Powys and Ceredigion Locals Get New Mobile Coverage Checker

The Growing Mid Wales (GMW) programme and network analyst firm Streetwave have today launched a “groundbreaking coverage checker” for 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks in the region, which uses the data they’ve been collecting on mobile broadband coverage and speeds by harnessing waste collection vehicles (bin lorries).

The use of bin collections to map mobile network coverage and data performance recently became quite popular (here, here, here, here and here). In this setup, refuse collection vehicles are installed with four off-the-shelf Smartphones using software from Streetwave on top, which run continuous network tests (once every 20 metres in rural areas and 5m in urban areas) as the vehicles go about their routes.

One of the first schemes to harness this approach was the Growing Mid Wales programme, which focuses on the Powys and Ceredigion areas of Wales. The results from this mapping work have now been made available to the public via a new coverage checker, which they say should “assist residents and businesses to make informed choices about their mobile connectivity options.”

“It is important to note that the data in our mobile coverage checker is not definitive and should only be used as an additional tool alongside other sources of information. The data is updated monthly when the waste collection vehicles repeat their services to ensure the latest throughput speeds are shown,” said the announcement.

Councillors James Gibson-Watt and Bryan Davies said:

“This initiative demonstrates our commitment to enhancing digital connectivity across our region. By providing residents and businesses with real mobile coverage data results, we empower them to make informed decisions and improve their access to reliable network services.”

Residents can use the checker to see the exact download and upload speeds that EE, Vodafone, Three UK, and O2 offer within a 30-metre radius outside their homes or businesses. Residents need only enter their postcode and select their address to see results. Use the mobile coverage checker here: www.growingmid.wales/Coverage.

The catch is that this can only tell you how fast the mobile broadband download and upload speeds are outside your property (note: you have to scroll down and click around a bit to find the upload results on their checker), but there’s no visual map that would allow you to easily see nearby results without having to manually go through lots of addresses. Sadly, there are no other statistics available on signal quality, latency etc.

The local authorities plan to use this data to help them work with mobile operators in order to deliver service improvements to the locations that need it the most.