NEWS19 July 2011

BBC to survey UK mobile coverage

Technology UK

UK— The BBC has kicked off a study of the availability of 3G and 2G mobile services across the country, using an app developed by network analysis firm Epitiro.

Mobile operators offer their own coverage maps but the BBC says that until now there has been no independent survey of mobile coverage in the UK. The survey will be carried out by Android users who download Epitiro’s app.

The app is not available for iPhones “at present” because of the difficulty of making Apple devices collect such information in the background while other programmes are running, according to the BBC.

Once data has been collected the BBC said it aims to display the results on a clickable map of the UK.

Epitiro CEO Gavin Johns said: “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.”

James Verrinder

Technology UK

@RESEARCH LIVE

1 Comment

James

12 years ago

It's quite odd that the BBC claim there is no 'independent survey of mobile coverage in the UK'. Open Signal Maps (http://www.opensignalmaps.com) have been collecting data via an Android app since December 2010 and displaying it on a map since February 2011. They also collect measurements of network speed which the BBC app does not. They have 700k users and quite a lot of coverage in the tech press, how did the BBC not spot them?

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