Nokia Siemens Networks has teamed up with Ciqual and is now offering a new service for operators using their infrastructure equipment called “Mobile Quality Analyzer (MQA) for Mobile Broadband“. It’s a simple application that people have to install on their computer and then the data on the performance of their connection, both in terms of speed and reliable signal strength, is sent to a server within the operator’s network where it can then be analyzed in real time or at a later date. Two pieces of this announcement are puzzling to me:
1) I thought operators had this type of technology all along. They already know where you are thanks to being able to identify which cell towers you’re connected to, and they already know how much data, voice, and texts you use thanks to the billing systems in place, so how come it’s taken this long to offer a high end dashboard that operators can now use to fix capacity and coverage issues?
2) Why doesn’t Ciqual make their application available for smartphones as well? There are far more smartphones in the field than people using a USB modem, and with a larger sample size comes more accurate data, so what gives?
“The mobile broadband market is growing rapidly and improved broadband service quality is fast becoming a differentiator for operators globally,” said Ludovic Magne, customer operations for business solutions sales at Nokia Siemens Networks. “MQA for Mobile Broadband provides operators with information to plan and efficiently adjust their network capacity as well as speed up resolution of customer complaints.”
It’s a lot easier to use this versus sending a guy out in a discrete van with loads of expensive wireless testing equipment up and down the streets of a large city so he can construct a snapshot of the network’s health. Here’s hoping operators sign up and improve their service.