Posts Tagged 3G broadband
BBC publish 2G and 3G study results
Posted by Jeremy in Latest Broadband News on August 25, 2011
The BBC has finally published results of their study into the 2G and 3G coverage available to mobile phones throughout the country. Unsurprisingly, the data produced has thrown up a few surprises, and it is interesting to see that there are significant differences in service depending on where you are in the country. Interestingly, it was also discovered that there are significant differences in terms of operators too, meaning that the information is going to be a great help to those choosing which mobile operator to go with.
Thousands of consumers were asked to download a special app on their android mobile phones in order to be able to register when they went in and out of 2 or 3G signal so that it would be clear just how good the service was. The test included around 44,000 people, which gave it a good spread across the country.
It is interesting to note, although not entirely surprising, that most cities had significant not spot areas on the outskirts, and of course, rural areas fared worse than most inner city and urban areas. In terms of performance by different mobile phone operators, it is surprising that Vodafone came out top of the pile. They registered an average download speed of 2.20Mbps, with an upload speed of 0.43 Mbps, whilst at the bottom of the pile, Orange could only muster an average download speed of 1.03Mbps, and an upload speed of 0.24 Mbps.
Of course it is a little bit difficult to read too much into the results at the moment. A lot of the results could easily have been skewed by the use of poor internet dongles, and you also have to bear in mind that 3G coverage is improving all the time, so the results might be significantly different in a month or two’s time. It is certainly helpful to have this information though, and it is to be hoped that this sort of information will lead to phone companies investing more money into the improvements of 3G connections.
BBC research current mobile coverage
Posted by Jeremy in Broadband Reviews, Latest Broadband News on July 27, 2011
The BBC have decided to conduct some research into the quality of mobile internet coverage, and over the next four weeks will be asking users to download their special app designed to record the availability and presence of both 2G and 3G services in their area.
BBC are running this survey in collaboration with a company called Epitiro who are behind the app which will be available for android users on smart phones. Signal quality will not be tested, but the focus will purely be on strength of signal:
“Coverage is the number one issue for consumers. Our coverage app will provide the information consumers need to see if 3G services are available and from which mobile operator. As mobile broadband is important to many of us, we hope people volunteer and make the project a success”.
Many companies have been hoping for a standardised way to measure mobile browsing speeds, and this venture by the BBC and Epitiro may go some way towards offering this service. there has been criticism of Vodafone and O2 in the past of using the 2G network for their 3G services. The reason for this is that 3G operates at a frequency which is liable to reduce in signal strength depending on location in relation to walls and solid objects.
It is hoped that this survey will shed some light on just which companies are performing well in terms of their mobile internet facilities, and it may be the heralding of a new dawn in terms of mobile internet performance if we can discover what is working well. We are some way off taking on the LTE browsing experience currently enjoyed by some countries, so it is hoped that we find a way to catch up i the mean time.