Action week: dead spots in less than one percent of measuring points
Over 150,000 users have taken part in the campaign to find white spots in mobile communications. The Federal Network Agency speaks of a great success.
(Image: Kitawit Jitaton/Shutterstock.com)
A few days after the first nationwide mobile communications measurement week, which was jointly organized by the federal government, federal states and local authorities for the period between 26 May and 1 June, the Federal Network Agency revealed the first results of the campaign on Friday. According to the results, more than 150,000 users recorded measurement points with the regulatory authority's dead spot app over the seven days. In less than one percent of these, the participants "did not detect any coverage", according to the official statement. In other words, those affected were in a dead zone. With a total of 145,800,991 valid measuring points nationwide, up to 1.4 million locations probably had no cell phone or internet reception.
"At around 98% of the measuring points, the vast majority were 4G and 5G technology," emphasizes the Federal Network Agency. Just over one percent of the measuring points related to 2G. In around 1.4 million places, users are therefore likely to have made very slow progress on the web via Edge and at best only been able to check emails with difficulty. Graphics and tables for regional evaluations from the data from the measurement week for districts and municipalities should not be available until mid-June.
As expected, citizens in the most populous federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), carried out the most measurement campaigns as part of the "Germany checks its network" initiative. There alone, the statistics show almost 33 million valid measuring points, which, according to the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs, were contributed by 37,000 users. In the process, 112,200 locations were reported where there were gaps in the cell phone network (0.34%). In 2024, the proportion was still 0.7%. According to the department, broadband coverage with 4G or 5G increased to 98.54% in NRW, compared to 96.9% in the previous year.
Third week of measurements in NRW
This was already the third week of mobile network measurements between the Rhine and Ruhr, making comparisons possible. Users in Baden-WĂĽrttemberg and Bavaria each contributed around 22 million valid measurement points. In general, "coverage" does not mean that all users in one place can make mobile phone calls or surf the Internet. Rather, it means that a location is covered by at least one of the four network operators. Customers who have a contract with one of the other three may still be left out in the cold.
The official app for hunting for dead spots has been available since October 2018. This stores the respective network availability – no connection, 2G, 4G or 5G – on the cell phone and transmits it to the broadband measurement system. The measurement points collected flow anonymously into the Federal Network Agency's interactive wireless coverage map. According to the agency, the collected data shows how users "experience mobile communications" and can be filtered regionally. The map is updated weekly.
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Restrictions in the small print
The individual measuring points are assigned to grids on different display levels and summarized in these grids. However, the data for the measurement week will only be visible on the map in the coming days. The Federal Network Agency also cautions: "The results are not representative. The users of the app do not represent a cross-section of the population and the measuring points are not evenly distributed across a grid." The map display may also not provide correct information about the maximum network technology available locally from a network operator. This is due to the fact that the measuring points generated depend on the end device and the contractual modalities of the user. Anyone using an older smartphone that is only 4G-capable will of course not be able to collect data on 5G network coverage.
The authority lists other factors that could potentially cloud the results, such as the number of users or utilization of a mobile cell, the current weather conditions or the orientation and distance of the receiving device to the transmission mast. The crowdsourcing of measuring points should therefore be treated with caution. Nevertheless, the Federal Network Agency also wants to use the data to check the information provided by mobile network providers as part of its ongoing coverage checks. Klaus MĂĽller, head of the agency, described the measurement week as a "great success". Thanks to the high level of participation, "we are getting an up-to-date picture of mobile coverage for Germany from the user's perspective".
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