November 25, 2003
City Releases Its Cell Phone Survey

As the age of cell phone number portability begins, the City of New York has released its Mobile Phone Reception Problems report. First off, the city has this caveat:
Additionally, the city makes many caveats, like "The data is not the product of a scientific survey. All data was self-reported. Individuals were able to submit anonymous reports. Individuals were able to submit multiple reports concerning the same location(s). The City of New York has not independently verified the existence of actual service problems at the reported locations.
You can see the Density of Reported Mobile Phone Problems, and naturally, the most problems seem to be in the areas that are densely populated - both residentially and commercially. The other part is the Mobile Phone Problem Report, which looks at problem areas carrier by carrier. Overall, most carriers seem to have many problems areas, except for Cingular (report here), which might be a result of less market penetration leading to less reporting of their problems. And, of course, people who have problem with service are more likely to report them than those who are content wtih service. Other carriers surveyed: ATT (report), Nextel (report), Sprint PCS (report), T-Mobile (report), and Verizon (report),




In NY (as well as CA and NV), Cingular shares a network with T-Mobile, so the results for each of these carriers can reasonably be imputed to each other.
And if you're a cheapass like me, keep in mind that pay-as-you-go Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint PCS network.
I can see my house from here! Lets hope they actually do something about it...
Those reports don't mean anything to me, it's just a bunch of red dots in any neighborhood that's worth hanging out in...