gr8signal - help to measure SA's mobile networks

[MKFrost]

According to Cell C coverage map I'm well into 3G coverage area. According to gr8signal and my phone best is Edge.

The gr8signal map is going to make for interesting viewing in weeks to come.

[wez1007]

Installed the app and got a mate to do the same. we just took a walk around our local area one phone on mtn the other on vodacom. lets see what the logs say! will prolly jump in the car next weekend and take a drive around our town. try complete the map..

i think this is a brilliant idea. lets hope the cellular providers take a look at it!

one thing that needs to be improved: when there is no signal it doesn't report the cellular providers name. is it possible to allow selecting your provider each time the app starts?

[gr8signal]

If anyone on the forum would like me to unlock their account now after registering (till we unlock it for everyone). Please just drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll get your account unlocked during the testing period.

[system32]

The application can upload over 3G if you choose to. By default it will only try over wifi though.

Lot's of people I know, only have 3G on their phones (no WiFi).
What happens to these samples?
You should default to 3G, and allow the option of WiFi.

[rorz0r]

They won't upload until that phone goes on WiFi or upload over 3g is enabled. There will be a notification showing a whole lot of pending signals to upload.

[gr8signal]

Hi system32

Two of our big worries were cpu and bandwidth.

We decided to rather have people consciously agree that we can use their 3g bandwidth. Though it should use a low amount of bandwidth if it does.

But we can I'll give your comments at the next review meeting.

Lot's of people I know, only have 3G on their phones (no WiFi).
What happens to these samples?
You should default to 3G, and allow the option of WiFi.

[j4ck455]

I don't normally have GPS switched on, does the app use cellular triangulation or AGPS in the absence of real GPS?

I like the fact that it uses wifi by default

[Waste]

We went to a secluded beach near Durban (Balito) last week, I had the app and my gprs on the whole way. Thought that would show a nice graph. In the end I noticed my signal logs did not show on the map! was very disappointed. Just checked again and they are showing now!

I'm so disappointed I didn't know of the Turbo Mode! That would have given better results. We went to Zimkwazi Beach. You can actually see the few log points now over there! Also only Vodacom and MTN 3G had coverage.

I like the sugestion to pick a provider, because then the app can also log 'no signal' zones.

EDIT: For anyone still reading this thread, I meant to say I had the app and my GPS on the whole way. (Not GPRS). BTW. I'm running the app on my Galaxy Tab2, don't have a Android phone (yet).

[bvonfintel]

Installed and uploaded some data Awesome idea

[wez1007]

@ waste, I think there's a certain time of day when the data gets processed, for some reason i must have hit it on the nail because just after installing the app my few logs around my house showed up... took a walk around and it seems the newer logs haven't been processed. I have my phone set to turbo all the time..

i was also wondering if it uses actual GPS or just the cellular stuff

[gr8signal]

I don't normally have GPS switched on, does the app use cellular triangulation or AGPS in the absence of real GPS?

I like the fact that it uses wifi by default

Hi j4ck455

Yes they app will try get location with any method available. In normal mode it actually tries not to use GPS if it can to save battery.

Though we will only show signals on the map within a certain accuracy.

[gr8signal]

one thing that needs to be improved: when there is no signal it doesn't report the cellular providers name. is it possible to allow selecting your provider each time the app starts?

We get the provider from the sim card that you put in and the towers that it talks to (The phone says if its roaming on a different network)

Picking up dead spots is difficult until we have sufficient logs. Ie someone goes into flight mode or they go into a tunnel (Gautrain).

In a future version of the app were are planning on adding dropped calls.

Also as we get more data we will keep on looking at accurate ways to give you information on dead spots.

[gr8signal]

We went to a secluded beach near Durban (Balito) last week, I had the app and my gprs on the whole way. Thought that would show a nice graph. In the end I noticed my signal logs did not show on the map! was very disappointed. Just checked again and they are showing now!

I'm so disappointed I didn't know of the Turbo Mode! That would have given better results. We went to Zimkwazi Beach. You can actually see the few log points now over there! Also only Vodacom and MTN 3G had coverage.

I like the sugestion to pick a provider, because then the app can also log 'no signal' zones.

Yes turbo mode does help to increase view on an area .

Currently its based on cell tower change. Though in future its going to be based on distance (From testing this seems to give a far better result.)

[gr8signal]

@ waste, I think there's a certain time of day when the data gets processed, for some reason i must have hit it on the nail because just after installing the app my few logs around my house showed up... took a walk around and it seems the newer logs haven't been processed. I have my phone set to turbo all the time..

i was also wondering if it uses actual GPS or just the cellular stuff

Hi wez1007

We currently do an update of the image tiles roughly every 12 hours. We are planning on decreasing this as time goes by to shorter periods.

If you have registered though you can pull your own logs after roughly 15 minutes to see if its all logging correctly.

[Nod]

@gr8signal
What is the chance of getting access to the raw data?
The company I work for is in the process of launching something similar, but on a global scale ...