Comparing relative signal strength/quality of cell carriers while in the field

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Does anyone have any recommendations for comparing cell network signal strength? In many cases one carrier or another will be superior in a particular area, and it’s not always easy to tell which, other than in retrospect. If this could be determined while in the field setting up a station, then the ideal carrier could be selected. On those services that support that anyway…,.

There seem to be some smartphone apps but they seem only report the current network (unsurprisingly) and not a comparison of different carriers.

Maybe there is a standalone device that could be purchase. Or perhaps something like this could even be built into SensorGnome at some point (@TvE)? Some sort of comparison seems to be possible on modems with an AT command .

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On Android I tend to use network signal guru, it provides info on cell towers visible to the phone. I don’t know about comparing carriers, however.

WRT adding to SGv2, that sounds like a feature request. I read yesterday that ModemManager added better support for scanning for cell towers, so maybe I can make it work…