App use is intended to help detect dead spots in NRW

Mobile phone users are to use an app to report dead spots so that a more precise picture of mobile phone coverage in North Rhine-Westphalia is created. Economics Minister Mona Neubaur now called for a “mobile phone measurement week” to take place from May 27th to June 3rd. “Whether on a walk or on the bus or train: every citizen can help to detect dead spots and determine the actual mobile phone coverage on site,” explained the Green party. “The more people take part in the first mobile phone measurement week in North Rhine-Westphalia, the more meaningful the results will be.”

The Federal Network Agency’s free and ad-free broadband measurement app is to be used, with which not only the current data transmission rate can be determined, but also the location of dead spots. The app has been around for a long time, and data is already being collected. But many people are not familiar with it. The high-profile measurement week is intended to boost usage.

According to the Federal Network Agency, the 4G radio standard could be received by at least one network operator in 97.9 percent of North Rhine-Westphalia at the beginning of this year. For the vast majority of citizens, however, this should only be a theoretical value, since they only have a cell phone with them and should therefore only have access to one of the three networks. Looking at the individual network providers, the Telekom 4G network had the best coverage with 94.3 percent of the area. Vodafone was at 90.2 percent and Telefónica at 89.6. 5G coverage was lower.

In almost 2 percent of the area, no 4G or 5G provider could be received. 14 percent were so-called gray spots: Not all providers were present there – if you were unlucky and went to the “wrong” provider, you didn’t get a network there.