DanSteely Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hi, I am looking to change my mobile phone supplier due toending of contract but more importantly poor/patchy signal coverage around myhouse. Does anyone know of an Android app that can give me a display of coverage from the different suppliers – so I can narrow my potential supplier field on actual real-world coverage? Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 There was a BBC app last year which submitted coverage data that they mapped: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14582499 It's not hugely scientific as it only shows where up people using the app - and it really reflects the population density rather than coverage in rural areas - but it might be a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wol Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Real world coverage? Order a free sim from the main suppliers, and try them out? Use the ofcom website to search for nearby transmitters to work out who is likely to have good reception around your house to narrow it down, then base it on price / etc? http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/ - I used that when I was moving house and saw that the nearby transmitter (like.... 100m away) has tmobile on it. Consequently I can happily get a full HSDPA signal on my phone whilst at home on my tmobile phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hi DanHave a look at http://www.appbrain.com/app/opensignalmaps/com.staircase3.opensignalCheersGerryLiving in Spain and all my phone and internet access is via 3G7 GPRS, no landlines where I live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hi, I use Open Signal Maps on my HTC desire (in the UK), its a great little app and their website gives you loads of information on the results gathered.It does take a bit from the battery life, but nothing that you would notice in normal use, Its called OpenSignalMaps by Staircase 3 inc in the Android Market. Hope this helps Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 That is the one I recommended. :rolleyes: CheersGerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hi Gerry, Yeah I know, I was just raising its plus points too. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 Thanks for all the advise so far.. I've contacted pretty much all the suppliers and requested free sims to assess coverage.. Next question: I assume I'll have to unlock my HTC Desire in order to use these new sims.. I've found on-line companies that can do this for £10, is there any risk involved with this and is there any difference between these companies? Thanks again.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 If your phone is out of contract then your mobile phone supplier should be able to provide you with the unlocking code.CheersGerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Edwards Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I see that you have a HTC desire but are you likely to change phone? I have found that apparent signal strength for where I live can vary wildly depending upon the handset. I have sat next to a family member in my house and we have both had the same provider but different handsets and I had no signal and they have had 3 or 4 bars for example. Before I went iPhone, I have always managed to get a trial phone* and sim from CPW...always get the 'we don't usually do this' muttering but it works. They try to fob you off with the coverage maps from the providers but they are not accurate. T-mobile is the closest for me as it has a change in coverage line running straight through where my house is.When I was with them I could go from full strength on one side to nothing on the other (yes I am aware that the house was attenuating too). *They took a swipe of my credit card... I know how frustrating it can be if you live in a service sink hole. In our town, a company has been trying to erect a 3G antenna in a housing estate which has had 24hr pickets for the location for nearly 2 years. Another provider put one up near me and nobody noticed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalmatthew Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Thanks for all the advise so far.. I've contacted pretty much all the suppliers and requested free sims to assess coverage.. Next question: I assume I'll have to unlock my HTC Desire in order to use these new sims.. I've found on-line companies that can do this for £10, is there any risk involved with this and is there any difference between these companies? Thanks again..You will need to unlock it if you look around on XDA devolopers you might well find a way to do it for no cost. I did but YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 You will need to unlock it if you look around on XDA devolopers you might well find a way to do it for no cost. I did but YMMVThat is true but you really have to know what you are doing before attempting some of the hacks on that site.CheersGerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 a company has been trying to erect a 3G antenna in a housing estate which has had 24hr pickets for the location for nearly 2 yearsAnd how many on the picket line have a mobile phone that uses 3g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 A few points, if I may: Just because you've got lots and lots of lovely bars of signal, it doesn't mean that it's necessarily good signal. In particular with 3G, if the cell is particularly noisy, then your data rates will drop through the floor. In particularly bad cases, people on the periphery of the cell might get booted off calls during busy hour.As Andrew pointed out a few posts above, different handsets will do different things. The issue isn't always a practical one either - I've encountered people complaining that their phone has one bar whilst someone else's has five. Further investigations have proved that they're able to use their handset perfectly well in the area in question, but that their gripe is centred purely on their lack of bars, and not anything actually service affecting.Apart from where they've been revised due to drive tests (usually only main transport routes, and areas where people have experienced persistent problems with poor signal), the coverage maps are predictions, using a fairly coarse model with numbers plugged in that approximate the area (For buildings, 1 = House every couple of miles, 10 = Skyscraper city; For terrain, 1 = Flat as a washboard, 10 = Lots and lots of crinkly bits - that sort of thing), so whilst they're often a good approximation, being in an area that should have fantastic coverage isn't an iron-clad guarantee.Likewise, the networks will only plot external coverage - what happens to the signal once you go inside a building is none of their business. If you're in a Barratt home, then you're probably not going to suffer too much. If you're living in a 16th century farmhouse with 3' thick walls, then you may have difficulties.Having a site nearby is also not always a good guarantee. Antennas are often designed to have directional behaviour, with most of the signal going out of the front, and only a bit of back scatter coming from the rear. Although the majority of sites are designed to give 360 degree coverage, some are built solely to provide coverage in one direction, such as filling in a busy street or junction that would otherwise sit in a null.And yes, Hippy, it would seem that everyone wants a mobile phone preferably ones that magically suck signal out of the ether with no horrid base stations. Perhaps if everyone went on Iridium, then we wouldn't have this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanSteely Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Hi All, Just to finish the story... I took Wol's advise and got free SIMs from all the big players and tried them out in the HTC Desire & an delderly Nokia N95. I took signal readings in all the rooms and drew up a spreadsheet of results, which were: T-Mobile 1stThree 2ndOrange 3rdO2 4thVodafone 5th I therefore went with T-Mobile (who won by a significant margin) and got the Samsung Galaxy S2. Thanks to all contributors on this… Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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