12 Jul

How can I get a Refund or Discontinue a Subscription?

We totally understand that you may have purchased one of our apps and it not meet your needs… or that you got in an app purchase and forgot it was renewing.

You purchase was from either the Apple App Store or Google Play (not us directly) – which is where you would manage your subscriptions and request refunds.

Refunds are subject to whatever the terms are of the store you purchased via.

03 Feb

Coverage? – What’s the difference between Coverage? & Coverage? Lite ?

Coverage? Lite is essentially a free iOS trial of Coverage? – it allows you to use the full app with standard definition overlayable maps for a few sessions to check it out, before forcing you to pick a single carrier to continue for free.

Or, you can upgrade to the full versions in-app. Coverage? was originally launched long before in-app purchases were a feature, and originally we had LTE Finder as our free demo version – which Coverage? Lite replaces.

Coverage? for Android starts out as a free trial, with in app upgrades to the full versions.

31 Oct

Coverage? – I’ve spotted new coverage – where can I report it to you?

What makes our maps unique from apps like Rootmetrics  and Open Signal is they’re based on the carrier’s own maps. We cover the entire country, not just markets with an active user base submitting coverage reports.

For more how Coverage? can play a role in planning your travels around connectivity, refer to our guide: Travel Planning Around Connectivity.

Any new coverage that carriers have added will be picked up in the next update of Coverage? (providing the carrier’s themselves have updated their maps).

If you spot new coverage – enjoy!  It’s always awesome to find the unexpected, isn’t it?

20 Oct

Coverage? – Can you add more carriers or countries to the app?

Other US Carriers:

Frequent travelers are our target audience, so we focus on the major carriers.

Also keep in mind that many wireless carriers are actually MVNO’s who are re-branding bandwidth from one of the bigger carriers . Check this Wikipedia article for a listing of what networks various MVNOs use, which can better able to you to use Coverage? to find where you are covered with each.

Other Countries:

In June 2020 we were able to obtain maps for the three Canadian carriers, which is now available as an in-app purchase.

We are keeping an eye out for options to do the same with Mexico in the future.

The infrastructure of Coverage? could easily accommodate other geographic regions as separate apps. However there is extensive research to be done to determine each country’s primary carriers and how to capture their map data to be overlayed within the Coverage? model.  This is a lot of labor intensive work that we just simply don’t have the time or funding for ourselves.

20 Oct

Coverage? – What’s included on each’s carriers layer?


Coverage? displays layers for each carrier. We’ve selected colors for each carrier that best matches their branding, and the darker the color indicates faster/newer coverage. You bring up a legend in the app’s info screen (top left hand corner).

For the three major US carriers, the layers include 5G mmW & 5G mid-band (HD subscription only), 5G NW, LTE and roaming. As of May 2022, we no longer display 3G as the carriers will have this phased out by year end. Sprint has also be removed in Summer 2022.

  • Verizon – Displayed in shades of Red.  ‘Extended LTE’ is shown as a duller red in the LTE layer.
  • AT&T – Displayed in shades of Blue.
  • T-Mobile – Displayed in shades of pink/purple. Extended LTE is included in a darker purple layer on the LTE layers

 

  • US Cellular  – Displayed in shades of orange, it includes their native 5G NW, LTE and roaming coverage.
  • Bell, Rogers & Telus (Canadian Carriers) – These optional carriers available by in-app purchase display the LTE coverage map for each. Purchasing this option is a one-time lifetime access to the Canadian carrier maps.
20 Oct

Coverage? – Why am I receiving different coverage than the app indicates?

All of our maps are derived from the carrier’s own maps at our last update. We can only report what they themselves report. And especially during a rapid roll out of a new technology – the carriers are turning on new services faster than even their own maps can keep up.

If you’re receiving different coverage than the app indications, here are the possible reasons why:

  1. The carrier just recently turned the service on in your area, and they haven’t even updated their own maps yet. We typically find it can take the carriers several weeks to update their own maps, ever after making a press release that they’ve turned on new service. We update based off of what is reported on their maps, not what they have announced.
  2. The carrier has updated their map, but it’s not yet reflected in our quarterly updated maps. It’s inevitable that as soon as we submit an update, a carrier updates their maps. Don’t worry, our next update will automatically capture the changes. We just simply can’t process an update every time  a carrier switches on a new tower.
  3. Carrier maps do not guarantee the coverage you’ll actually get – which can be impacted by your device, signal strength, surrounding buildings & geography, weather, your specific plan and tower load.

Please keep in mind, Coverage? is not intended to report the actual coverage received at a location – there are many other apps out there that take user submitted reports (we like the Sensorly app ourselves). However, these are generally only useful in populated areas with an active user base – not everywhere. We created Coverage? to give us an idea if our next travel destination or route has a chance of having signal.

20 Oct

Coverage? – How often are Coverage? maps updated?

Updating Coverage? maps is a very labor intensive process that takes a lot of time and bandwidth. Even with them now being provided by Ookla.

By the very nature of our apps, the updates will always be a bit out of date by the time they reach your device.

Ookla pushes new maps to us every quarter, which we push as in-app updates for HD Map subscribers ASAP.  We release new standard map updates via app updates as needed (generally 2-3 times a year.)

Two Steps Beyond LLC is the partnership of Chris Dunphy & Cherie Ve Ard - the two technomads of Technomadia.