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"BBC to survey UK mobile coverage" results
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Thine Wonk
14-08-2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13874818
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.epitiro.uk3g
http://3gsurvey.epitiro.com/

Does anybody know when the BBC are going to release the results of this survey? if it's 1 month which I think I read somewhere it was, then it should report back next week sometime.

Has anyone here been running the app?
tealady
14-08-2011
I did run the app for a few weeks until I had to upgrade to 2.3 when I did not reinstall it.
It was dull and clearly woefully inaccurate, as it showed that on O2, I usually got more 2g than 3g, which we know from a current thread is impossible.
unklesam
14-08-2011
I ran it for a while, it showed I never had 3G and well thats probably right as 3G is like hens teeth around here.
mikey86uk
14-08-2011
Vodafone 3G speed in Bristol is poo

Shocked they are one of the fastest!
Lummo
15-08-2011
I have wondered when the results will be out too! I have been using the app for ages now. My current results are 85.0 3G, 14.9 2G, 0.1 No Coverage.
southlad
24-08-2011
Results here
Thine Wonk
24-08-2011
Can't help feeling a bit disappointed with the results overall, as there is a lot of 'no data' and it's not really clear what the coverage is like per network.
tealady
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“.. it's not really clear what the coverage is like per network.”

Eh? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14582499
Orange/Vodaphone/T-Mobile/3/O2/All

Or did you want some sort of overlay or side by side map?
Magic8Ball
24-08-2011
I would take the results of this with a hefty pinch of salt. I installed the app for a while, and it never managed to realise that my location had changed from where I was when I first installed it, despite travelling for miles in different directions.
prking
24-08-2011
Two things stick out for me.

The obvious fact that very few people took part, giving strange skews to the results.

That those networks that commented welcomed the results as a basis for further exploration, whilst pointing out that the world had moved on from using geographical coverage as a measure. Nowadays factors like speed and how often the connection falters are more important.
Lummo
24-08-2011
It would be better with more information, but what it does as its basic job it does well enough, in telling people where 3G is available. It clearly shows how isolated some rural areas are on some networks, and really does show O2s huge lack of 3G outside of cities in comparison to other networks for example.
alanwarwic
24-08-2011
Yep, if it is 'live data' it would be very useful for every single smartphone user installed and used it for at least 24 hours.

44,000 is low.
Lummo
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by alanwarwic:
“Yep, if it is 'live data' it would be very useful for every single smartphone user installed and used it for at least 24 hours.

44,000 is low.”

It would be better if Epitiro/BBC kept the app going and updated the map with any new information regularly or something like that atleast. Not just a snapshot.
tealady
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by Lummo:
“It would be better if Epitiro/BBC kept the app going and updated the map with any new information regularly or something like that atleast. Not just a snapshot.”

Presumably they only had funding for the trial that has jsut finished. The operators could take it on though.
Dan 8t1
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by Lummo:
“what it does as its basic job it does well enough, in telling people where 3G is available.”

Except it doesn't. It shows some places where there is a 3G, 2G, or no signal.. and it shows many other places where they have no data about whether there is a signal or not.
beecart
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by Lummo:
“It would be better with more information, but what it does as its basic job it does well enough, in telling people where 3G is available. It clearly shows how isolated some rural areas are on some networks, and really does show O2s huge lack of 3G outside of cities in comparison to other networks for example.”

And Vodafone and Orange

The best 3G appears to be t-mobile - better than 3
Thine Wonk
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by beecart:
“And Vodafone and Orange

The best 3G appears to be t-mobile - better than 3”

I think that's just because there were more T-mobile customers on the survey if you look at the % that took part from each network.
IslandNiles
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by tealady:
“Presumably they only had funding for the trial that has jsut finished. The operators could take it on though.”

I doubt they would want to, as it would inevitably show that their 3G coverage is nowhere near as good as they claim.
beecart
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“I think that's just because there were more T-mobile customers on the survey if you look at the % that took part from each network.”

Orange - 24%
Vodafone - 22%
T-Mobile - 19%
O2 - 21%
'3' - 14%
fmradiotuner1
24-08-2011
T-Mobile signal is really crap where I live.
Its OK down my road but when you go into the main town it seems to switch to Orange 2G and it won't even connect in any shops.
_ben
24-08-2011
Our area is showing 3G coverage for T-Mobile and Three, but only 2G coverage for Orange - so EE are not sharing yet?
unklesam
24-08-2011
England seems to have the best coverage, NI,Scotland and Wales are very poor, I know on my phone its rare very rare that I get a 3G signal, I think they should sort out 3G coverage before they even think of LTE
legends wear 7
24-08-2011
According to this survey the only network to cover my town with 3G is Vodafone, now i know that to be utter balls having conducted drive trials around here in a previous role.

The results of this survey are hugely hampered by the custometomer/network demographic in each area. For this reason i will be filling under "Another Waste fo BBC Licence Fee" in the bin.
legends wear 7
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by unklesam:
“England seems to have the best coverage, NI,Scotland and Wales are very poor, I know on my phone its rare very rare that I get a 3G signal, I think they should sort out 3G coverage before they even think of LTE”

LTE on sub 1ghz will be cheaper to roll out than 3G, so don't be expecting any major investment from the networks on UMTS2100.
beecart
24-08-2011
Originally Posted by legends wear 7:
“LTE on sub 1ghz will be cheaper to roll out than 3G, so don't be expecting any major investment from the networks on UMTS2100.”

What about 3g 900 ? What do you think about this
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