Cell phone problem survey has problems

November 26, 2003

Today, the City of New York released its Mobile Phone Deadspot Survey, based on the results of a self-selected sample of New Yorkers (including me) who complained about their mobile service on the NYC.gov website or to 311. The most problems were reported in midtown.

Unfortunately, these results are useless. The survey makes no distinction between the quality of service in each area and the nature or severity of the problems in each location. A more useful survey would not be that difficult to conduct: a couple of testers with one phone per carrier could walk each block and note the available signal strength for each service. Every so often, the testers would also check whether an outgoing call could be successfully completed. Of course, only Manhattan alone would be relatively quick to complete. Surveying the entire five boroughs would be a very long project, even by car.

(via Gothamist)