The problem
Mobile operators measured their networks from the network side: counters, drive tests and probes. What they couldn't easily see was what subscribers actually experienced: the dropped call in a lift, the set-up that failed in a stadium, the hour with no service.
What we built
- A smartphone agent for iOS, Android and BlackBerry with two modes. In passive mode it records failure events with device, location and radio context while the subscriber uses the phone normally. In active mode it runs voice, ping, FTP and HTTP tests, started from the handset or remotely from the web platform, with triggers by area, cell, technology, motion and charge state.
- A web platform for maps, grids, standard and custom reports, alarms, subscriber and handset management, and a customer-complaints portal that put a subscriber's own failure history in front of customer care.
Architecture
- Handset agents send events over data or SMS to a mediation layer, which validates and time-normalises them into a central database behind the web interface.
- Four deployment models: hosted or in-house, for operators and for non-operator customers. Without access to an operator's SMS centre, the system used its own SMS gateway.
Result
From December 2013 NetTrax was part of Ascom's TEMS network-testing portfolio as TEMS MobileInsight, with Ascom as its exclusive worldwide distributor from 2014.
In 2017 Digitata Networks acquired the NetTrax IP, together with our NetCE lab-testing product, which became Digitata's CeRC automated network-testing solution.