Understanding Cellular Connectivity

Understanding your hardware's cellular connection is key when knowing where to place your AGI SureTrack equipment. 

While looking at the “bars” of signal on your phone has been a way to quickly assess the quality or strength of your signal, it does not provide a complete picture. Signal bars on your iPhone or Android device are only a representation of your cell signal strength, but these bars can vary, and often depend on the manufacturer and model of your phone. 

Some phones assign values differently to their “bar” graphics. Two bars on an iPhone may be getting a stronger signal than an Android device showing 3 bars in the same location. Like a fuel gauge, it is a general idea or estimation, not an exact measure.  

To get a clearer idea of the cellular connectivity in your location, you can use your phones field test mode.  

iPhone Field Test Mode 

iPhone users can also view a signal strength reading by accessing their iPhone Field Test Mode. Below are instructions to enact the field test mode on iPhone. 
*Instructions may not work for iPhone’s using iOS 11 and higher. 

• Turn off Wifi
• Key in *3001#12345#*
• Press call
• Tap: Serving Cell Measurements
• Scroll down to: Measured rsrp0
• Add +20 dBm to the resulting number (example -102 shown would be -82 dBm) 

Tip: When taking signal readings, move to the location where you want to take the reading, wait for 30 to 60 seconds for the signal readings to catch up, and then record the signal strength and network type (2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, etc.). 

Android Field Test Mode 

Most Android phone models allow the user to view signal strength readings by navigating the device’s menu tree. Accessing Field test mode on Android phones is also straightforward. 

• Go to “Settings” > “About Phone”
• Your numerical signal strength will be available under either Network or Status, depending on the model of the phone you own.
• Being able to find the right menu screen varies across phone manufacturers, models and versions of Android OS.
• A typical navigation sequence is Settings – About Phone – Status or Network – Signal Strength or Network Type and Strength. 

Alternate navigation sequence for some Android phones is Settings > More Options or More Settings > About Phone > Mobile Networks > Signal Strength. Some experimenting with the menus on your Android phone should get you a dBm reading that’s reliable. 

Tip: Android phones will read only one network at a time. If you have 4G network access, that’s the default dBm reading your phone will display. If there’s no 4G service at the moment, the reading will default to 3G. 

After following either of the instructions above, if you’re unable to determine your device’s signal strength reading, check the operations guide that came with your device. 

Should you have issues with Cellular Connectivity with any AGI SureTrack hardware, contact your AGI SureTrack Coach, or sales representative.