It probably doesn't make any difference in most situations, but in my situation at home it does. The closest (only reachable) 3g tower is in one direction about 5 miles away and slightly behind a hill. In the other direction is a 1xRTT only tower about 4 miles away. When the 3g tower signal drops low enough, my MiFi will switch to the 1xRTT tower. Once there, it seldom switches back without manually disconnecting and reconnecting. It would be helpful at times to know which of these two towers I'm communicating with. I added a directional antenna which helps a great deal, but there is still enough rear lobe to grab the 1xRTT tower behind me on occasion.