Ofcom punts network-sniffing Android app Telecoms regulator Ofcom has written a network tracking Android app so the great British public can help it sniff out not-spots. The app runs in the background gathering anonymous data on network performance, voice call success, mobile data performance and app usage. It downloads a small amount of data every 15 minutes, less …
Just because they are ok with the collection with one sort of data (signal strength/ network performance or whatever) does not mean they are necessarily happy with the collection of other data - e.g. their use of games or social media apps.
That said, I've no idea what the data collection was or is in this case - just making a distinction which may be helpful here.
In fairness, the apps description clearly states what data it collects. As to why - I suspect so they can say more than "a data connection was good here" and instead say "a data session that consumed xMbits of data on a streaming bearer was good here".
Users possibly downloaded it to see their network's status in their area, and were then annoyed by the popup that says "it needs permission for x,y,z and a,b,c", and were then disappointed by the lack of map.
Seriously, how many times does the wheel need reinventing - there are a plethora of apps that do this already, in a variety of different ways. It would be easier for Ofcom to mandate "operators must achieve a specified coverage, quality and capacity across Z% of the country", with suitable definitions for coverage (minimum received power), quality (minimum received signal quality) and capacity (maximum number of call blocks/drops, or some such) and then require the operator prove it to within a certain geographic resolution based on actual traffic data (and not the somewhat flexible radio propagation modelling).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.p3group.insight.ofcomresearch
http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2016/Calling-all-android-users/?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Ofcom-launches-research-app&utm_term=Research%2C%20Ofcom%20Mobile%20Research%20app%2C%20Mobile%20coverage%2C%20Consumers%2C%20App%2C%20P3%20
To avoid having any responsibility to actually see if Mobile operators meet the already too weak licence conditions.
If this was complementary, it would be good, but I fear it will be the only verification if enough users use it.
Self selected respondents result in misleading surveys. Will the demographic of those installing it be suitably geographically spread?
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