Can I really tell where the tower is that I'm connected to? I've been having some difficulty keeping a reliable connection at my house, so I installed the OpenSignal app to see what might be going on.  According to its map, I live in a "hole" between several different towers.

However, the pointer on its home screen doesn't seem to make any sense.  It's supposed to tell me where the tower is that I'm connected to, but it seems to rotate faster than necessary to account for me rotating the phone (unlike a compass needle), and it seems to be fascinated with my home stereo speakers when I bring it close to them.  (like a compass needle pointing to the speakers' magnet)

So is this a legitimate radio problem?  Or is somebody's software getting confused?



I've gotten a lot of feedback about OpenSignal being worthless, but it was only meant to be a diagnostic tool for the problem of getting a more reliable connection.  The reason to know where the towers are, and specifically the one I'm connected to, is to somewhat intelligently play with placement.  (I'm mostly using the data connection for a WiFi hotspot, so an awkward location isn't all that bad.)  If there's a better app or methodology, I'm all ears.
From app blogs Methodology explains how they collect data


Crowd Sourcing (already pointed in comments)
Monitoring users who installed app continuously  


So, the accuracy pretty much depends on how many people use the app with GPS on


Data Analytics


Also see Cell towers/wifi routers not located correctly which is dated but relevant

This app was recently launched in India and I noticed this


Cell towers are very well mapped of a  provider, though, in my area tower density is low ( likely because provider made it open source as a part of publicity )
Cell towers are not well mapped, for another provider,  though the tower density is much higher


Not a very dependable app , IMO