Investigating Mobile Broadband Coverage in Rural Areas

Abstract: With an increasing demand of mobile data traffic, and a growing assumption of continuous Internet connectivity, it is important to investigate the characteristics of mobile cellular networks. The consequence of insufficient capacity will grow as the cloud and other Internet demanding services, not only makes us dependent, but becomes a way of living. The present study aims to identify areas without mobile network coverage in Värmland County in central Sweden. An additional aim is to find statistical relationships between network performance metrics such as throughput, signal strength and latency. With data collected during an eight month period, network characteristics have been investigated for the three Swedish mobile operators, Tre, Telia and Telenor. The performed data analysis show multiple regions where at least one operator is unable to provide sufficient performance and regions strongly overrepresented by a specific operator. Provided analysis also show a correlation between signal strength and key performance metrics, such as throughput and network delay.