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Forum Discussion
bkph
Jan 13, 2021Follower
LBR20 bugs and suggested improvements
Sadly, there seems to be no way to provide technical feedback to NETGEAR's impenetrable fortress :-). So I'll list some shortcomings and some suggestions for the LBR20 here in the hope someone will s...
bkphorn
Apr 24, 2021Aspirant
OK, so in firmware release 2.6.3.50 the uplink and downlink frequencies
(in the "Connection Status" window RST_conn_status.htm) are differrent and correct.. Thank you!
But even in the very recent firmware 2.6.4.2 the other shortcomings remain:
The third line down in that window under "Mobile Information" shows the LAC (in hexadecimal), but the much more useful CID (cell ID) is not shown (*)
Instead in the fourth line, which is labelled "Cell ID" it shows the physical cell ID (PCI) which is also not very useful (**). Please show the actual cell ID (CID).
(*) Hundreds of base stations share the "local area code" (LAC) so this doesn't tell you which tower you are connected to. An illustration of how unhelpful this is, comsider that Google geolocation API accepts MCC, MNC, LAC and CID and returns latitude and longitude, but ignores LAC (since it is not needed if you know the CID, and since it may change as a carrier reassigns towers)!
(**) The physical cell ID (PCI) is a number between 0 and 1007 for LTE, assigned locally to be unique amongst local base stations (and may change when needed to avoid overlap of base stations using the same PCI). The same PCI corresponds to many thousands of base stations in different locations. Again not directly helpful in identifying cell towers.
So please show the actial cell ID (CID). Ideally, show all three: LAC:CID:PCI
To be complete it would be good to know MCC and MNC as well.
With MVNO's like "Google Fi" these are not fixed by what SIM card you are using, but may change (e.g. 310:260 for T-Mobile, 311:480 for U.S.Cellular,310:410 for AT&T etc.)
bkphorn
Sep 03, 2021Aspirant
Re: LBR20
Great! In firmware release 2.6.5.2, Cell ID now shows the CID, and MCC and MNC are also shown. So that just leaves TimingAdvance (TA), which in LTE can be very helpful in locating the cell tower/antenna one is connected to.
P.S. Very annoying that you insist on "Model" in this web form, but then do not accept LBR20 or list LBR20. It is a Netgear product.