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Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

nickvsnetworking.com

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Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#91

Post by ashirviskas »

NotMelNoGuitars wrote: post #66

Poking around the config files, AT&T and two other carriers (both of which are subsidiaries, from a quick Google) seem to display 3G connections as if they were 4G: $ grep -r show_4g_for_3g_data_icon_bool assets/ assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1187_AT&T.xml: assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2119_FirstNet.xml: assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1779_Cricket-Wireless.xml: Android documents[0] this flag, which they don't a…

The same is done without modifying Android, likely nearly everywhere in the world, but maybe not every provider. Provider sends a config information of "Network Override" and can make your phone display any network type. I see this happening in Network Survey app (open source) with my provider.

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#92

Post by toast0 »

dawnerd wrote: post #86
hshdhdhehd wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats why I experienced 2 bars equals zero internet today?

Bars really don’t matter. You can have full bars and slow to no internet. You can have one bar but relatively decent internet. Honestly kind of wish the signal display would go away and instead show me when I lose internet.

When you lose internet, you get a ! next to the bars (at least I have on my last few androids). Usually I also have no bars when I lose internet, but sometimes I've got coverage without data flow.

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#93

Post by toast0 »

brewdad wrote: post #64
devmor wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I read this comment on my iPhone 15, I have 1 bar of 5G signal on one esim and 3 bars of signal on the other. This suggests that the issue is not related to Android.

When we visit downtown of our city, I get great data coverage. My wife, on a different model but same gen iPhone and same plan, gets nothing. Her phone shows three or four bars but her apps won't load anything. No idea why, especially since I'm the one who installs ad blockers and such. Her phone is essentially stock.

> My wife, on a different model but same gen iPhone and same plan, gets nothing.

Some generations, different Apple models have pretty different radios. Is there a difference in bands or ?

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#94

Post by Towaway69 »

lovelearning wrote: post #47
TheDong wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't hide from the pickaxe $ git log --oneline -SKEY_INFLATE_SIGNAL_STRENGTH_BOOL | tail gets us the commit [0] from 2020 where config_inflateSignalStrength was renamed to KEY_INFLATE_SIGNAL_STRENGTH_BOOL $ git log --oneline -Sconfig_inflateSignalStrength | tail gets us this commit [1] from 2017 where it was originally added: 43c14d198479 Add config to artificially inflate number of bars [0]: https://android.goo…

The 2017 commit has these code changes: private int getNumLevels() { if (mConfig.inflateSignalStrengths) { return SignalStrength.NUM_SIGNAL_STRENGTH_BINS + 1; } return SignalStrength.NUM_SIGNAL_STRENGTH_BINS; } ... } else if (mCurrentState.connected) { int level = mCurrentState.level; if (mConfig.inflateSignalStrengths) { level++; } return SignalDrawable.getState(level, getNumLevels(), mCurrentState.inetCondition ==…

`KEY_INFLATE_SIGNAL_STRENGTH_BOOL`

Hm - what is the word 'INFLATE' doing there?

I would like to believe your opinion but that word INFLATE makes it hard ...

If it is a UI correction, then surely it would have had a different name: ENSURE_SIGNAL_IS_ONE_BASED ... ;)

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#95

Post by pants2 »

dawnerd wrote: post #86
hshdhdhehd wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats why I experienced 2 bars equals zero internet today?

Bars really don’t matter. You can have full bars and slow to no internet. You can have one bar but relatively decent internet. Honestly kind of wish the signal display would go away and instead show me when I lose internet.

Almost like it should just be a combo of realized ping + internet speed instead of signal strength

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#96

Post by Towaway69 »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #38
Towaway69 wrote: post #26

Don’t worry the camera is only on when the green light is on.

In AirBnB and Booking.com apartments the camera is off when the owner says "don't worry, it's turned off". The camera is turned off even harder when English is not the main language of the country.

In todays world, it advisable to be always wearing nice looking underwear - you just never know when you are being filmed! /s

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#97

Post by waterhouse »

zabumafu wrote: post #39

I implemented the same behavior in a different Google product. I remember the PM working on this feature showing us their research on how iPhones rendered bars across different versions. They had different spectrum ranges, one for each of maybe the last 3 iPhone versions at the time. And overlayed were lines that indicated the "breakpoints" where iPhones would show more bars. And you could clearly see that on every r…

To be sure, is it possible that, on each subsequent iPhone release, the hardware got better at handling weak signals, and thus a mediocre signal for iPhone N was decent for iPhone N+2 and would give great throughput on iPhone N+4?

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#98

Post by Havoc »

The latest iPhone have pushed this to such extremes that it’s become useless as a signal to users.

It’s showing full or near full bars even in places I can’t load light sites like hn properly.

Psychology tricks like these only work if you don’t overdo it

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#99

Post by lifestyleguru »

Towaway69 wrote: post #96
lifestyleguru wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In AirBnB and Booking.com apartments the camera is off when the owner says "don't worry, it's turned off". The camera is turned off even harder when English is not the main language of the country.

In todays world, it advisable to be always wearing nice looking underwear - you just never know when you are being filmed! /s

If the lady in your holiday rental wears matching panties and bra it's not you watching her, she is watching you!

Re: Simple trick to increase coverage: Lying to users about signal strength

#100

Post by pants2 »

metadat wrote: post #2

You know, I don't recall ever seeing 1 bar of signal strength on a smartphone. And once it's down to 2 bars, it barely works, if at all. Human brains: wow, what a bunch of suckers. Damn. By the way, is it legal to be deceptive in this way?

I had a very dangerous 1-bar the other day. You see I was in the Canadian wilderness relying on iPhone text-over-satellite, which works well, but only when you have no signal. I needed to relay a message to the rest of my group when suddenly I find myself with one bar of 3G that was completely and totally inoperable. No messages were getting through. But to make matters worse, since my phone thought it had a bar, it wouldn't activate satellite. I tried every setting and then for 20 minutes hiding behind various rocks to try to get my one bar to go away when finally I found a spot that would let me satellite text again.
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