CROWD
IN THIS YEAR, THE RESULTS OF CROWD SOURCING ANALYSES ARE PART OF THE TOTAL SCORE FOR THE FIRST TIME. 26,000 USERS IN THE NETHERLANDS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE DATA GATHERING THAT TOOK PLACE FROM DECEMBER 2018 TO FEBRUARY 2019.
While the drivetests and walktests determine the peak performance of the examined networks, crowdsourcing can add important dimensions such as time, geography or variety in devices and tariff plans – if done in the right way.
For the collection of crowd data, P3 has integrated a background diagnosis processes into more than 800 diverse Android apps. If one of these applications is installed on the end-user’s phone and the user authorises the background analysis, data collection takes place 24/7, 365 days a year. Reports are generated for every quarter of an hour and sent daily to P3‘s cloud servers. Such reports generate just a small number of bytes per message and do not include any personal user data. A more detailed description of our crowdsourcing methodology can be found in the methodology section. Based on the total population count of 17 million people, one of 654 inhabitants of the Netherlands has contributed to the gathering of 174 million samples
of crowd data. The considered test area represents 68 per cent of the built-up area of the country.
ALL OPERATORS SCORE HIGH INVOICE AND DATA COVERAGE, SOME ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
AT 4G
All Dutch operators achieve high scores for their voice and data coverage. In the Quality of Voice Coverage, all three networks are more or less on a par. In the Quality of Data Coverage (which considers 3G plus 4G), KPN takes a narrow lead ahead of T-Mobile and, at a little more distance of Vodafone. In contrast, Vodafone offers the best Quality of 4G Coverage (the likelihood of being able to actually use 4G services) ahead of KPN and at some distance of T-Mobile. However, this KPI leaves some room for improvement in all three Dutch networks.
ASSESSING COVERAGE
BASED ON CROWD KPIS
Our coverage metrics correspond to the results of our drivetests and walktests. However, it is no surprise that the crowdsourced KPIs for voice, data and 4G coverage deviate to a certain extent from the population coverage values stated by most operators: P3’s gathering of crowd data reflects where people actually are and move as opposed to their places of residence and working. Furthermore, our crowdsourcing also comprises indoor or other disadvantageous reception situations, while operators commonly base their claims on outdoor reception only.
T-MOBILE SHOWS FASTEST DATA RATES IN TOP 10 PER CENT OF EVALUATION AREAS
In the assessment of download speeds available to the users, T-Mobile shows the best results for the top 10 per cent of Evaluation Areas. In this category as well as in the assessment of average download speeds, KPN scores second and Vodafone follows at a close distance. Generally, it must be taken into consideration that a part of the actual user base probably experiences data speed limitations caused by their mobile tariffs.
LOW LEVEL OF SERVICE DEGRADATIONS AT T-MOBILE AND KPN, SOMEWHAT ELEVATED LEVEL AT VODAFONE
Other than the rest of the crowd KPIs, our examination of Data Service Availabilty covers nine months (June 2018 to February 2019). KPN scores best in this consideration, showing only one service degradation up to one hour in the observed period. T-Mobile ranks second with up to two hours in January. Vodafone suffered three outages – of which the ones in August and October lasted up to 8 hours, while the one in September lasted up to one hour.
“T-MOBILE SCORES BEST IN THE CROWD-SOURCED CATEGORIES, FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY KPN AND, AT A DISTANCE, BY VODAFONE.”
“CROWD RESULTS AT A GLANCE
All Dutch operators achieve high scores for their voice and data coverage. Overall,
T-Mobile gathers most points in the crowdsourced categories, with KPN following at a distance of only one point. Vodafone also achieves good results, but loses a few points due to a slightly elevated level of service degradations during the summer of 2018.”