Is mobile data speed a good indication of mobile coverage ?

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martyyn

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#108934 9-Sep-2012 12:54

We moved out to the beach a couple of months ago. My wife and daughter on 2D often have no coverage whatsoever (and yes weve been in touch with them about it) and my Voda mobile is ok-ish but there are dead spots around the house.

Ive blagged an XT phone for the weekend and short of driving around the local area (where the phones are mostly used) and making lots of calls can I make a judgement call on running regular speedtest.net tests to know whether XT coverage is better or worse ?

Just using the closest server with fresh installs of the speedtest android app, XT is consistently giving me 2-3000kbps whereas V (if it finishes the test at all) struggles to get over 500kbps. I havent bothered to try 2D yet.

Although as I type this the XT phone has no network connection !

blair003

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#683422 9-Sep-2012 15:12

Using speedtest would introduce a few too many variables I think. Try the android app 'network signal info' which graphs your signal in dbm in real-time.

When you do this you want to hold your phone in the same way and move very slowly.

johnr

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#683436 9-Sep-2012 15:57

Would be helpful to know what beach and what handset you are doing the testing on?

Testing coverage by doing speedtests is really to be honest pointless, Save the data

https://www.vodafone.co.nz/about/rural-broadband-initiative/

martyyn

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#683456 9-Sep-2012 16:51

Blair003: Thanks that app is exactly what I needed, cant believe I didnt think to look at the market first !

John: Im at Otaki Beach, using an N1 myself, my wife has an SE K800i and my daughter an SE K610i. Im now playing with an Xperia Ray on XT.

2D have said for a couple of weeks there are to be hardware upgrades but the dropouts and poor signal continue.

The app Blair suggested is showing XT at 80%, Voda at no more than 30% and 2D at 8% when in the N1

martyyn

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#683463 9-Sep-2012 17:02

I dont know what the following mean but its what the app tells me I have in various parts of the house

8% = -103dBm : 2D best
25% = -101dBm : Voda average
58% = -85dBm : XT worst

johnr

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#683464 9-Sep-2012 17:04

Otaki Beach is covered by 3G on 900/2100Mhz and the SE handsets do not support 3G on 900Mhz

There is also 2G/GPRS on 900Mhz

Check out this page on the Vodafone NZ forum which should help you,

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/coverage/

Testing is best done using a handset that support 3G extended 900Mhz

johnr

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#683465 9-Sep-2012 17:07

Anything around 105dBm is quite low coverage

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martyyn

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#683484 9-Sep-2012 17:28

Thanks John, ok fair enough the SE handsets are not helping but even when I have the 2D sim in my N1 to be getting a max of 103dBm is not really all that good.

Im not so worried about data speeds, what Im sure we can all appreciate is I get home to have my wife and daughter say they havent been able to call or text 'all day' and Im supposed to magically be able to fix it :)

Over the afternoon XT has been by far the best for signal strength (according to the app) as its been sat consistently at -85dBm and above whereas VF hasnt made it above -101dBm.

Thanks for your help, its always appreciated.

johnr

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#683490 9-Sep-2012 17:45

Otaki Beach does have plans for improved coverage in the future