Hi Marioair,
I have been testing / using iGRID with significant reliability via my mobile phone at a variety of altitudes and locations throughout the UK, since October 2021.
As @steveu says, it's
very easy to check coverage after each flight by logging in to
https://aircrew.co.uk/playback/groundstations/ , leaving the 'Station' set to 'All' and selecting the appropriate transmission type, your aircraft ICAO code and the approximate time and duration of your flight. You don't even need to have downloaded the PAW track file as the reports are compiled direct from the secure Pilotaware Database.
Tip: If the transmission profile and 'map' doesn't appear, adjust the start time of the search to be
just after your actual take-off.
In view of the fact that we are utilising our own mobile device contracts to make use of the GSM network(s) which we are already paying for - albeit to uplink data in flight as a
supplement to direct reception by Pilotaware from other aircraft or ATOM Uplinks, with - as far as we can determine - no measurably detrimental effect on the networks themselves, I personally am comfortable with the principle using the GSM networks in flight, but as Lee has already intimated, it would definitely not be a good idea to, for example, try to use 'lack of a reliable signal at altitude' as a stick to prod the network providers with, when such use of their networks is at best on the margins of our mobile device contracts.
Better IMO to simply monitor our own coverage and use the results to determine whether we can each improve coverage within our own aircraft, by for example repositioning our GSM device, or switching to a different device or network provider.
It is, however, important from the development point of view to keep an open mind and to keep discussing results within this forum, obtained in a variety of situations and with the broad variety of equipment and network providers open to us.
Best Regards
Peter