Verizon's 'Can You Hear Me Now' Fleet Testing 4G

itwbennett writes "On the sidelines of the CTIA trade show in San Diego last week, Verizon showed off one of its test vehicles, a Chevy Tahoe equipped with a variety of phones and mobile data devices. The devices make voice and data calls over the air and are wired up to testing equipment in the back of the truck. The carrier has about 100 such vehicles around the U.S., and testers drive about 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) per year while conducting ongoing network tests, said Tom Badger, director of network system performance. One thing Verizon doesn't use: the well-known phrase from its TV commercials."

Comments

Can't they get this from the 'handsets?'

[CohibaVancouver]

While this is all well and good, I'm surprised they can't get this data from the handsets themselves - Dropped calls / choppy calls / slow-loading pages, low-bandwidth connections - I'm surprised their own network monitoring systems can't provide this data without have to drive millions of miles.

Re:Can't they get this from the 'handsets?'

[Splab]

GSM towers will report unexpected drops of calls and various metrics for the quality, however, in my experience, users will often report a subjective version of this which can often be quite skewed. By using actual equipment in the field you will be able to find gray spots (and black spots) in your setup and you will be more able in finding issues with call transfers between cells etc. - and those can often be linked with user complaints (and yes, the call will have some information about users whereabouts in the time of the call, it is however very unreliable for detecting gray/black spots).

Re:Can't they get this from the 'handsets?'

[Jake73]

I think what the O.P. meant was that the handsets (millions of them) could be providing this feedback at all times with just small ancillary data on the uplink. Things like SNR, error rates, etc, could be reported in real-time at all times or selectively enabled by the towers when segments are being measured. This would composite all sorts of users, all sorts of chipsets, photes, locations, etc. With location services enabled, the phones can tell the towers where they are when these measurements come through.

Throw it all up on a fancy visualization and you can get a lot of information over different times of day, weather conditions, etc. No need for a bunch of trucks. Sure, the trucks can provide more information with better measurement equipment. But in many cases, lots of cheap devices can produce better data and fewer expensive devices as long as the proper statistical processing is applied.

Re:Can't they get this from the 'handsets?'

[DrgnDancer]

One huge advantage I can see to this is precise location data. While cheap handsets can have their locations approximated, and more expensive ones know their exact locations (assuming satellite LOS), the first is only an approximation and the second is not readily available to the carriers. The trucks are no doubt equipped with GPS, and higher end tower triangulation equipment so they always know precisely where they are. Another advantage would be the capability to measure signals through non-handset equipment, while testing the handsets at the same time. For instance, I could setup a big antenna to measure gain that handset antennas can't detect, then figure out at precisely what point given handset can get a signal.

The other question is: How many handsets actually can collect and send this sort of data? If the answer is most or all of them, then you might be right, even the more accurate truck data might not be worth it given the huge numbers of handsets out there. if the answer is few or none... Well the trucks are a pretty important data point then. The carriers don't build the phones, getting this capability built into handsets is something they can request, but not necessarily just do.

Re:Can't they get this from the 'handsets?'

[Anonymous Coward]

Conspiracy theory: It's much better publicity for Verizon to pretend to actively monitor their network signals with fancy trucks than letting their customers know that they're snooping the customer base without their consent.

Monitoring handsets with customer consent could be a good idea!

Verizon can sell a standardized GPS-enabled phone to their customers (like CDMA GarminPhone?) and send out random coordinates on a regular basis for customers to cash in "signal points". The first person to run the special "CanYouHearMeNow" app on their phone at each location within a desired time frame will get the signal point. The app verifies the location from the built-in GPS, tests signal strength, and uploads results (or queues them for sending later if there's no data/messaging service. After a certain number of points are turned in by one user, the customer receives a $10 credit toward their monthly bill and a special award (T-shirt? phone case? gift card?) when they get to their $100 credit. It's much cheaper than a fleet of employees and trucks. Cell phone customers don't require health benefits, vacation, oil changes or tire rotations. Bonus points can be given for locations that go uncollected for a long time (eg: mountain, desert, ocean). Every time Verizon adds a new tower or somehow tweaks a tower in some way, they can start a new campaign that releases signal points back into the wild. To prevent idiots from putting themselves on highways without a car, create a mode for the app that leaves it running while driving so that they can run over the signal point pac-man-style to pick it up. Each customer is an individual that doesn't need to worry about interference from having too many phones in one truck. Because the phones are all the same, the signal testing is standardized. It's possible to award points to the first 3-5 different people who show up at a sensor point so that average or median results can be determined. It's like GeoCaching for Wireless.

If someone is frustrated about signal problems, they can run the app at any time to automatically report a problem (no points). After a while, when the unsolicited points in an area add up, it should show up on a map to help Verizon prioritize future coverage.

100 Tahoes?

[quangdog]

Pfffffttt..... surely there are more interesting and useful things we can do with 100 Tahoes. How about welding 6 of them together side by side to form a solid wall of Tahoe, then deploy them on 6 lane freeways. People who refuse to travel at least at the speed limit will be run over by the wall of Tahoe - thus eliminating gridlock.

Re:100 Tahoes?

[Anonymous Coward]

somebody had a rough drive in this morning.

Can they come to my house?

[MobyDisk]

I'll feed them if they come to my house and my work. Test my area please!

We had a technician install Verizon FiOS at our house last week, and he called me at work to ask me where we wanted the wireless router. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear each other because we both have Verizon wireless and my home has terrible coverage. If they can't install their own services because their own infrastructure doesn't work, then they should report that feedback too.

Re:Can they come to my house?

[Moridineas]

AT&T has an app like that called "Mark the Spot" (or something like that). I've put in dozens of reports (as have other people I know) from a highly developed part of my city that has terrible reception (-90 to -100 outside my house, -100+ inside the house, occasionally lose service in the middle of the house). Result over the last 3 years--nil.