EE 4G Router Cell Identifier

[idb01]

I have been using 4G EE Broadband successfully for 12 months. I can see the cell mast 400 yards away and the router has clear line of sight. However I have experienced slow broadband / no broadband in the past and the help desk have identified I'm connected on occasion to a mast some miles away. How can I find the Cell Identifier ( Cell ID ) in the router settings for use in https://www.cellmapper.net/enbid 

[Jon_K]

Hi @idb01.

Does it help when you restart the router, or go into settings and perform a manual network search?

Jon

[idb01]

Restarting the router can improve the speed sometimes, but I really want to determine which cell or mast the router is picking up. So the question is what feature on the EE 4 G router will enable me to determine the CELL ID or CELL IDENTIFIER. EE help desk can determine it remotely, as an end user how do I determine the CELL ID?

[wardi]

I have a 4GEE router, it always connects to the same/strongest signal mast unless there is a problem.  On one occasion the signal dropped to less than 10Mbps due to an outage; the router then tried to find a stronger signal from a mast further away.  Otherwise it should always connect to the same mast.  I use the Network Cell Info app occasionally, the map page shows which mast you are attached to.

[XRaySpeX]

The router's settings  won't show the Cell ID of the connected mast but there are apps available to find this info.

[idb01]

The reason for asking about identifying the mast with the cell ID was because the router had a speed related issue. In the past the speed reduced because it was connecting to a mast some miles away, rather than the nearest some 100 yards away. The speed dropped to 0.81mbps yesterday 24/11/20. My initial thoughts were it had connected to the distant mast again. However I reported a fault and EE are now working on the nearest mast to fix a fault. Thought it might be useful to determine which mast I was connected to before assuming the local mast was faulty.

[bristolian]

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@wardi wrote:

 I use the Network Cell Info app occasionally, the map page shows which mast you are attached to.

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The mapping data on Network Cell Info is somewhere between unreliable and plain wrong, I wouldn't put any trust or weight on the location data given in it.

As far as @idb01 issues go, if you've used the "report a problem" link on the status checker, this will send details to EE network teams who will check the network sites in your area.

If you continue to have issues after trying this, I would recommend calling EE C/S and speaking to second-line tech agents who have access to more detailed diagnostic tools and should be able to make the appropriate checks.

[wardi]

Sorry Bristolian but that is not my experience with that app.  When I had the outage mentioned above (speed down from 80-90 Mbps to less than 10Mbps one Saturday morning) I opened the app and the map section showed that my nearest mast (less than a mile away) had completely disconnected and my 4G router was trying to connect to another mast a few miles away.  Armed with this info I reported a fault to EE and it was fixed within 12 hours.  So very useful indeed in my experience.  I will take your word that the location isn't always 100% accurate as I have only used it locally. 

[bristolian]

The radio-stack data within Network Cell Info is fine, along with the same data obtainable from a few other similar apps.

It's the mapping data that is (at best) dubious, there are other apps that are much better.

[idb01]

Really useful to get all the input from contributors - thank you. The Network Cell Info app appears only on the Google / Android platform; I use an iPhone. I'm going to try the Network Analyzer wifi cell info app on the Apple Store which has 632 reviews with an average rating over 4 stars. If it reports the cell id data and cell location I'll report it back on this thread. BTW EE reported they had fixed the local cell fault yesterday and I'm back up running at >40mb

Cheers