Indoor Network Signal Coverage of Mobile Telecommunication Networks in West Malaysia: Selangor and Johor Bahru

This paper measures Mobile Broadband (MBB) performance in terms of the received Cellular Signal Strength (CSS). This will provide information on the performances of Fourth Generation (4G) and Third Generation (3G) mobile networks. The data are gathered to analyze and characterize MBB performances through indoor tests conducted in the areas of Klang Valley with Selangor and Johor Bahru in West Malaysia. The MBB research collects performance data on Malaysia's three national Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in indoor buildings of chosen areas. The data were collected between January and February 2016 using the commercial smartphone, Galaxy S6. The results in this paper represent the mobile broadband performance in terms of coverage for two types of MBB services, web browsing, and video streaming. One smartphone is dedicated to collect the performance data of one MBB service. Within one MBB service, several classifications are identified to obtain a detailed MBB performance analysis. For video services, a similar YouTube video with two different resolutions, 720p (low) and 1080p (high), are alternately streamed by one smartphone. For web services, three different web pages (i.e. Google, Instagram, and mstar) are sequentially browsed in a loop using another smartphone. The research was designed to mimic real scenarios where the smartphone is not locked to any technology while streaming the video or browsing the web. This allows the identification of the coverage of (2G), 3G, and 4G technologies within the testing areas. Due to the small amount of 2G data (since the phone mainly uses 3G and 4G technologies to access services), we excluded the analysis of 2G technology in this document.