Field Test 4G Mobile Signal Strength

Want to know if Outdoor 4G Router works for you? Do a simple field test on your mobile phone by use your mobile phone to check the signal quality outside your house.

Step 1
Go outdoor your home or office with your mobile phone.

Step 2
Disable Wi-Fi connection on your mobile phone, then you to see what network you’re connecting to (2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, etc.).

Step 3
Take note of signal bars and the symbol in the status bar of your mobile phone and compare with below chart.

Symbol	Mobile Networks	Voice Call	Internet Speed	Email & Notification	Video
G	GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)	Yes	50Kbits/s	Yes	No
E	EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Evolution)	Yes	100Kbits/s	Yes	No
3G	Third Generation also known as UMTS / WCDMA / CDMA2000	Yes	2Mbits/s	Yes	Yes
H/H+	HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access)	Yes	10-100Mbits/s	Yes	Yes
4G (LTE)	Fourth generation or Long term evolution also known as LTE or WiMax	Yes	100Mbits/s+	Yes	Yes
No Symbol	If signal bars get more than 1 bar you can use voice call	N/A	No	No	No

In your mobile phone, you can read signal bars followed by carrier name and network symbol which usually maxes 5~8 bars. To measure mobile phone’s signal reception in exact decibels instead of bars or dots, you can follow step 4 to enter Field Test Mode in mobile phones.

Step 4 – in iPhone iOS 12

i. Go into the Phone app and switch to the Keypad. Dial *3001#12345#* and press Call button.
It will launch the Field Test Mode app on your mobile phone.

ii. In the latest iOS 12, tap on Serving Cell Measurements.

iii. Look for Measured RSSI with numerical measurement of the iPhone 4G LTE cellular signal strength in dBm.

RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indicator
RSRP stands for Reference Signal Received Power
RSRQ stands for Reference Signal Received Quality

Step 4 – in Android Smartphone

Go to Settings > About Phone > Status > SIM Status and numerical signal strength will be available on either network or status which depends on the model of phone.

You can also use apps to show signal strength in decibels in Android phones.

Remarks:

1) The numerical value of 2G / 3G / 4G H+ networks is RSSI standard which is Received Signal Strength Indicator. LTE network is RSRP standard which is Reference Signal Receive Power. Hence, you need to turn off LTE on your mobile phone before entering Field Test Mode.

2) Decibel signal strengths will be negative 2~3 digits. Unit of measurement is dB. If your phone show a number such as 98, the actual signal strength is -98dB. The closer the number is to zero, the better the reception, so -90dB is a stronger signal than -100dB.

Signal bars VS decibel signal strength

Signal Bars	iPhone Mobile	Nokia Phone
5	> -85 dBm	> -91 dBm
4	-85 ~ -90 dBm	-91 ~ -101 dBm
3	-90 ~ -95 dBm	-101 ~ -103 dBm
2	-95 ~ -100 dBm	-103 ~ -107 dBm
1	-100 ~ -105 dBm	-107 ~ -113 dBm
0	< -105 dBm	< -113 dBm

4G LTE Bands and Frequencies

4G mobile phone networks has two different standards FDD LTE and TDD LTE. Both of them are used to maximize the available bandwidth.

FDD LTE uses a paired spectrum with different frequencies to transmitting (uplink) and receiving (downlink) signals simultaneously. TDD LTE uses unpaired spectrum because the working frequency for transmitting (uplink) and receiving (downlink) is exactly same.

4G FDD-LTE

FDD-LTE Band	Uplink	Downlink	Band Width	Duplex Spacing	Guard Band
B1	1920 – 1980 MHz	2110 – 2170 MHz	60 MHz	190 MHz	130 MHz
B2	1850 – 1910 MHz	1930 – 1990 MHz	60 MHz	80 MHz	20 MHz
B3	1710 – 1785 MHz	1805 – 1880 MHz	75 MHz	95 MHz	20 MHz
B4	1710 – 1755 MHz	2110 – 2155 MHz	45 MHz	400 MHz	355 MHz
B5	824 – 849 MHz	869 – 894 MHz	25 MHz	45 MHz	20 MHz
B6	830 – 840 MHz	875 – 885 MHz	10 MHz	35 MHz	25 MHz
B7	2500 – 2570 MHz	2620 – 2690 MHz	70 MHz	120 MHz	50 MHz
B8	880 – 915 MHz	925 – 960 MHz	35 MHz	45 MHz	10 MHz
B9	1749.9 – 1784.9 MHz	1844.9 – 1879.9 MHz	35 MHz	95 MHz	60 MHz
B10	1710 – 1770 MHz	2110 – 2170 MHz	60 MHz	400 MHz	340 MHz
B11	1427.9 – 1452.9 MHz	1475.9 – 1500.9 MHz	20 MHz	48 MHz	28 MHz
B12	698 – 716 MHz	728 – 746 MHz	18 MHz	30 MHz	12 MHz
B13	777 – 787 MHz	746 – 756 MHz	10 MHz	– 31 MHz	41 MHz
B14	788 – 798 MHz	758 – 768 MHz	10 MHz	– 30 MHz	40 MHz
B15	1900 – 1920 MHz	2600 – 2620 MHz	20 MHz	700 MHz	680 MHz
B16	2010 – 2025 MHz	2585 – 2600 MHz	15 MHz	575 MHz	560 MHz
B17	704 – 716 MHz	734 – 746 MHz	12 MHz	30 MHz	18 MHz
B18	815 – 830 MHz	860 – 875 MHz	15 MHz	45 MHz	30 MHz
B19	830 – 845 MHz	875 – 890 MHz	15 MHz	45 MHz	30 MHz
B20	832 – 862 MHz	791 – 821 MHz	30 MHz	– 41 MHz	71 MHz
B21	1447.9 – 1462.9 MHz	1495.9 – 1510.9 MHz	15 MHz	48 MHz	33 MHz
B22	3410 – 3500 MHz	3510 – 3600 MHz	90 MHz	100 MHz	10 MHz
B23	2000 – 2020 MHz	2180 – 2200 MHz	20 MHz	180 MHz	160 MHz
B24	1625.5 – 1660.5 MHz	1525 – 1559 MHz	34 MHz	– 101.5 MHz	135.5 MHz
B25	1850 – 1915 MHz	1930 – 1995 MHz	65 MHz	80 MHz	15 MHz
B26	814 – 849 MHz	859 – 894 MHz	35 MHz	45 MHz	10 MHz
B27	807 – 824 MHz	852 – 869 MHz	17 MHz	45 MHz	28 MHz
B28	703 – 748 MHz	758 – 803 MHz	45 MHz	55 MHz	10 MHz
B29	N/A	717 – 728 MHz	11 MHz	N/A	N/A
B30	2305 – 2315 MHz	2350 – 2360 MHz	10 MHz	45 MHz	35 MHz
B31	452.5 – 457.5 MHz	462.5 – 467.5 MHz	5 MHz	10 MHz	5 MHz

4G TDD-LTE

TDD-LTE Band	Frequency	Band Width
B33	1900 – 1920 MHz	20 MHz
B34	2010 – 2025 MHz	15 MHz
B35	1850 – 1910 MHz	60 MHz
B36	1930 – 1990 MHz	60 MHz
B37	1910 – 1930 MHz	20 MHz
B38	2570 – 2620 MHz	50 MHz
B39	1880 – 1920 MHz	40 MHz
B40	2300 – 2400 MHz	100 MHz
B41	2496 – 2690 MHz	194 MHz
B42	3400 – 3600 MHz	200 MHz
B43	3600 – 3800 MHz	200 MHz
B44	703 – 803 MHz	100 MHz

Technical Benefits