How Accurate Are Cell Phone Coverage Maps?

Cell phone coverage maps can provide a general indication of the expected coverage in a given area, but their accuracy can vary. 

How Are Cell Phone Coverage Maps Generated?

Skiing In A Dead Zone is Not Safe

Skiing this weekend I experienced some spotty coverage in Colorado at a few ski resorts. Skiing in such an area can indeed pose certain risks and challenges. Here's why:

Emergency Communication: In the event of an accident or emergency, having access to a reliable means of communication is vital. If you're in a dead cell zone, you may not be able to call for help or communicate with emergency services effectively, which can hinder response times and jeopardize your safety.

Navigation and Directions: Cell phones are often used for navigation and accessing maps while skiing. Without a cell signal, you may lose access to GPS services, making it more difficult to navigate the slopes, locate specific areas, or find your way back to safety.

Group Coordination: If you're skiing with a group or friends, staying connected is important for coordination and safety. In a dead cell zone, you may struggle to communicate with others, making it challenging to regroup, share information, or seek assistance if needed.

Safety Information: Ski resorts and designated skiing areas often communicate important safety information and updates through mobile apps or text messages. In a dead cell zone, you may miss out on crucial safety announcements or warnings about changing weather conditions, closed trails, or other hazards.

To ensure your safety while skiing, it's recommended to choose skiing areas with reliable cellular network coverage. If you find yourself in a dead cell zone, take extra precautions, such as skiing in groups, staying within well-marked and familiar trails, carrying alternative means of communication (such as two-way radios), and being prepared for emergencies with a plan in place.  

Is this a safety hazard not providing cell coverage throughout the mountain? I think so. Happy skiing.

Laws Restricting Cell Phone Usage While Driving May Change

The new UK legislation makes it an offense when driving to use a hand-held cell phone. This ensures that a cell phone should not be picked up by drivers in their hands and used when driving. (The offense also refers to motorcycle riders who pick up and use a cell phone; this consultation would use the term "drivers" to include both drivers and motorcycle riders.) When supervising a learner driver, it is also an offense to use a hand-held mobile phone. The legislation also involves "other hand-held digital communication devices" such as tablets, although this document uses the word "cell phone" to include certain related devices before it becomes necessary to address specific types of devices in some detail.

To prosecute the mobile phone violation, the police depend heavily on a roadside presence. In certain situations, it is an infringement that is easy to spot; in a line of slow-moving traffic, for example, the head of the driver is down and the car is slow to move along with the flow of traffic. The role of the police, however, is even more complicated than merely seeing a driver holding and clicking away at a phone; the police officer must decide that the driver was conducting an interactive communication feature to enforce against the cell phone violation. The police would not be able to execute the cell phone violation if they do not and the driver was using a standalone feature only.

To enforce a variety of road traffic offenses, the police rely on photographic evidence from members of the public. It is becoming increasingly common for drivers to have dashcams in their vehicles and for cyclists to have headcams on their helmets. Drivers and cyclists are encouraged under Operation Snap to make use of their videos of fellow road users who violate the law by sending it to the police. The videos the show very clearly a driver clicking or scrolling at the wheel in the case of using a handheld mobile phone, but the police will then face the problem of trying to decide, from the driver, what kind of use they were using the phone as well. The police would not be able to obtain a conviction using the cell phone offense unless the use contained an interactive communication feature. The disparity between interactive communication functions and standalone functions creates an immense dilemma for the police and undermines the mission of improving road safety.

The idea of the Government to address the problem mentioned above is to extend the current crime of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving to include drivers who perform standalone functions as well as drivers who perform interactive communication functions.

This means that all use of a hand-held mobile phone will be treated in the same way. If a driver is using a hand-held mobile phone to search for music already downloaded onto the phone, the physical manipulation, the cognitive demands, and the averted eyes are no different, in terms of risk, from a driver who is typing out and sending a text message. They both constitute an enormous risk and they should both be penalized in the same way. The proposal will still apply only in circumstances where a driver picks up the phone to use it while driving; any change we make to the law on the use of hand-held mobile phones arising from this consultation will not affect the use of mobile phones which are positioned in a cradle and used while remaining in the cradle (for example as a satnav).

This will make enforcement much easier. A police officer will be able to see a driver holding and tapping and scrolling a phone, and, based on that evidence, will be able to take enforcement action under the new proposed mobile phone offense rather than having to question the driver about whether the use involved interactive communication.

Activities falling within the offense now - "interactive communication" functions The driver holds the mobile phone or similar device in the hand to:

• Make a phone call

• Receive a phone call

• Send a text message

• Send an e-mail

• Access social media sites

• Access streaming services

Activities that will be captured under the revised offense. The driver holds the mobile phone or similar device in the hand to:

• Illuminate the screen

• Unlock the device

• Check the time

• Check notifications

• Reject a call

• Compose text messages or e-mails to save in drafts

• Take photos or videos

• Use the phone's camera as a mirror

• Search for music stored on the phone

• Search for photos or other images stored in the phone

• Dictate voice messages into the phone

• Read a book downloaded on the phone

• Play a game downloaded on the phone

Can You Drive Testing Indoor Coverage?

In our ever more transparent and tough economic environment don't you would think Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint should take a look at new innovative ways to better serve their customer's needs as more customers are using their mobile phones indoors. Our mashup DeadCellZones.com collects thousands of carrier indoor and outdoor cell coverage complaints from customers each month with zero advertising. If our website is collecting this data for free it appears the carriers are all overlooking a very simple way of listening to their customers. Ask!

Wireless service providers (especially in the U.S.) do drive testing to build theoretical coverage maps and test their networks for cell signal strength. Drive Testing or wireless data collection is used to provide coverage analysis, network weakness information and to aid in finding specific problem areas reported by consumers. Most drive testing companies are specifically tasked with simulating the actual call experience of customers during weekday periods to simulate capacity issues outdoors. Such companies include GWS, LCC, and WFI. Most carriers outsource this capability to third parties, unlike Verizon who has its own in-house drive testing team. Drive testing companies usually spend between $15-25 per mile in over 300+ U.S. markets benchmark testing signals. These companies provide a tremendous service to the carriers and deserve every penny for their efforts but how do they efficiently acquire in-building coverage data where customers use their phone the most?

DeadCellZones.com will be a the forefront of the carrier femtocell revolution and will start helping drive testing companies get better visibility of in-building coverage problem areas. U.S. carriers are starting to roll out femtocells and the number of worldwide subscribers is rising rapidly, jumping from 1.7 million in 2007 to 9.7 million in 2008. The number of femtocell phone units is expected to nearly quintuple in the 5 years from 2007 to 2011.

I think the current recession is going to demand cost-cutting measures that we have never seen from these companies since churn is more prevalent than customer growth. The carnage could be huge from suppliers and vendors beneath the umbrella of these giant companies of those who do not innovate. Its widely known throughout the industry that working with carriers is not much different than working with government bureaucrats because of their proprietary networks and huge customer bases. The lack of leadership of the wireless communication giants to is the primary reason why the U.S. is way behind Europe and Asia in wireless telecommunications.

Prepaid Wireless Networks Uncovered (MVNO's)

Which Network Are You Really On?

Unlike the major carriers (ie. Verizon Wireless, Sprint / Nextel, T-Mobile, AT&T), Amp'd, Boost Mobile, TracFone, MetroPCS & Virgin Mobile do not own its own network of cell towers. These prepaid cellular phone companies are all MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). MVNOs buy large batches of minutes from the traditional wireless carriers, piggybacking on their national networks. Amp'd leases Verizon's network, Boost Mobile uses Nextel's network, TracFone uses AT&T's network and Virgin uses Sprint's network. Hence, the reason we do not list these carriers in our list of coverage complaints. If you experience dead zone while using any prepaid phones please submit their respective network operator.

Mobile Phone Quality Control is Needed

Much has been made in recent weeks over the iPhone and its reception issues, from pundits' gleeful Apple-bashing to Steve Jobs' spin job. Critics and rivals alike have taken their shots with relish; Apple is seen as the new Microsoft, a monopolizing giant.

What is ironic about this perception, however, is that Apple's antenna mistake and response to criticism actually reflect the opposite: other cell phone companies have caught up with the iPhone. Phones such as the Droid X and Evo 4 are loaded with features, and have been developed so rapidly that they now compete on even terms with the iPhone 4. It is this same rapid pace of development, however, that threatens the future of the market.

The mobile phone market used to rely heavily on the principal of planned obsolescence. For some time now, we have seen planned obsolescence put to good use in the mobile market; why release all the features now when you can sell another phone 6 months down the road?

Today, though, we have a much different problem: quality control. With so much pressure to produce as many features as possible in such a short period of time, companies are prone to rushing their products to the market before they're ready. The iPhone's antenna is only one (glaring) example. The Evo, for all of its beauty and "wow!" factor, has been proven to be a bit glitchy, and its battery relatively weak. New Android software written for the Droid X lacks the polish and finish of previous iterations.

The fact remains that as the mobile market become more concerned with features and image and less with quality and functionality, we will continue to see an increase in software glitches, hardware performance issues, and new "features" that offer far less than meets the eye. We can only hope that Apple's big embarrassment will spur proper caution and clearer thinking for the future.

About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to laptop computers.

Carrier IQ: Mobile Service Intelligence ?'s

Why are wireless carriers unwilling to look at open data source solutions (ie. deadcellzones.com) to solve problems and would rather spend 1000X more on a solution that might not return any more value than free solutions. Is it a control issue?

When I speak with telecom industry insiders about the value that Carrier IQ providers to their customers (who?) it isn't clear.  The only things I have heard from people who know the company is that they have "issues" and their data is "too expensive".  I have tried to reach out to the company several times unsuccessfully to see about building a mutually beneficial relationship.  One of my biggest "pet peeves" being a telecom industry outsider is the incestuous nature of protected carrier business relationships.  As I see it the carriers are unwilling to look at open data source solutions to solving the problem and would rather spend 1000X more on a solution that might not return any more value than we do.  In my view, the RF engineers are trying to protect their jobs at all costs and continue to create complicated stories that the marketing / business people can't comprehend.

From what I hear about their fancy mobile handset intelligence solution is that it provides quantifiable data that their customers can act on but are they really solving the problem better than we are?  What is wrong with having actual customers log complaints where the network stinks for free.  Carrier IQ probably thousands of handsets on the market that are generating data on their behalf that the consumer doesn't even know about. Its impossible to fill in all of the billions of places that have coverage gaps so shouldn't a smart carrier purchase data where their customers WANT it most.  As you can see I am a reluctant supporter of applications that sit on the handset and eat up bandwidth, battery life and network bandwidth.

Bridgescale Partners recently led a a $12M series D round of financing for CarrierIQ a provider of mobile service intelligence solutions that use the mobile phone to give detailed metrics on service quality and usage. Mohr Davidow Ventures, Accel Partners, Charles River Ventures, Nauta Capital, and Intel Capital also participated in the round.  If anyone can share customers or revenue history please post on the comments section below.  However, here is a summary of their funding history which seems very elaborate considering the simple problem they are solving.

Total Funding - $42M

Series A, 8/06 $10M

Mohr Davidow Ventures

Accel Partners

Benchmark Capital

Series C, 1/09 $20M

Intel Capital

Presidio Ventures

Sumitomo Corporation

Series D, 6/10 $12M

Bridgescale Partners

Related Stories:

Cell Phone Coverage Hole Detection

Can You Drive Testing Indoor Coverage?

How to Boost Your AT&T Reception Outdoors

Sleek Booster Helps Callers Hear You Now, Even With AT&T

Article By Todd Bernhard from iPhone Life, Saturday, May 8, 2010 - AT&T. Nothing inspires more conversation among iPhone owners than those few letters. AT&T has benefitted from their exclusive contract, but their coverage has been an easy target for competitors and late-night comics. What is an iPhone road warrior to do?

I had the chance to try the Sleek from Wilson Electronics, Inc. ($130 MSRP). True to the name, the Sleek is smaller than Wilson’s previous models and more portable than hardwired models. I had always been hesitant to try any device that needed to be permanently wired into my car or that worked exclusively with one phone.

The Sleek piqued my interest, as it is both universal and somewhat portable, although you may want to hide the wiring for the external magnetic antenna. Wilson offers the iBooster, specifically for the iPhone, which is a combination charger, cradle, and antenna so you don't even need to mount an external antenna. With either booster, you might have to remove your phone from its case for it to fit, depending on the bulk of your case.

Skeptical by nature, I wanted to see for myself if the Sleek could improve reception. Styling, pricing, and packaging are irrelevant if it doesn't improve reception! The good news is, Wilson Technologies' Sleek booster worked, for me and for my iPhone 3G.

Initially, I took a road trip to some diverse areas around Rochester, NY to see how it performed. I went to the airport, downtown, suburbs, and the highway where I've experienced dropped calls before. I made and received calls throughout the journey and never experienced a dropped call. Then I decided to push the limit!

With the help of DeadCellZones.com, I located some dead zones within driving distance and spent half a tank of gas (and most of my birthday!) testing these spots. I went to the end of the earth, or at least the edge of the United States, to the northern border of New York, along Lake Ontario. Sure enough, without the booster, I could watch the bars disappear as the lake approached, until there was no signal, just “Searching”. I plugged in the Sleek. Unfortunately, dead means dead, and even the Sleek couldn’t get a signal at that remote location. But I drove around for a minute and as soon as I could get a signal, I measured the results both with and without the Sleek and it was significant.  Read More.

The Best Sales Job in The World

Is Working for a Virtual Company Who is Improving the Wireless World

Job Location - Anywhere in World
Type - Full time or Part Time Contractor for Sales / Business Development  

Job Description - Looking for a sales executive who has relationships with wireless operators, cable operators & regional telecom infrastructure service providers. Full-time or part-time executive will be responsible for licensing our database of cell phone reception problems (dead zones, dropped calls, data congestion locations). Custome data sets are sold on a volume, regional and carrier basis. Target customers include companies who provide regional drive testing, RF testing, network optimization, cell tower installation, distributed antenna systems, cell tower operators and femtocell manufacturers. The executive should have familiarity with competitive data offerings such as Groundhog Tech, Carrier IQ, Nielsen (Telephia), GWS Wireless, AT&T "Mark the Spot" and Root Wireless.
 
Skils
•  At least 5 years experience in the wireless industry
•  Understanding of cellular industry, either from the operator or system vendor side
•  Excellent presentation skills
•  Project management skills is a plus
•  Marketing sense is a plus
•  Fluent in English or one of the major languages
•  Computer Skills: Microsoft Office Applications (Word, PowerPoint)

Company Description - Deadcellzones.com is a consumer-generated map of outdoor and indoor cellular coverage problem locations. The website is dedicated to identifying cell phone dead zones in buildings, homes and outdoors. These are locations where cell phone service is not available, calls are dropped or where network data congestion is frequent.  The website was founded in 2001 and has become the central hub for consumers and wireless to identify network coverage problems.  It is our mission to report coverage complaints efficiently to wireless carriers and mobile retailers through our mapping API.  The company licenses data to the following telecom infrastructure firms for both marketing and operations:  wireless operators, cable operators, distributed antenna, femtocell, repeater, VoIP, broadband and cell phone retailers. The map has a searchable map database of in-building and outdoor coverage problem locations and has been EBITDA positive since 2001.

Send resume, phone contact information and available time for a phone interview to jeff@deadcellzones.com

Walmart & Target Indoor Reception Problems

Does Your Local Walmart or Target Store Have Cell Reception Problems Indoors?

I was shocked to learn after doing some database mining this week that Target and Walmart had some of the most complaints listed in our dead zones database.  Walmart (4,000 US stores) has over 20 locations listed as dead zones and Target (1,700+ US stores) has 15 locations listed as having poor reception in our consumer-generated coverage database.  This can't be a good thing especially for Walmart who recently announced a partnership offering TracFone pre-paid wireless plans.  These retailers are going to sell millions of cell phones yet many of them do not have good cell phone reception indoors.  I am sure we are not even scratching the surface of other Walmart and Target stores that also have horrible coverage.  Ironically, there was only one Best Buy store (1,000 US stores) listed in the database so they must be doing something different with their in-building coverage. 

To submit a coverage problem in a store, first, search our database and find out if your store is listed.  If not, submit the reception problem by dragging a pin into the location of the store on the map.  Cell phone reception can be improved indoors but someone needs to be informed that it doesn't work first! 

Wilson iBooster For iPhone Review

I was cruising on the Long Island Expressway, talking to my friend on my iPhone about critical details for the final paper of our class. As her voice started to fade along with the signal on my phone, I knew what I needed: Wilson Electronics’ Weboost, a cell phone signer amplifier. I plugged my phone into the iBooster, redialed my friend’s number, and, lo and behold, the call was even better than before!

The Wilson WeBoost, designed to boost cell phone reception on both second and third-generation iPhones, improves call quality, reduces the number of dropped calls, and increases data rates. It even improves signal in “dead zones.”

In the box, there is an amplifier cradle to hold the phone, an external mini-magnet antenna that goes on the roof of the car, a cigarette lighter adapter for power, an adapter to hold the iPhone with the case, mounting clips with several mounting options, an installation guide, and a one-year limited warranty. The setup is pretty simple, and the amplifier can be moved from vehicle to vehicle. Though it is designed primarily for use in a car, the iBooster can also be used in a building.

The Wilson iBooster’s box and website boast of many things that sound great, but what does that all really mean for you? It means that with the iBooster, the quality of the call will be noticeably better, and your signal will rarely drop below four bars. You won’t have to worry about dropped calls or dead zones. You can charge your phone in the car (though there is a switch to turn off the charger so you don’t drain the battery of your car), and you can listen to music through your car’s system with an audio input. With a “plug and play” design, the WeBoost is very easy to use.

On the downside, the iBooster always needs a power source, so it can only be used in your car or near an outlet inside a building. In addition, the wire on the external antenna goes from the hood of the car and through the door. The setup for this is pretty basic, and the wire doesn’t get in your way, but the length is too short for anyone who wants to set up the antenna in a more permanent place, like the back of the car. Lastly, the WeBoost (805201) costs a few hundred dollars but is well worth the investment.

So if your iPhone is with you 24/7 and you use it everywhere—sitting in your office pouring over project details, driving to work every day, or relaxing on the couch in front of your TV watching re-runs of Friends—then the new Wilson WeBoost will take out the agony of weak cell phone signals and bad reception. One of the most frustrating things while talking on the phone is to lose signal in the middle of the call, or worse, have no signal and not be able to call anyone at all.  For iPhone users complaining of poor reception and dropped calls, this is the perfect accessory. With the iBooster, you’ll never have the need to say “Can you hear me now?”

Nielsen Buys Telephia

I thought that Telephia was in the business of selling mobile data back to the carriers to help them improve coverage? Obviously this business model wasn't sustainable due to the consolidation of carriers from 8 to 4. Sometimes I question the future lifespan of a company like Nielsen in our "on-demand" world of Tivo's and real data downloads? Extrapolating viewer numbers based on sample data and surveys like Comscore, Alexa, Compete and Nielsen TV Set Top boxes is a scam. Actually, numbers from relevant consumers is the new model in my opinion.

Drive testing and surveying a few thousand mobile users by making direct phone calls to customers seems like another customer survey methodology that is expensive and lacks relevancy. Why don't survey companies source more qualified panelists through web sites like DeadCellZones.com where customers are actually qualified to give feedback. Most survey companies motivate panelists by giving them a reward for taking a survey. If you were a carrier concerned with buying quality customer service data would you rather purchase information from a customer that was angry or one that just wanted a reward.

Micro-targeting customers is possible with the internet and big companies still have a hard time thinking on a smaller scale. Is that a qualified or relevant customer that is worth? The fact that companies like JD Power and Telephia are the current "industry standard" for customer satisfaction is pretty scary. There are hundreds of millions of mobile customers and the fact that these companies only survey may be less than 100,000 users per year is ridiculous. My advice is to survey customers who actually have problems to help prioritize network improvements.