MAX-BR1 cellular signal strength displayed?

Product Discussion Pepwave MAX
1

In doing some connectivity troubleshooting on MAX-BR1 units it seems as if the bargraph display always indicates the 1xRTT RSSI strength at the top versus EV-DO RSSI. Currently I have a unit connected at 3G showing “two bars” of signal strength on Dashboard and inControl2 and looking at the cellular details page under “Signal Strength” at the top it shows RSSI: -101dBm SINR: 3dB which seems to match the “two bar” value displayed.

But If I scroll down the connection details I see:
1xRTT RSSI = -101dBm
EV-DO RSSI = -86dBm

Since I’m connected at 3G not 2G shouldn’t the correct value and bargraph display be the EV-DO RSSI -86dBm value?
Performance wise the connection acts like a -86dBm connection but the bargraph seems to indicate otherwise.

Can anyone clarify the values for me?

Thanks,

Mike Wheeler

2

Hi Mike,

Thanks for you enquiry.

The EV-DO RSSI and 1xRTT RSSI are 3G and 2G signal strength respectively.
Both signal can be obtained even you are not connecting to 2G.

We understand that the “Signal Strength” showed on the cellular details menu is misleading, we will correct it.
You can refer to EV-DO RSSI for 3G signal at this moment.

Thanks,
Samuel

3

Thanks for the reply Samuel. For clarification then I’m assuming the “bargraph” display on both the devices dashboard and the “bargraph” displayed on the inControl2 device management page is actually displaying 2G strength even though the device is connected at 3G? The reason I’m so particular about knowing true signal strength is in our testing the signal strength of an installed device greatly affects the performance, reliability, and packets dropped of a cellular connection so we monitor it closely. I would like to see the RSSI dBm and SINR displayed on the devices dashboard and on inControl2 or even available by hovering the mouse over the bargraph. I also would like to see signal strength displayed on the main device list in inControl2. Currently you have to go into each individual device to see current signal strength which takes a lot of time. For me this information would be much more useful then the “Usage” column for data usage. With cellular providers reconfiguring their towers and changing their networks a fixed install may have great signal strength at the time of install but gets weak after the provider makes a change to their network. Also with the Sunset of 2G service in the US we see 2G service being removed from towers weekly so displaying 2G strength by default can cause false concern that the device has poor signal strength when in fact the 3G signal is good.

4

Hi Mike,

Yes, signal bar displayed on dashboard and InControl2 is 2G signal.

Thanks,
Samuel