2nd Round Mobile Testing Begins Today

The testers are back, and they are heading out on the road today to begin the second round of mobile broadband testing across the state. Summary data from the first round of testing is available for download from the CPUC's web site (see previous post), and we will soon be posting a staff report with analysis of that data.



Spring 2012 Mobile Test Data Now Available for Download

Summary results from all mobile testing done in the 1st Round is now available for download in Excel. Please click the following link:

• Spring 2012 Mobile Broadband Field Testing Summarized Results

Alternatively, you can visit the CPUC's web site and find the link under the heading "Mobile Broadband Drive-Test Project."

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/Telco/Information+for+providing+service/Broadband+Availability+Maps.htm

Preliminary Findings Now Available on Broadband Council web site

Yesterday at the California Broadband Council (CBC) meeting in the State Capitol, the CPUC presented its preliminary findings from the first round of mobile broadband field testing. They are available for download at the CBC web site at: http://broadbandcouncil.ca.gov/home.aspx

Testing Complete!

Thank you to the amazing job all eight testers did over the past 19 days of testing.

• 12,000 tests performed
• Over 35,000 miles driven
• Lots of valuable data for us to digest and analyze over the coming month

We'll update you as results become available.

Race to Land's End

As we wind up the final week of testing, some of the testers are finding themselves at beautiful locations along the long California coastline. Watch this short video from Annette, who is in Encinitas.

And below, a photo from David, who is further up the coast.

In the home stretch

As of last Friday, we've completed tests at 1,051 sites (88%). One week left of testing!

Mobile Now Generates 20% U.S. Web Traffic

According to a report by online advertising network Chitika, smartphones account for 14.6% and tablets 5.6% of total web traffic in the U.S. and Canada. And while we're on the topic of mobile broadband, here are some other interesting tidbits from Cisco's Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2011-2016:

• Last year's mobile data traffic was eight times the size of the entire global Internet in 2000. Global mobile data traffic in 2011 (597 petabytes per month) was over eight times greater than the total global Internet traffic in 2000 (75 petabytes per month).
• Mobile video traffic exceeded 50 percent for the first time in 2011. Mobile video traffic was 52 percent of traffic by the end of 2011.
• Mobile network connection speeds grew 66 percent in 2011. Globally, the average mobile network downstream speed in 2011 was 315 kilobits per second (kbps), up from 189 kbps in 2010. The average mobile network connection speed for smartphones in 2011 was 1344 kbps, up from 968 kbps in 2010.

This underscores the importance of validating and improving mobile broadband access across the state.