Ranlytics Maps Cell Coverage on Every Street Near Seattle

Ranlytics announces the successful deployment of its mobile network measurement equipment on select United States Postal Service (USPS) mail delivery vehicles near Seattle.  

All AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon 3G, 4G and 5G networks are now being accurately and regularly measured at almost every address within the select area. The resulting mobile network coverage maps are the most detailed available, are refreshed multiple times per month, and locate all areas impacted by lack of coverage, and by poor quality voice calls and data connectivity.

The measurement data can help wireless carriers locate every coverage hole, determine what is impacting coverage, and improve mobile network performance and user experience.  

Both the FCC and Congress have identified accurate coverage mapping as an urgent problem that must be addressed to bridge the digital divide, and this revolutionary approach to coverage mapping is providing the most detailed and extensive insights into wireless service quality ever seen in America. With the Postal Service delivering mail 6 days a week, changes in coverage are quickly and precisely identified.

Understanding mobile network coverage and quality on every street and road has been a goal of the telecommunications industry for decades. But prohibitive costs, complexity, and technical challenges have prevented this goal from being achieved. So, wireless carriers have had no option but to rely on limited measurement, desktop projections and poor-quality crowd-sourced data. The inevitable result has been incomplete understanding of coverage & quality, persistent coverage holes, and inaccurate coverage maps.

Ranlytics has solved these challenges with the only fully-automated mobile network measurement and mapping solution in the world, which is also being deployed with other postal and fleet operators globally, including Austrian Post.

Map showing one wireless carrier’s 4G coverage east of Seattle.  Green represents high-quality coverage, yellow is good, orange is poor, red is very poor, and black represents areas where this operator provides no 4G coverage.  This view can be used by both technical and non-technical users to accurately locate all areas with poor coverage, while more detailed engineering data helps engineers to improve network design and optimize coverage - everywhere.

Map showing a street level comparison between two wireless carriers’ 4G coverage in an area east of Seattle. Streets on which the first operator’s coverage is best are shown in purple, those on which the second operator’s coverage is best in blue, and streets on which both operators’ coverage is equivalent appear in brown.  The system supports comparisons of 3G, 4G and 5G coverage between 2, 3, 4 or 5 wireless carriers to show definitively where each operator offers the best coverage in a given town or suburb, on a given street, and even at a particular address.

Ultimately, Ranlytics aims to accurately measure and map mobile coverage nationwide.

In another first, detailed mobile measurement data is accessible to telecommunications engineers, and non-technical users can access easy-to-understand summary information using the intuitive Ranlytics browser-based ranmaps tool.

All measured data is stored long-term, which means that changes in coverage that happen over time can be easily identified, and root causes of problems quickly understood. Investments in network coverage or state funded initiatives to bridge the digital divide can therefore be better targeted, and resulting network improvements verified.

Chief Executive Officer of Ranlytics, Keith Sheridan said that the collaboration with the US Postal Service delivers a quantum leap in understanding mobile network coverage.

“As the economy digitizes, communities and many industries throughout the country depend more and more on reliable mobile access to the internet.

Everything from remote health & education delivery and online self-servicing, to smart farming, precision manufacturing remote sensing, and autonomous vehicles depends on the availability of high quality mobile connectivity.

Yet we all know from personal experience that coverage holes still exist, and it can be hard to establish or maintain a quality connection in some locations, especially in rural communities. This isn’t just making digitization harder, but it can worsen the digital divide, with people in areas with good coverage enjoying access to products and services that are difficult or impossible to access where mobile coverage is poor.

The only way to truly understand mobile network coverage at a given location is to measure it using specialized equipment at that location. But making these detailed measurements over large areas has been a huge challenge for wireless carriers. And coverage holes can’t be improved if a provider doesn’t know exactly where they are.

We’re honored to be collaborating with USPS to solve these problems, and help to improve mobile network coverage and access to the digital economy for communities across the United States”.