a device /dev/phone0 or something ?
If so it should be possible to read out the data.
I have to say that I have not much knowledge, otherwise I would have found out myself.
Can anybody help me with this please ? Or is there already a solution i dont know ?

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

The modem stack is closed, so no, there is nothing like 'netmonitor' or 'field test'

As an end user why do you need to know about neighboring cell sites? I can understand being interested for the geek factor, but you use the word 'need' - please elaborate if you will good sir.

I imagine you just 'want it' rather than any actual real need - I say this not because I'm trying to make you feel bad, just that if you had the depth of understanding needed to make sense of netmonitor, you perhaps wouldn't have opened this thread. GSM is terribly complicated behind the scenes, it can take years to understand even if you are in the trade working directly on the tech.

No disrespect, it's cool to want to learn - but keep in mind this is ~NOT~ a shortcoming - no phone is supposed to offer these features to end users. They are engineering modes that were either leaked from Nokia or applications obtained from Nokia & network providers without permission.

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

The only thing (afaik) you can get out from documented interfaces is the current cell tower id and some network codes. And you can listen to the signal strength changes going by in dbus.

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

I guess he wants to lock and use neighbor tower which have better connectivity (EDGE there and gprs here) and so forth.

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

I had the same question back in February, and appears I received the same response, no one seems to have much information on this subject. This was super easy in Windows CE (Mobile) phones, it's a shame an advanced linux based phone doesn't have this informational type tool.

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=43794

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

first, thank you for answering.

I dont really need this like food or a doctor, its for fun.
sometimes i walk around and write down the cell ids and channels in my city to get an overview of the networks. for this i use the symbian FTD application with the N95. i also take pictures of the antenna installation and the towers. to have control over the channel the phone use is an interesting aspect too.
but I would not recommend to use this for heavy data transfers to often. sometimes the channels are used at several locations in one city or region so you interfere with other sites you dont know if
you lock the channel to a station what is not responsible for your area.
But sometimes you can have a call through any site on a hill, skyscraper or high tower up to 35 kilometers / 22 miles for fun.
Or switch to a station outside the city when the network is overloaded.
I like radiocommunication, its my hobby. i know that sounds funny for some but i am not the only one who does this.
After years of looking at this values while walking or driving around and searching new sites and i know much about the propagation of radio waves at this frequencies and antennas.
I also used fm radios for a long time and construct antennas for everything that transmitts or receives.

but its just for fun. sorry i am a (radio)geek. :)

now i know that there is no way get information about anything exept the cell-id and rssi. this is a pity.

i hope my english isnt to bad.


best regards

antennenmann

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

What about the app called Netmon?

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

Netmon works, but it's a lot more simple, I think, than what he wants. Nevertheless, it is probably the closest we have right now. Antennenmann, try netmon, see if it works for you. And if you have any GMS experience/understanding on a software level, perhaps you can find some coders who are willing to work with you on something like reverse engineering the networking stack, seeing how much we can get out of it.

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

netmon is installed on the device. at least we can see the cid and rssi. better then nothing but not enough.
I know how GSM works and understand the mechanical, electronic and radio part but i dont have experience in software and programming so far.

Re: GSM/UMTS Netmonitor
 

nothing new in this topic ?