Last week I compared two AT commands reporting RSRP.
Despite different resolution and averaging, both tracked broadly the same signal level. But another part of the data stood out.
When the UE moved between RRC Connected and RRC Idle, the reported RSRP shifted by around 7 dB.
Some difference between the two states is expected. The measurements are being made for different purposes and the estimation behaviour is not identical.
What mattered here was the size of the shift, ~7 dB change was larger than expected.
In a clean lab environment, measurements can look very controlled. In a real city network, interference, loading and control-channel conditions can make idle-mode estimates less clean.
The useful part was that both AT commands still tracked broadly together.
So the question changed from “Which AT command is wrong?”
to “Why is the UE estimating RSRP differently between RRC states?”
That is a much better place to start investigating.
RSRP needs context and the RRC state matters.
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