Carrier Coverage lets you see who is the Best Cellphone Carrier in your area
by Toni McQuilken
Apr 27, 2012 9:26 AM –
Install
Carrier Coverage samples your network coverage to help you answer the question, “Which carrier is best for you?” Crowd-sourcing among the community you can use it to see which cellphone carrier has the best coverage, least dropped calls, top performing devices and more. Let’s get into the review!
Price: Free
Tested on: MyTouch 3G Slide
Content Rating: Low Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- It’s an interesting way to see how your current carrier compares with the other major players, in your specific area.
Cons
- The app itself is a bit confusing, and takes some poking around to figure out what the information is, and how to use it.
Features:
Carrier Coverage is a simple app designed to ping your network, and give you information about your signal strength. But beyond that, it’s a social app, so as more people in your area use it, it builds a database of your area that you can run reports on, to see which carriers get consistently stronger signals, or what the most popular devices are, etc.
I found the app to be pretty accurate when it came to my own signal. I get an average of around 2.5 bars in my house, and that was where Carrier Coverage seemed to put me as well. There aren’t many people in my area also using the app, but I was able to at least run the reports and see that T-Mobile, my provider, is pretty even with the other major players. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but it was good to know my provider measured up.
One place I can really see this app coming in handy is if you have consistent problems with the coverage in your area. A lot of dropped calls and bad signals would lead anyone to start looking into alternatives, and this app lets you see, not just in general but for the places you frequent, which carriers have the strongest signals and the most use. It’s also convenient to check coverage of a place you may travel to in the future. Lastly, you can see breakdown stats on top devices that get excellent coverage as well; convenient measurement tool if you are considering a new phone.
Watch on Mobile
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Carrier Coverage Data
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Carrier Coverage Loading
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Carrier Coverage Report
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Carrier Coverage Top Devices
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Carrier Coverage Top Carriers
Usefulness:
As I mentioned above, the usefulness factor of this app depends on what you want it for. If you want to compare providers to make sure you’re with the carrier with the best signal you can get in your area, then this is a perfect app for you. For anything else, it might not be. For example, it’s not going to give you suggestions, merely give you the data in a report so you can make up your own mind.
Ease of Use:
The app itself was very easy to install, and it does the initial scan by itself. It also pings the network automatically to send back network information to help build the database. All of that was easy. What was a bit more confusing was the reports. I know a little about carriers and the like, but there were no explanations, just reports with lots of numbers, and you’re left to try and figure out what they mean and how that applies to you. For techie people, this isn’t difficult, but for the average user who just wants to find a carrier who won’t drop their calls, it might be a bit hard to figure out.
Frequently Used:
While I can think of a few reasons why you’d check this app more often, for most users, it’s something you’ll install, let run for a while to get a good data sample, then decide on a carrier and then never use again.
Interface:
The interface itself is very clean and easy to use. It’s polished, too, which is sometimes harder to find than you’d think.