Have you ever been in the Melbourne central business district and found that all of a sudden, you have no internet reception on your smart device?
You’re not alone, as some parts of Melbourne are in an internet blackspot area, meaning an area that has little to no cell phone coverage.
But what exactly are these blackspots? Why do they occur?
What is a Black Spot?
A black spot, a geographical area where you can’t get a mobile phone signal, can occur anywhere in the city. This is because mobile phones are always searching for the next cell tower available to continue a call or video stream. If your phone can’t find one because something is blocking the signal, the call will cut out, or the dreaded loading wheel will appear on a Netflix or YouTube video.
Of course, we’d all like to believe that getting a signal for your phone isn’t an issue in a major city like Melbourne. As there is a large network of base stations, such as cell phone antennas on buildings or microcells, you’d expect to be able to find a signal. Despite this, cellular phone signal congestion in the network upstream can be a major issue.
This is why it can be hard to get a signal on your morning and evening commute on the train, as trains are essentially large metal boxes that can stop radio waves from moving in and out of the carriage. Also, train windows are modified to be more insulating for commuters, to provide energy efficiency and UV protection, which also weakens the cellular signal trying to pass through the glass.
Weather conditions, such as extreme heat, heavy rainfall, and strong winds that throw dust into the air, can also degrade mobile phone signals.
The Worst Black Spot in Melbourne
Anyone who regularly catches the Upfield train line or 58 West Coburg tram would be able to tell you this. There is a notorious black spot north of Melbourne Zoo, near where the Royal Park station and tram lines converge, where your phone signal will almost always drop out.
Other notorious blackspots include Flinders Street Station and certain sections of the Glen Waverley line.
Possible Solutions to the Problem
There are a few solutions to the hotspot issue, such as Telstra satellite messaging, which allows messages to be transmitted via satellite.
Having Wi-Fi available on trains could certainly defeat the dreaded blackspot issue. Still, the cost of this infrastructure, subscriptions, data bandwidth management, and privacy and security concerns are all barriers to this.
There has been a recent breakthrough in Europe, however, with engineering giant Siemens having developed a technology for the Austrian Federal Railways that permits a cellular signal to pass through train window glass, but actually helps the signal to pass through. It remains to be seen if this technology will be taken up by Australian train manufacturers, however.
But I Have A Great Connection? Why is This Happening to Me?
Black spots and poor signals can occur anywhere there’s congestion, such as crowds of people congregating at a concert, gathering at sporting events, or even along busy streets as you drive.
Each person’s phone is trying to use its own slice of the radio waves, or spectrum, as the name for a group of these waves is called.
A good comparison is to think of it as a highway; there might be enough lanes to handle the traffic most of the time, but even the biggest highway can become congested during peak-hour periods. It’s the same with our mobile networks. You can sit at a CBD train station at 10 pm and have a perfect reception, but when the station is packed at 4 to 5 pm, the connection collapses.
Why Can’t the Telcos Just Provide More Signal?
This is a common question that comes up whenever black spots are discussed.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as widening the spectrum. The available spectrum used by our phones is strictly limited and is licensed by the federal government’s Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
Phone companies can’t just buy more signal, even with their massive budgets. ACMA, from time to time, auctions off the Australian radio spectrum with prices reaching the billions of dollars for radio networks and telcos.
Luckily for us, new technologies such as 5G are more spectrum-efficient. As more people move to using 5G, it will relieve the pressure on the older 4G network and the soon-to-be-defunct 3G network.
Are Black Spots Getting Worse?
Far from it, in fact, blackspots are actually reducing. It might seem like they’re getting worse because we use our phones more than ever, but this means you’re more aware of when you lose signal.
Another factor affecting your connectivity? You can’t just build a new cell tower or access point on demand. A telco needs to find a suitable site, negotiate with the owner of the property to purchase or lease it, and then advertise that it’s building the site in case of objections, which can further delay the process.
The telcos also need to get planning permission from multiple state and local government authorities, and also arrange for power, cabling, and backbones to their internet. It can be an administrative nightmare for them, taking years for a new site to come online.
Is There Anything I Can Do To Fix It?
While tweaking your mobile phone’s network settings can generally help with overall connectivity, there is nothing you can do on your end to combat a mobile blacks pot; you’ll just need to wait for the telcos to build the infrastructure to service the location, or pray that that train technology we mentioned earlier gets rolled out in Australia.
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Today, we’ve covered mobile phone internet hot spots in the Melbourne CBD, what they are, why they occur, and the various factors that impact them. We’ve also shared why trains are notorious for cellphone dropouts, and some solutions to reducing black spots.
