Why I Hate My Cell Phone (cont'd)

The real truth of the situation is that sometimes the solution to the problem is a new tower, but many times other solutions are more appropriate. Building a new tower is a solution to use only when other possibilities have been exhausted. There are many other options, such as optimization of existing sites, upgrading antennas, and down-tilting, to name just a few. (See sidebar: Radio System Maintenance 101.)

What Subscribers Can Do

One of the least known opportunities for improving service is literally in the user's hands. It is the ability to upgrade the handset to a better performing unit that can make a big difference in network reliability. Not all handsets are created equal, especially when it comes to their ability to communicate with the network. The primary purpose of a handset is to be a portable radio, and some handsets are simply better radios than others. Other features may be useful or fun, but if they diminish the handset's ability to be a good radio then overall service reliability will suffer.

It is easy to find handsets rankings and reviews from a variety of sources. These provide important criteria for anyone buying new service or considering a new handset. Service providers typically do not provide this information to their subscribers, though they conduct testing and know which handsets perform well and which do not. Asking the service provider for this information may or may not result in a positive response, but if enough subscribers ask, service providers may get the message that it is time to delivery this important information to consumers. Subscribers can also ask about technology available in newer handsets that might help. For example, in GSM networks a new communications scheme between the handset and the network called AMR ("Adaptive Multi-Rate") often provides better call quality in poor radio conditions - among other benefits - but not every GSM handset supports it.

Subscribers can further help themselves by telling their service providers where they experience poor service. Although it may be difficult to believe, the vast majority of service providers take customer calls about service quality seriously. Telling the service provider when and where problems happen helps them find and resolve those problems quickly. Providing as precise a location as possible when reporting a problem can make a big difference. With good location and time of day information, RF engineers can often work what seem to be miracles.

What Operators Can - and Should - Do

Most of the heavy lifting in solving network problems belongs to the service provider. Better network performance relates to higher customer satisfaction which results in reduced customer churn. The best way to help that cause, in addition to building new sites, is to drive as much performance out of the existing network as possible. Incentives for network performance improvement often make a big difference in engineering and operations groups' priorities. This can generate significant quality benefits for relatively modest investments. Don't be the executive who said: "I don't care that your customer satisfaction and network performance is among the highest in the company - you did not meet your site build plan so everybody's bonus is affected." Unfortunately, this negative point of view comes from a true story.

Another thing service provider executives can do is to develop relationships with their equipment vendors that foster finding and fixing network performance problems. Monthly and quarterly reviews of network performance with vendors are important to identify problem areas that require rapid resolution. Often equipment vendors have resources and technologies available to help, and are motivated to provide products and services that maximize the performance of their equipment.

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