AIO / AT&T Tower Selection Algorithm

[N4Newbie]

I started my Nexus 4 on one of the T-Mobile super-cheap plans and was quite happy with it except for the poor building penetration typical with T-Mobile's network. I switched both my and my wife's Nexus 4's to AIO Wireless two months ago and I am now using AIO on my new Nexus 5.

What I noticed immediately with AIO is that our in-home signal varies wildly from 0-1 bar to 4-5 bars, even when sitting in the exact same location. With the help of the Network Signal Info app ( https://forums.androidcentral.com/e.../store/apps/d...android.telnet&token=4Ei_Jpzh ), I found the cause - our phones constantly switch between 5 different towers in my area, the nearest about 900 meters from my home and the furthest nearly 3,000 meters. One of these towers always gives a very strong signal; two of them are very weak, and the other two typically come in at 3 bars.

The annoying factor here is that both my Nexus 5 and my wife's Nexus 4 are as likely as not to settle in on one of the poor connections and stay there for minutes or hours; I have even missed calls because my phone lost signal entirely. Meanwhile, there are these perfectly good towers on my network and within range, but the phones ignore them. Why don't the phones lock on to the best available towers instead of one of the worst? Is this an issue with the phones (remember, happens with both the N4 and now with the N5), or an AIO/AT&T issue?

Very frustrating.

 

[Gekko]

Re: AIO / AT&T Tower Selection

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-5/332496-aio-poor-signal.html

 

[N4Newbie]

Re: AIO / AT&T Tower Selection

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-5/332496-aio-poor-signal.html

Yeah, I know.

I'm mostly curious about the tower-switching algorithm and whether it is a phone bug (?) or an AT&T tower load-management scheme.

 

[dan1431]

While I am not at your house or for that matter experiencing the same issue, I might have a potential answer for you and the others around here.

I have a background in RF Engineering and this sounds like to me the issue with unbranded handsets.

The radio firmware is written to basically work with all carriers and therefore the radio profile is more elastic with what is considers marginal signal levels to ensure that your handset always has service.

Essentially there are multiple cell sites in the area and each are not weak enough for the phone to ignore them so it hands off from one cell site to the next ad infinitum.

Just a potential thought,
Dan

 

[N4Newbie]

While I am not at your house or for that matter experiencing the same issue, I might have a potential answer for you and the others around here.

I have a background in RF Engineering and this sounds like to me the issue with unbranded handsets.

The radio firmware is written to basically work with all carriers and therefore the radio profile is more elastic with what is considers marginal signal levels to ensure that your handset always has service.

Essentially there are multiple cell sites in the area and each are not weak enough for the phone to ignore them so it hands off from one cell site to the next ad infinitum.

Just a potential thought,
Dan

Thanks for your thoughts.

The weird thing is, I don't have this problem at my office - only at home. At work, no matter when I think to check on it, it seems that I am always connected to the same tower (according to Network Signal Info). Signal is full five bars in my office and drops as low as one bar as I move through the building; only in the far corners of the basement (where T-Mo gave me nothing but grief) do I find myself on a different tower.

But at home I constantly bounce between five different towers two of which are very weak (zero or at most 1 bar), even while sitting absolutely still in the same chair; it is very annoying.

 

[nelhop]

Has anyone tried one of the signal booster apps? Do they work?

 

[Gekko]

why don't you stop F'ing around with AIO and their silly algorithms and just move to AT&T GoPhone and be treated like a first class citizen for once? pay the extra $5 a month.

 

[N4Newbie]

why don't you stop F'ing around with AIO and their silly algorithms and just move to AT&T GoPhone and be treated like a first class citizen for once? pay the extra $5 a month.

Because I don't know that it is an AIO problem. Could just as easily be an AT&T issue, since all of the towers in question are operated by AT&T. And, for that matter, it could be an Android/Nexus problem. It is also possible that I am being screwed by an abundance of towers surrounding my home...

Anyway, my next month on AIO will be free (promotion; third month free). After I have used that up I may switch to GoPhone - or maybe not.

 

[dan1431]

Thanks for your thoughts.

The weird thing is, I don't have this problem at my office - only at home. At work, no matter when I think to check on it, it seems that I am always connected to the same tower (according to Network Signal Info). Signal is full five bars in my office and drops as low as one bar as I move through the building; only in the far corners of the basement (where T-Mo gave me nothing but grief) do I find myself on a different tower.

But at home I constantly bounce between five different towers two of which are very weak (zero or at most 1 bar), even while sitting absolutely still in the same chair; it is very annoying.

It is entirely possible that the cell site providing the service at your office is maybe the only one in the area or just so much stronger than the other cell sites around it that your phone does not handoff to other cell sites.

Dan