The document discusses broadband mapping and planning initiatives in Nebraska. It describes the Mobile Pulse application, which crowdsources mobile speed test data from users' devices to map broadband availability and performance. The application is available in public and advanced versions, with the advanced version providing more granular data and licenses to partners. Speed test results from rural and urban areas in Nebraska are also presented.

1. Cullen Robbins
Nebraska Public Service
Commission

2. » Background:
˃ Broadband – What is it?
+ Loosely defined it is the transmission of wide bandwidth data
˃ State Broadband Initiative – Broadband Mapping and Planning Initiative
+ Aims to increase broadband adoption and utilization
+ Funded through a grant from U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA)
+ Project includes NE Public Service Commission, Office of the CIO/NITC Community
Council, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, NE Dept. of Economic Development, AIM
Institute
+ Includes planning, mapping project areas

3. ˃ Mapping: State Broadband map (http://broadbandmap.nebraska.gov)
+ Twice annually providers submit data to us
+ Data is collected at the census block level

5. » Funding through the NTIA will end in Jan., 2015
» FCC will continue data collection through Form
477
˃ This data will be made available to the public
˃ Collection is designed to mirror the NTIA data collection
» PSC will continue the mapping website after
Jan., 2015, ideally transitioning to the Form 477
data

7. » What is Mobile Pulse?
˃ Crowd sourcing application running on mobile devices
˃ Free of charge for users
˃ Runs in the background
˃ Available on most mobile platforms
+ Apple iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, etc.
˃ Tests download and upload speeds at unique locations on
carrier networks and/or wi-fi

8. » What does it do?
˃ Performs performance tests on the devices’ network (Cellular or wi-fi)
˃ Collects data anonymously
˃ Uploads data to Mobile Pulse’s secure site
˃ On Mobile Pulse site, several options are available for analysis

9. » Two “versions” of Mobile Pulse
˃ Public App
+ Free
+ Anonymous
+ Limited data collected
– Carrier
– Speed
+ 100 MB/month cap
˃ Advanced App
+ Free, but limited licenses available
– PSC – 200 licenses
– Partners – 25 licenses/partner + Dashboard access
+ Data usage can be set by the administrator
Public Advanced
Cost to User Free Free
Information collected Anonymous No personal information
# of Licenses Unlimited 25
Data used up to 100 MB/mo Admin. Programmable
Granularity App. 1/4 mile Point data

12. Speed Tiers
1 - 200 kbs to 768 kbps
2 - 768 kbps to 1.5 Mbps
3 - 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps
4 - 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps
5 - 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps
6 - 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps
7 - 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps
8 - 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps
9 - 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps
AT&T

13. Speed Tiers
1 - 200 kbs to 768 kbps
2 - 768 kbps to 1.5 Mbps
3 - 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps
4 - 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps
5 - 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps
6 - 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps
7 - 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps
8 - 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps
9 - 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps
US Cellular

14. Speed Tiers
1 - 200 kbs to 768 kbps
2 - 768 kbps to 1.5 Mbps
3 - 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps
4 - 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps
5 - 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps
6 - 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps
7 - 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps
8 - 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps
9 - 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps
Verizon

15. Speed Tiers
1 - 200 kbs to 768 kbps
2 - 768 kbps to 1.5 Mbps
3 - 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps
4 - 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps
5 - 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps
6 - 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps
7 - 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps
8 - 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps
9 - 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps
Viaero

16. Speed Tiers
1 - 200 kbs to 768 kbps
2 - 768 kbps to 1.5 Mbps
3 - 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps
4 - 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps
5 - 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps
6 - 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps
7 - 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps
8 - 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps
9 - 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps
Sprint

17. AT&T

18. US Cellular

19. Verizon

20. Viaero

21. Sprint

22. » Urban vs. Rural
˃ 13,186 tests in rural areas
˃ 10,685 in urban areas
Provider
Speed - Urban
(MB/Sec)
Speed - Rural
(MB/sec)
Avg. Speed Tier
Difference
AT&T 5 4.1 0.2
Verizon 7.3 7.3 1.8
Viaero 2.1 2.9 -2.0
US Cellular 2.5 1.4 0.4
Sprint 1.3 1 -0.6

27. Cullen Robbins
Nebraska Public Service Commission
Phone: 402-471-0230
Email: cullen.robbins@nebraska.gov

28. » What does being a “partner” mean?
˃ Access to a dashboard showing data for their advanced versions
˃ Ability to distribute 25 advanced apps
˃ Access to underlying data, if desired
+ Tabular
+ Person/persons able to distribute/administer licenses - up to 25
users
– May be able to obtain more if necessary
+ No financial obligation through Sep. - 2014

29. » No personal identification– No capture of phone
number, phone name, email
» Secure socket layer – All Mobile Pulse clients use
SSL for all http transactions for speed test and API
interaction
» Private API key – All Mobile Pulse clients use a
private API login key. Interaction with the Mobile
Pulse API is only available with a key.
» Configuration and log security – All Mobile Pulse
client local configuration and logs are password
protected

30. Field Description Example Value
GPS Accuracy Accuracy of the location in meters 32
Latitude Latitude 39.70 (rounded)
Longitude Longitude -104.96 (rounded)
Latency Results of latency test Contains the max, min and average latency results based on
ping results to the configured URL
Device Model Device model DROIDX
Carrier Cellular carrier provider Verizon Wireless
Cellular Network Network type EvDo rev. A
Network Type Network technology CDMA
Signal Strength Signal strength (RSSI) in dB -66
Download Speed Result of the download test in kbps 20.122
Upload Speed Result of the upload test in kbps 121.588

31. » On-going, real-time mobile testing for whole
state
» Control of data (raw data for analysis/map)
» Accurate, real-world results
» Enterprise solution for drive tests
» Benefit to all levels of government, public
safety, and FirstNet planning
» Easy deployment
» Cost effective solution