How does it work?

What is measured?

Nettitutka measures

• Location from GPS, network or WLAN

• Download and upload speeds

• Latency

• Signal strength

We also store context information to make maps, statistics and scientific analysis possible

• Manufacturer, model, operating system and version

• Network and subscriber operator

• Base station

• Mobile technology, such as UMTS, HSPA, LTE, WLAN, etc.

• IP address and transport ports, both public and private

• Timestamp

Where does my data go from the app?

We have a measurement point in Finland, Europe.

Can I use the app in different languages?

Nettitutka app is available in English, German, Finnish and several other languages. The application on your phone is in the same language with than your user interface. If you change the language of your user interface, the app language changes automatically, as well. If your phone is using a language in which Nettitutka app is not available, the app will be in English.

I see without the app how strong is my mobile signal. Doesn't that tell me how good is my data connection?

No, mobile data speed depends on various factors and mobile signal strength is only one of them. This is exactly why we developed Nettitutka. You can read more about the factors having an impact to mobile data speed, for instance, in some of our scientific articles

Mobile network measurements - It's not all about signal strength

Nettitutka - Measuring the wireless world

Privacy

What do you do with my data?

All data is anonymous, that was one of the very fundamental design decisions we did. We do not store information about you, just technical information. Anonymous data is used for drawing the data coverage maps and give various statistics and analyses to you as well as for academic research purposes.

Do I have to login?

Login is not necessary on the application, it is purely optional - this was one of our key design choices. You can, if you want, use external login providers' single sign-on to keep record of your own measurements and to browse them at any time. Our application does not require this, nor do we store or share measurements or personal information from the external login providers' service. Only the identification code is stored so the service can match a user to his or her own measurements.

Do you guys see what I am using my mobile phone for?

Not at all. The app does it's own measurements with the Nettitutka infrastructure and we have no idea what you do otherwise with your phone, nor do we want to know, this is again a key decision for us, we value your privacy.

Costs

Do I have to pay for the service?

The app is free, so are the web site services. The only cost you may have for using the service is that the application introduces data transfers over the mobile network and depending on your subscription data plan, it might introduce costs. We are not responsible for these costs, and it is your own decision to use our service and application.

How much Nettitutka consumes from my data plan?

Using Nettitutka takes more or less as many bytes as what is your bit rate. So if your measurement result was 10 mbps, then Nettitutka transferred some 10 Megabytes of data.

Map

Can I see coverage maps from other regions than where I am?

Sure you can. Move the map by dragging it with the mouse or by pressing one of the arrow keys on the keyboard. You can also move to a different area on the map by clicking the page up, page down, home or end keys. How do I zoom in and out of the map?

To use the map on a computer, zoom and move the map by clicking on it and then zoom on the map using the scroll wheel of the mouse or by pressing the + or - keys on the keyboard. If you use the map on a mobile phone, use the arrow keys on the display.

Can you explain the map a bit more?

Data resolution

The network performance data resolution is 200 x 200 meters. That is also the tile size on the map at the closest zoom level. Our research indicates this is the smallest meaningful size with a typical location accuracy.

Tile sizes

The sizes of the tiles on the map are calculated by their area in the nature. Because a variant of the Mercator projection is used on the map on wider zoom levels, the tiles further away from the Equator are bigger on your screen than the closer ones.

For example, in the worldwide view the tiles located near the equator seem to be half of the size compared to ones in the northern hemisphere.

Tile coloring

We use five colors to indicate the network performance within a tile area. The value ranges of different colors depend of a selected metric as follows: