Crowdsourcing digital signal strength

AT&T promises "more bars in more places" — but which places? Verizon Wireless proclaims "it's the network" — but does the network cover you well in the places you live, work and travel?

Until now, cell phone users have had no detailed and impartial way to assess and compare which network offers the best data and voice service where they use their phones.

Root Wireless Inc., a Bellevue, Wash., startup, aims to change that. Root's colorful online map, which debuted last week on CNET.com and is currently usable only by consumers living in the eight U.S. markets analyzed so far, shows voice and data signal strength for each of the four major U.S. carriers. An intriguing plan calls for building out map coverage through 200,000 volunteers nationwide, all armed with a data-gathering app on their smartphones.

"This definitely has the benefit of being an objective source," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "It seems like a valuable service, potentially."

Consumers Union policy analyst Joel Kelsey, who has seen Root's map, said, "It seems to me to be much more accurate than a theoretical coverage map based on where towers are sited. And it's good for consumers to be able to compare using impartial data."

The Roots map can sequentially show the same region's voice and data coverage from the four major U.S. cellular providers, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. The map can be clicked to display a conventional, aerial or terrain view, the latter useful for seeing "shadows" where coverage is blocked.

In each hexagonal cell, measuring several square blocks, Root ranks and color-codes voice-signal strength, from 0 to 100 percent. Clicking the colored square within each hexagon shows the average percentage of optimal voice-signal strength there.

For example, at an intersection near my Seattle-area house, the map showed Verizon offered 30 percent, AT&T 75 percent, Sprint 87 percent and T-Mobile 46 percent. A single click switched the view to data coverage, showing no mapping yet for Verizon's data service but 3G coverage from AT&T of 226 kbps downloads and 147 kbps uploads.

A static table at the bottom of the screen provided interpretive numbers: the minimum, maximum and average speeds produced by each carrier's data network.

Clicking on the Network tab revealed nearby areas that showed zero signal-strength bars, failures to access the network despite signal strength, or "hot zones" that have various service problems.

Initially, the Root map is accessible only through CNET.com, as part of its library of cell phone reviews. CNET isn't promoting the map, but it's available by clicking "check coverage" directly under the reviewed phone's name. Checking it out is difficult, because it is currently available only within selected cell-phone reviews, and only to CNET visitors in the eight markets — Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. — where Root has done its own mapping.

Another 12 markets are slated to be mapped by year-end: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Houston, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, St. Louis and Tampa/St. Petersburg.

CNET says that while the Root program is in beta, visitors can increase their odds of seeing the map by clicking on reviews of smartphones, not conventional models. The site promises access to the map from all its cell phone reviews once the beta period ends, probably in January.

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Root's offering is its expansion plan. The company is looking for 4,000 volunteers — 1,000 per carrier — in each major market, and fewer in smaller markets. They will download a small application, available in about a month, onto their Android, RIM or Windows phone. An iPhone version is problematic, because that phone doesn't run background apps, said Root co-founder and chief executive Paul Griff.

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