Cell phone network: Is the dead zone gone?

The former dead zone in which the head of the Federal Network Agency travels is located in an idyllic country setting. Riding tournaments and shooting festivals are advertised on the streets, and half-timbered houses line the path. A cat walks calmly across the street.

But the relaxed atmosphere came at a price: Until recently, the cell phone network in Mehren in the Westerwald (Rhineland-Palatinate) was dead – there was no 4G reception in an area of ​​three by two kilometers.

The three network operators have now reported that the dead zone is history. To check this, the Federal Network Agency sent a measuring van, and its President Klaus Müller came by on a flying visit.

“Trust is good, control is better,” says Müller, referring to the information from Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica Deutschland (O2). They had the obligation to close 500 4G dead spots by the beginning of this year. The village of Mehren is one of them.

Radio masts erected in the middle of the forest

Only some of the 500 dead spots were closed; in others, the companies cited legal or factual difficulties – for example, that no property owner was willing to rent out an area. In Mehren, however, it worked: the dead zone is a thing of the past, supposedly. Radio masts were erected in the middle of the forest. Now the question is whether they also send well.

The measurement engineer Markus Busch spent four days traveling in a van with a colleague to analyze the quality of the network. It’s not just on roads, but also on field and forest paths. “Anywhere we can drive, we drive.” There are several antennas on the roof of the car. The interior is full of technology, whether scanners, laptops or special measuring instruments.

The transporter drives slowly through the hilly landscape – several times each route so that the measurements are clear. A “pilot signal” is received that is independent of other people’s current usage. So in a sense there is no excuse why the download rate is currently in the basement.

On monitors you can see how the reception level of each provider sometimes increases and sometimes decreases. Everything is documented and evaluated later. From Mehren we go to Ziegenhain and Hahn – a route that can be found on hiking maps online. “Lovers of half-timbered buildings and natural stone houses will get their money’s worth,” says the website ich-geh-wandern.de. When it comes to gastronomy, however, there is a problem; you have to eat what you brought with you.

Hikers should also get a good network in Germany, at least in some places – according to a requirement that the telecommunications providers committed to at the frequency auction in 2019. A download rate of at least 100 megabits per second should also be possible in 500 existing 4G dead spots (“white spots”).

Subjective user experience vs. transmission performance

However, this is almost an ideal value – if several people are in one radio cell, they share the network capacity. To a certain extent this is not a problem. “Many people are still satisfied with two megabits per second today,” says expert Busch.

At events where a lot of people come, there can still be problems, even if the expansion requirements have been met. “There is always a discrepancy between the subjective user experience and the transmission power of a radio station,” says head of the authority Müller. Expectations among the population are increasing – “Streaming films, playing cell phone games and downloading or uploading large files is something people want to do on the go – no matter where.”

But this also means that telecommunications providers have to invest a lot of money in transmission towers that are used relatively little. Does it make sense to have a good network right down to the last milk can? In the Internet age, yes, says Müller. “That is what people and politicians expect and that is what we are striving for.”

2.6 percent of the area still has white spots

According to figures from the Federal Network Agency, in April 2023 only 2.6 percent of the area was white spots; a year earlier the value was 3.7 percent – so none of the three network operators had broadcast there. So-called gray spots – where only one or two of the network operators were transmitting – covered 16.7 percent of the country’s area in April 2023, compared to 24.7 percent a year earlier.

The numbers show that things are getting better. This is also emphasized by the telecommunications companies, who point to high investments. Since the 2019 auction, around 2,900 new radio stations and more than 3,800 upgrades to LTE technology have been initiated, according to Vodafone.

While the inspections of the measuring vehicle in the Westerwald focus on expansion obligations from 2019, head of the authority Müller is looking ahead. Next year, his authority wants to set conditions for the next frequency allocation; an initial proposal for this is to be published in the coming weeks.

The authority only makes sample measurements

What are the results of the measuring vehicle trips in the Westerwald? Engineer Busch smiles. “It looks good: the white spot is no longer white and no longer gray – it is no longer a spot at all.” The information provided by the network operators was correct. However, it remains to be seen whether this is the case in all supposedly closed dead spots – the authority only carries out sample measurements.

However, connections in the countryside are far from good everywhere, as a stop in the village of Fiersbach, which is not far from Mehren, shows – the white spot expansion requirement did not apply to this area. Inquiry with the Fiersbach taxi company Uwe Bischoff: What is your cell phone network like? Authorized officer Jonas Otto shakes his head. “Which network?” he asks and shows his cell phone: zero bars. Sometimes he goes up a hill to make a phone call. “It’s better there.”