Best cellular signal in SA?

[jes]

Best cellular signal in SA?

A locally developed Android app, gr8signal, has been measuring the signal strength and coverage of South Africa’s mobile operators

 

[SteveO]

How have they been noting how many towers have been used? Cos that towers per km2 figure is very wrong....even for CBD areas

 

[Jan]

How have they been noting how many towers have been used? Cos that towers per km2 figure is very wrong....even for CBD areas

It's early days yet, but I'll double-check with them. This dataset is far from complete so the more folks there are using the app the sooner we'll have a complete picture of cellular coverage in South Africa.

 

[rudig]

So Vodacom has over 40 000 towers?

 

[SteveO]

Ya, you guys are counting cells and not sites....

 

[Budza]

I've got the app, and switch it on any time I go anywhere interesting. Day to day grind I leave it off- the days I forget to do so provide an update on figures that are probably all very similar.

Quite cool to see I have 200 readings I need to upload when I get home after a weekend away

 

[Budza]

I've got the app, and switch it on any time I go anywhere interesting. Day to day grind I leave it off- the days I forget to do so provide an update on figures that are probably all very similar.

Quite cool to see I have 200 readings I need to upload when I get home after a weekend away

 

[abandonallhope]

Those numbers make sense to me, for me actually getting HSPA signal on my MTN sim is a rarity.

 

[unrealchris]

Why then previously with the same phone with MTN I hardly had any dropped calls. But with CellC, almost 40 to 50 % of my calls are dropped?
Personally I dont believe these stats.
And if I look at my phone, most of the time I see that instead of CellC, Im roaming on Vodacom?

 

[McCrazieGoalz]

I know I sound like a nincampoop but what do these numbers actually mean?

Signal Strength:

Vodacom: -84.01±10.88
MTN: -92.05 ±14.05

Is it good to have higher numbers or lower numbers?

And why is there a nimus?

 

[Dames]

I know I sound like a nincampoop but what do these numbers actually mean?

Signal Strength:


Is it good to have higher numbers or lower numbers?

And why is there a nimus?

I imagine the negative numbers refer to how much loss there is from the original broadcast strength. Hence why they are all negative and a smaller negative number is better. Then the +- numbers will be standard deviation.

 

[grim]

I know I sound like a nincampoop but what do these numbers actually mean?

Signal Strength:


Is it good to have higher numbers or lower numbers?

And why is there a nimus?

Signal strength is measured in db's

The minus indicates how much signal loss there is, so the lower the number the better.

 

[Electron1]

Interesting figures so far. So based on this Vodacom are best at the moment.
Pity I have so many dropped calls though.

I guess these figures will be used to justify why their rates are so much higher than Cell C and 8ta.........

 

[Jan]

I know I sound like a nincampoop but what do these numbers actually mean?

Is it good to have higher numbers or lower numbers?

And why is there a nimus?

No, my bad. I didn't explain it in the article.

I imagine the negative numbers refer to how much loss there is from the original broadcast strength. Hence why they are all negative and a smaller negative number is better. Then the +- numbers will be standard deviation.

^ This. The technically correct way to state it is "the larger the number, the better" (-83 > -87 > -92 > -93). The number after the ± is indeed the standard deviation, which means that Cell C's signal strength varies the most, while Vodacom's varies the least.

Update: just to confirm: the numbers are in dBm

 

[falcon786]

Why then previously with the same phone with MTN I hardly had any dropped calls. But with CellC, almost 40 to 50 % of my calls are dropped?
Personally I dont believe these stats.
And if I look at my phone, most of the time I see that instead of CellC, Im roaming on Vodacom?

Maybe Cell C just doenst have that great signal in your area so they are roaming on vodacom there hence the dropped calls.
Where I am i use around just over 200 minutes a months at all hours of the day and i don't ever have dropped calls on Cell C.

Interesting figures so far. So based on this Vodacom are best at the moment.
Pity I have so many dropped calls though.

I guess these figures will be used to justify why their rates are so much higher than Cell C and 8ta.........

I'm actually surprised at how low MTN's figure is I would have expected them to have quite a bit more than Cell C given how much money they make and subscribers they have,maybe not many MTN people using the app?

So yeah MTN cant use this to justify their ridiculous rates.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

But at home I have 60% percent signal, using this app, and I've checked on their map, my house is a little green spot in a sea of no signal.. So I assume this is my signal.. Yet I can't make calls, clarity etc is horrible.

 

[gr8signal]

How have they been noting how many towers have been used? Cos that towers per km2 figure is very wrong....even for CBD areas

Hi SteveO

Were using googles database for tower locations. (We then double check this against where the signal was recorded).

Once we have more data we will be seeing what we can do to fix the tower location. Unfortunately its not simple to triangulate the tower location from the signal measurements due to the fact we don't get distance from the tower.

 

[gr8signal]

Why then previously with the same phone with MTN I hardly had any dropped calls. But with CellC, almost 40 to 50 % of my calls are dropped?
Personally I dont believe these stats.
And if I look at my phone, most of the time I see that instead of CellC, Im roaming on Vodacom?

Hi unrealchris

If your using a Vodacom tower it will actually record the signal against Vodacom. Unfortunately there isn't a method to record when a call got dropped but were going to possibly looking having a button or something similar or call end where the user can indicate that a call got dropped.

 

[Kloofvreter]

Vodacom LOL. Dropped calls most of the time.

 

[gr8signal]

I know I sound like a nincampoop but what do these numbers actually mean?

Signal Strength:


Is it good to have higher numbers or lower numbers?

And why is there a nimus?

Hi McCrazieGoalz

The signal is measured in dBm which is a standard signal measurement though I know its a bit confusing. If you look on your phone we also provide the measurement in ASM which makes a bit more sense. We also order the results from best to worst.

In dBm lower the number the better ie -84.01 is better than -92.05.

The number follows a logarithmic scale hence the negative. Though I'm going to point you to the wikipedia article as it can explain it all far better than I can

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBm