Perception of Mobile Network Coverage

Mobile networks and signal strength

As a communications regulating body, Ofcom regularly publishes data on mobile networks and signal strength to inform the general public. They were looking to investigate public perception of signal strength, whether it was understood or not, and identify people’s frustrations from lack of coverage.

Exploring attitudes towards mobile coverage

We travelled to locations across the country where locals regularly experienced poor or no network signal, and conducted focus groups to surface people’s perceptions of and attitudes towards signal strength.

‍

These sessions also included co-design activities, so participants were asked to design something which would allow them to compare network coverage strength between different providers.

‍

We gathered detailed insights from these sessions, for instance the prevalence of “urban myths” around mobile signal where people believed that signal could be affected by a number of things, based on hearsay.

‍

Designing an intuitive network coverage checker

Incorporating all of the research insights, we wireframed and prototyped a mobile coverage checker, which was tested with users to iteratively refine and improve it.

‍

Working together with Ofcom, we created a future road map for the evolution of this service into a more holistic information and comparison resource for consumers to make decisions on their mobile network.

‍