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How do I get the 5G connection info Cell Mapper

5G-INFINITY

Casual Member
Hi,

New to all this, but hoping someone can answer my question or guide me to an existing thread if appropriate.

Question: using Cell Mapper apk & a Moto G50 5G LTE NSA phone, how do I get the 5G connection info. The cell mapper gives the 4G band/frequency (Band (1) 2100MHz) info & confirms that I have a 5G connection (‘5G state NOT RESTRICTED’) but no 5G info. I am using the Three network & can obtain impressive downloads when close to the Cell mast (Ookla speed test: 796 Mb/s Download, 70.1 Mb/s Upload), however, there is no mention of the Three 5G band band 3600-4000MHz. ( I realise that other 5G bands such as 700MHz are available in certain areas)​

I thought that NSA (Non Stand alone) mode meant that signalling/ protocol handling was being handled by the 4G network, but the actual download & upload were handled by the 5G network on its own band/frequency i.e. no aggregation of bands as in 4G+.

Any help appreciated.
 
Hi 5G-INFINITY,

Just as a 'for future use', you may like to visit the Mobile Broadband forum for all router, cellmapper, antenna, 4G / 5G related topics. 😊

It can be found here.....

You'll get plenty of assistance in there I'm sure.
 
I thought that NSA (Non Stand alone) mode meant that signalling/ protocol handling was being handled by the 4G network, but the actual download & upload were handled by the 5G network on its own band/frequency i.e. no aggregation of bands as in 4G+.
NSA means the download is NR+LTE and the upload is LTE. The easiest way to think about it is NR being another band to aggregate to 4G+ although this isn't really how it works deep down. I see my phone connecting to B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. The extra 4G bands provide even more speed to the NR and also all of the upload speed. NR Standalone will have 5G download and Upload capability so that 4G will have nothing to do with it. The speed benefit of NR on Three is the extra spectrum. With B1,B3,B32 I already have 45MHz of 4G spectrum (B1@10MHz, B3@15MHz, B32@20MHz). If I add NR onto this (Three's n78 is a single 100MHz block so all 5G phones support good speeds), I get 145MHz of spectrum all to use toward my speeds. People have seen over 1Gbit on Three with this ammount of spectrum.

Other networks (largely EE but also Vodafone) use 4G to make up a lot of their spectrum as EE's n78 5G is only @ 40MHz so it's not as quick. EE have lots of 4G spectrum however so they add it up to the 5G (B1, B3, B3, B7). I'm not too clued up on EEs 5G as it is a huge rarity in Yorkshire and I've never really had the chance to test it. Three 5G is virtually everywhere here though so I've had lots of time to test.
 
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NSA means the download is NR+LTE and the upload is LTE. The easiest way to think about it is NR being another band to aggregate to 4G+ although this isn't really how it works deep down. I see my phone connecting to B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. The extra 4G bands provide even more speed to the NR and also all of the upload speed. NR Standalone will have 5G download and Upload capability so that 4G will have nothing to do with it. The speed benefit of NR on Three is the extra spectrum. With B1,B3,B32 I already have 45MHz of 4G spectrum (B1@10MHz, B3@15MHz, B32@20MHz). If I add NR onto this (Three's n78 is a single 100MHz block so all 5G phones support good speeds), I get 145MHz of spectrum all to use toward my speeds. People have seen over 1Gbit on Three with this ammount of spectrum.

Other networks (largely EE but also Vodafone) use 4G to make up a lot of their spectrum as EE's n78 5G is only @ 40MHz so it's not as quick. EE have lots of 4G spectrum however so they add it up to the 5G (B1, B3, B3, B7). I'm not too clued up on EEs 5G as it is a huge rarity in Yorkshire and I've never really had the chance to test it. Three 5G is virtually everywhere here though so I've had lots of time to test.

Hi,

Many thanks for a very rapid & comprehensive reply. However you state 'I see my phone connecting to B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. ' Is that an apk and if so what apk do you use?

Alternatively is it due to a high end phone as opposed to my humble moto G50? Apologises if asking the obvious but new to this game.
 
NSA means the download is NR+LTE and the upload is LTE. The easiest way to think about it is NR being another band to aggregate to 4G+ although this isn't really how it works deep down. I see my phone connecting to B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. The extra 4G bands provide even more speed to the NR and also all of the upload speed. NR Standalone will have 5G download and Upload capability so that 4G will have nothing to do with it. The speed benefit of NR on Three is the extra spectrum. With B1,B3,B32 I already have 45MHz of 4G spectrum (B1@10MHz, B3@15MHz, B32@20MHz). If I add NR onto this (Three's n78 is a single 100MHz block so all 5G phones support good speeds), I get 145MHz of spectrum all to use toward my speeds. People have seen over 1Gbit on Three with this ammount of spectrum.

Other networks (largely EE but also Vodafone) use 4G to make up a lot of their spectrum as EE's n78 5G is only @ 40MHz so it's not as quick. EE have lots of 4G spectrum however so they add it up to the 5G (B1, B3, B3, B7). I'm not too clued up on EEs 5G as it is a huge rarity in Yorkshire and I've never really had the chance to test it. Three 5G is virtually everywhere here though so I've had lots of time to test.
That's not entirely true since Three does use n78 for upstream as well, took this screenshot to show a friend how wrong fast.com is but it's an example of NR being used for upstream.

Screenshot_20220721-130208_Network_Signal_Guru.webp
 
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That's not entirely true since Three does use n78 for upstream as well, took this screenshot to show a friend how wrong fast.com is but it's an example of NR being used for upstream.

View attachment 2924
They don't use n78 for upstream.... it just doesn't work like that. It's like using B32 4G to upload - it just doesn't work.

EDIT A LONG TIME LATER -
god I was so arrogant lol, yes it does work like that but the signal has to be very strong for 5G to uplink.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Many thanks for a very rapid & comprehensive reply. However you state 'I see my phone connecting to B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. ' Is that an apk and if so what apk do you use?

Alternatively is it due to a high end phone as opposed to my humble moto G50? Apologises if asking the obvious but new to this game.
Bands aren't an APK or an app... Bands are what networks output and that your phone connects to. The Moto G50 has a very good Snapdragon modem which may well be better than the modem in my S20+ as it's an older phone now. it will more than support these bands.
 
Bands aren't an APK or an app... Bands are what networks output and that your phone connects to. The Moto G50 has a very good Snapdragon modem which may well be better than the modem in my S20+ as it's an older phone now. it will more than support these bands.
Hi,

Sorry I didn't express myself very well. I simply meant how did you physically see, presumably on your phone screen, that you were connected to 'B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. '
 
Hi,

Sorry I didn't express myself very well. I simply meant how did you physically see, presumably on your phone screen, that you were connected to 'B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. '
You need a rooted phone and an app capable of reading the baseband. e.g. Network Signal Guru. But if you don't have a supported and rooted phone you won't see anything.
 
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As above, n78 can, and does, transmit UL data, but it's much more signal dependant than DL. Your device is much less powerful talking back to the mast at the 3500Mhz frequency than lower frequency 4G bands are (blame physics!). Which is why sometimes you see great 5G DL but poor (B20 driven) UL speeds, when the UL can't use n78 and it's latched to B20 as primary (no 4G UL carrier aggregation available on Three yet)
 
Hi,

Sorry I didn't express myself very well. I simply meant how did you physically see, presumably on your phone screen, that you were connected to 'B1,B3,B32+n78 when using 5G NSA. '
I use a Samsung and you can see the bands connected etc by dialling the short code *#0011#. This only works on Samsung devices however unfortunately. Also, I stand corrected on the n78 upload, sorry for the misinformation, I must have missed Gavin's post.
 
I thought that NSA (Non Stand alone) mode meant that signalling/ protocol handling was being handled by the 4G network, but the actual download & upload were handled by the 5G network on its own band/frequency i.e. no aggregation of bands as in 4G+.

Any help appreciated.
And there was me thinking NSA stood for Not Stand Alone, instead it uses the French for No.

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