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A quick introduction to mapping 5G standalone signals with no access to SA

insertfloppydiskhere

ULTIMATE Member
Right now, as it stands, only two of the four UK operators support 5G standalone and access to SA is extremely limited where you need to be a customer of the main network and have a certain device (plus you might need a new SIM or you might need to win the 5G lottery).

These barriers make it hard to map 5G standalone on Cellmapper, however there is another solution that will work on all networks (even those which haven't launched standalone yet).

Please note: this guide won't work on Pixel 6 series devices (other devices aren't tested but from my own experience and others experiences on the Lebara 4G/WiFiCall thread, it will just revert your settings). Apple devices can't run the apps that we need to use here in case it wasn't obvious. Should work on various Samsung 5G capable devices and I'm pretty confident that it should work on Xiaomi 5G capable ones too.

Important: You will lose signal when forcing your device to 5G standalone if you don't meet the criteria for connecting to SA on your network. If you're planning on doing this when out and about, do it whilst connected to WiFi or on a spare phone since you won't be able to use data or make calls/texts (except those to 999). Proceed at your own risk.




1: To start, if you currently are using your phone with two SIMs inserted, remove one of the SIM cards. This is a necessary procedure for now.

2: Then, you'll need to download two apps from the Play Store, Cellmapper and NetMonster (on some devices, you can skip installing NetMonster altogether and dial *#*#4636#*#* from your phone's dialler application to achieve what we want to do with it but it doesn't work for every device and it is a genuinely useful app).

3: Once it's finished installing, open the Cellmapper application. You'll be prompted to give access to some permissions, make sure to allow them. At this point, if you've never used the application before, I would recommend creating an account but you don't have to (creating an account allows you to move where masts are located from an estimated location to a definite location (if you know where the mast is), unfortunately requires 50K points though). After that, minimize the app (we want to make sure it keeps running in the background).

4: [skip this step if you're able to input *#*#4636#*#* into your phone dialler] Next, we want to open NetMonster. Allow the application to use the permissions requested and if you receive a notification about advertisements, just decline targeted advertising.

In the bottom right hand corner, there's a 3 button menu icon. Tap that, and then tap "phone info".

Shows a bar at the bottom of the screen in NetMonster


Shows buttons for phone info and to exit the app


5: You'll then be greeted with a menu which looks like this. Depending on which SIM slot your SIM card is in, you will want to select "Phone 0" for Slot 1 and "Phone 1" for Slot 2.

Shows phone info on a phone connected to 3 UK


6: In "Set Preferred Network Type", we want to select an option in the drop-down that says "NR only". If you lose signal/roam onto another network at this point, this is intended. You should now be mapping 5G standalone.

You can go back and close the NetMonster app if you want for now.

Shows 3 UK SIM roaming on vodafone UK 5G SA


7: If the Cellmapper app notices that you're connected to 5G SA, you have done all the steps correctly.

Drive around and do whatever you want and try to locate new cells in order to help build a bigger picture of 5G Standalone deployments in the UK.

Caution: be aware that new masts that Cellmapper detects will appear in an estimated location (which if you're a new user, you won't be able to move until 50K points; if you need a mast that you've mapped moving contact me or one of the regular forum members here and we'll be happy to help) and signal trails will appear in the location you're doing this from. If you do not want to leak your home address unintentionally, consider doing this somewhere you're comfortable with.

Cellmapper notification notifying that user is connected to cell 15 on a mast


8: When you're done with mapping 5G Standalone signals for the day, open Cellmapper. Open the hamburger menu and go into the "Upload and Statistics" tab and tap the upload button to upload your data. Once it's uploaded, you can go into the hamburger menu and click "Exit".

Cellmapper upload and statistics tab


9: Go back through steps 4 and 5. This time, for step 5, set preferred network type as "NR/LTE/WCDMA/GSM" (if it's in a different order, that'll work too) to allow access to 2G, 3G or 4G networks again. You should gain signal again once you do this (provided you have signal from your operator in the first place), it should happen within 20 seconds. Close NetMonster at this point.

If you don't regain signal, restarting your device should make everything work properly again.



Hopefully this should be a helpful introduction to 5G SA mapping! If you have any questions, leave a reply below and myself or someone else will be able to help you (although bearing in mind, I can't map 5G SA myself at the moment, screenshots were partially provided by a friend who is able to map 5G SA).
 
Also, it might be helpful but I put together a list of sector IDs for each network, which includes 5G SA ones. Might help confirm information.

 
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Doesn’t seem to work for me on EE, will try with a VF SIM tonight
Depends on device, I recall you having issues doing it on the Motorola (is that the right phone?) in the past right?

Screenshots are from an A73 5G I believe and my own Pixel 6 Pro (which it doesn't work for unfortunately).
 
Excellent guide. There's plenty of unmapped VF SA around me that I'm not able to connect to - silly question but is being on Vodafone enough to map them or do I need a SIM that's SA activated? I only ask because I can 'see' VF SA cells when doing the netmonster trick but cannot get service on them.
 
Excellent guide. There's plenty of unmapped VF SA around me that I'm not able to connect to - silly question but is being on Vodafone enough to map them or do I need a SIM that's SA activated? I only ask because I can 'see' VF SA cells when doing the netmonster trick but cannot get service on them.
1000064846.webp

Hi bon, I managed to map Vodafone SA in Kilwinning with my Lebara SIM.
There's nothing special about that SIM, but it still mapped SA just fine. :)
(Couldn't connect to it of course though)
 
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Excellent guide. There's plenty of unmapped VF SA around me that I'm not able to connect to - silly question but is being on Vodafone enough to map them or do I need a SIM that's SA activated? I only ask because I can 'see' VF SA cells when doing the netmonster trick but cannot get service on them.
The person who provided the screenshots is with SMARTY and they were able to map Vodafone SA

You don't need to get service on them to map it, you can still map cells that you're roaming on for emergency calls regularly anyways
 
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I wonder when they'll just make SA available to connect to for everyone without all the rigmarole, what's the big deal anyway? :rolleyes:
 
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I wonder when they'll just make SA available to connect to for everyone without all the rigmarole, what's the big deal anyway? :rolleyes:
I do agree that it's ridiculous how SA is a lottery on both providers really. From day 1, it should have been made public to MVNOs that already support 5G Standalone and you shouldn't have to have a certain device/contract for it to be activated.

I'm hoping that when EE opens it up, they'll allow some MVNOs to connect to it, but I doubt it.
 
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Tested and it works on Xiaomi (HyperOS specifically - it'll probably work fine on MIUI as well but I had locking problems where it would unlock constantly so good luck)
Yeah, had a feeling it would considering my POCO X3 Pro generally followed the settings I chose (MIUI 13 I think?)

Sucks that I can't pick it up on Vodafone from what I've tried though even with an SA SIM on the Pixel
 
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