Blame it on your phone

Johannesburg, 15 Mar 2013

Cellphone users may need to look at their phones, in addition to their mobile service providers, when pointing fingers for poor coverage.

Local cellphone users have been up in arms with mobile networks lately, as connectivity gets progressively worse - but they do not realise their smartphones are also a contributing factor when it comes to a shaky connection.

This is according to Strand Consult, a Danish ICT research firm that has outlined cellular handsets' role in poor mobile coverage. Local industry professionals have corroborated the argument that cellphones themselves have a part to play in connectivity issues.

Using the popular Samsung Galaxy S3 as a case in point, Strand says phone manufacturers market variants of their products under the same name, and that their supply chains are too extensive to cater to each and every country they serve.

"Their global supply chains are so vast and complex that it is impossible for them to provide exactly the same phone, with the same components, from the same suppliers to each geography. The variants are similar enough that consumers don't take notice."

Endless activity

Richard Boorman, executive head of corporate communications at SA's largest mobile operator, Vodacom, confirms that today's smartphones have a part to play in network performance.

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Boorman points out that users' relationships with their cellphones have changed dramatically in the last five or so years - adding to the plethora of potential connectivity problems. "We used to make calls and check for texts once in a while. We're now e-mailing, texting, messaging, Facebooking, tweeting, speaking, watching, listening and doing a hundred other things on our handsets every waking minute."

This constant activity, he says, also means that users pick up any possible hiccups in the connection to the network instantly - in a way that they would not have in the past. "We simply didn't use our phones nearly as much back then, and what we were asking the phone to do then was infinitely less demanding than what we're asking our handsets to do now.

Strand Consult cites both software and hardware as potential culprits of poor mobile coverage. Because phone manufacturers continually better their products and software, says the firm, the impact is that variants of the phone can come to market with different versions of the software. "Some versions of software may work better than others."

Hardware is also a shifting issue, says Strand. The company notes that hardware components come from different suppliers, and users can replace or upgrade components in the phone too. "Samsung can vary the processing chip, the receiver for 3G/4G, the memory card, the camera, and other essential hardware."

Strand says applications are another cause of poor network coverage, with customers often influencing their experience by how they configure their phones. "There are millions of apps on the market, and they vary in function and quality. A typical user not only has many apps on his phone, but many of these apps are poorly designed and interfere in how the phone functions with the network and the experience the customer gets."

A "dirty little secret" in the device industry, says Strand, lies in the operating system the manufacturer adds to the phone, and the frequent software updates they ask users to make. "There is so much competition to get phones to market quickly that manufacturers frequently cut corners in software development. So rather than work out all the bugs, you buy a suboptimal phone and then they send you updates to fix it later."

Most importantly, according to Strand, is the role of the antenna inside the handset. A study by Danish professor of electronic systems, Gert Froelund Pedersen, showed that the quality of antenna (on nine of Denmark's top-selling phones) in the phone can vary by a factor of 10 - depending on the model of the phone.

"Add in variables like third-party apps, the interplay between apps, memory constraints, bugs in operating systems and software updates to fix them, and you can begin to see why the user's experience isn't always smooth."

MTN's CTO, Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, says the operator has seen variance in performance, signal strength and support of specific functions in different handsets. He says, however, that MTN, as with all the operators, undertakes a rigorous testing process to type approve devices.

The company that makes BlackBerry, one of SA's most prolific smartphones in use, confirms it undertakes "rigorous testing" with carrier partners ahead of launching to market.

But analysts say the high-volume smartphones of today are not without glitches that affect users' network experience. Ovum's emerging markets analyst, Richard Hurst, says older phones were a lot more robust and reliable than the pool of feature-rich smartphones the industry is releasing today. "It's a trade-off for manufacturers, as they cram more and more features into the phones. More focus needs to be placed on aerials and transmission."

However, Hurst says, given time, there will be renewed focus by designers and engineers who have been trading mobile network experience for features.

Web of factors

Dobek Pater, analyst at Africa Analysis, says the role of the device in network issues represents a Web of complexity, with numerous factors affecting performance of a cellphone - including local environment, frequency band, the phone type and design, relative levels of received signal, and movement of the user.

Most of these factors contributing to poor network performance, he points out, are actually outside of the control of mobile operators.

Pater says it appears that less focus is being placed on the radio frequency performance of mobile phones - especially smartphones - and more focus on operating system, app development, ergonomics, etc.

"I believe that many of the new smartphones (iPhone 4 and 5 and Samsung 2 and 3 included) seem to exhibit phone performance that is less effective in lower signal areas than previous-generation phones.

"Although this is somewhat subjective, this perception is gained from personally comparing different phones in troublesome areas."