Offline map to nearby cell towers

Question

How can view a map of cell towers near to me (to get access to data when I don't have cell reception)?

I work a lot while traveling. Many cafes and coworking spaces don't have the best reception at all tables/desks, so it's best to scope out the area and sit very near to the WiFi Access Point (AP) in order to get the best signal strength and avoid packet loss (especially important for video conferencing).

When I arrive to a new cafe, I usually use the WiFi Analyzer app and walk around the cafe measuring signal strength until I pinpoint the exact location of the WiFi Access Point, then I sit in a table directly under it.

I'd like the solution to the above, but for cell towers.

Scenario: I'm driving through the desert, and I suddenly have to join a video conference. I notice that I have no cellular data, and I'm at a 4-way cross roads: each going North, South, East, and West.

I'm looking for an app that has all this data offline and will show me [a] my location and [b] all the nearby cell towers. Ideally, it should tell me if the cell tower will work with my specific mobile provider's SIM card.

I already use OpenStreetMaps for offline maps, so a plugin for OSM would be ideal.

Is there a way to get an offline map of the cell towers near my current location, so I know where to go for the best possible signal and least possible packet loss?

Answer 1

I don't think there is any app available that meets your needs, but there are some apps that may help you at least optimize your connection as you drive around.

OpenCellID.org

This is neither [a] an app [b] offline, nor [c] filterable by provider -- but if you can manage to get some signal at all, then it may be your best bet.

Unfortunately, searching by GPS coordinates is broken (why?), but just load this page (replace the coordinates with your location):

• https://opencellid.org/#zoom=6&lat=XX.XXXXX&lon=YY.YYYYY

That will show you the cell towers. Try to get within line-of-sight and 500 meters to the nearest red blotch, and you'll probably have good internet.

Opensignal

This is a shitty yet very popular app that probably steals & sells all your data.

It displays a compass that "points you" to the nearest cell tower.

And it has a map that displays the cell towers around you. This works half the time.

CellMapper

Another popular crowd-sourced-data app with a map that displays the cell towers around you. Also only works half the time.

RF Signal Tracker

This is a very nice app. It displays lots of techincal data about your cell connectivity, and there's a map to display cell towers nearby. It works half the time.

SatStat

This is an open-source app available on F-Droid. It's mainly just a nice UI for displaying the data currently being reported by your phone's sensors.

One of the tabs of this data is the Networks tab, which shows you:

1. The cid of the cell towers in-range
2. The network type of each tower (eg GSM, LTE, etc)
3. The signal strength of each tower (in dB)

It also has an (offline) map and compass with location (GPS/Glonass) data, but those are not related at all to the Networks tab