Page 1 of 1

Cell tower look up, not sure what to use for LAC and Cell ID

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:22 pm
by RiverRocksWV
Hello. I'm new to the forum and to this entire knowledge base.

I'm trying to look up the cell tower that is giving me 1 bar at our cabin on a Cudy LT500D router with a Verizon data plan. What I was able to capture the last time I was at the cabin (before discovering this forum) is listed below along with my questions.

MCC: 311
MNC: 480
LAC: Should I use the zip code?
Cell ID: ICAFD03 - This doesn't show a numeric value like I've seen on various posts on this forum.

Thank you.

Re: Cell tower look up, not sure what to use for LAC and Cell ID

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 8:52 am
by Didneywhorl
What site/tools are you using to map it out?

The cell ID is in hexadecimal, though i is likely a 1, as there is no i or L in hex. You can convert it to decimal with converters and calculators if needed: 30080259

Re: Cell tower look up, not sure what to use for LAC and Cell ID

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 3:01 pm
by RiverRocksWV
Thank you. You are correct, it was a typo. The Cell ID is 1CAFD03, and I plan on using https://opencellid.org/.

I am still unable to find the tower. The information I have was pulled from the Cudy LT500D web interface.

What value is for LAC?

Thank you.

Re: Cell tower look up, not sure what to use for LAC and Cell ID

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2023 7:12 pm
by Didneywhorl
The LAC value is a sort of grouping ID# of all the radios that are of the same broadcast service on a single tower, if I recall correctly. Finding the number can be tough.

The Quectel EC25 (The modem inside the LT500) doesn't really support querying that specific metric, if I am not mistaken.

I would manually search for your towers with https://www.cellmapper.net/, using a desktop web browser. Right click on the map and select the carrier you are wanting to find. Then move the map around until you find your location (or search for your zip code / town name)