From technical perspective, dropped calls show the number of abnormal disconnections during call setup, SMS, supplementary

service activation or during conversation. They are a few different counters for dropped calls, i.e. dropped calls due to low signal strength, bad

quality, too high timing advance and miscellaneous is used to get an indication of the reason for possible bad performance. From a subscriber point of view, dropped calls are those that interrupt an ongoing conversation, i.e. a call dropped on the TCH. If the call is dropped on the SDCCH the user simply re-dials again and hopefully succeeds with the new call setup. For this analysis we will focus on the drop call on the Traffic Channel (TCH). TCH Drop call can be divided into a few categories: 1. Excessive Timing advance 2. Low Signal Strength UL/DL/BL 3. BL Bad Quality UL/DL/BL 4. Sudden Loss 5. Other reason (not standalone counter) Dropped connection due to failure is counted in counter TFNDROP, which step for the number of abnormally terminated connections. These counters are incremented when the BSC send CLEAR REQUEST and when CLEAR COMMAND message is received if the code differs from the cause codes CALL CONTROL and Handover successful. If the CLEAR REQUEST has been sent previously before CLEAR COMMAND, the counter will not step. When a call is abnormally disconnected, that is CLEAR REQUEST is sent to the MSC, a check is made in the function Assignment or Handover if any of the following urgency state existed. If more than one type of urgency state are indicated by the locating procedure, the following priority (highest priority first) is used to determine the type of urgency state: 1. Excessive Timing Advance (TA) 2. Low signal strength in downlink and/or uplink 3. Bad quality downlink and/or uplink 4. Sudden loss of connection When type of urgency is determined, one of counters of this urgency state is stepped.

Low Signal strength is one of the reason of drop call. It can be indicated by many calls disconnected at low signal strength by subscriber, drop calls due to excessive TA, poor

handover performance and poor call setup performance.

Probable Reason Poor BSC Exchange High LOWSSDL & LOWSSUL will give more drop reason due to SS Property setting and this might not show the actual drop. It is because drop due to SS is more priority than Quality.

No dominant cell Antenna tilt & orientation Output Power

Cell might be isolated or standalone. Too much downtilt sometimes might not cover a larger area and the subscriber might lose the SS. Low output power might cause smaller border cell.

The following procedure should be performed for low signal strength analysis: Identify the baseline requirement of design and BSC exchange property (setting for LOWSSUL/LOWSSDL). Check the value for LOWSSDL & LOWSSUL. If it is higher than ACCMIN, change the parameter to a reasonable value since the drop reason will be more priority to SS compared to Quality. Check the site position, antenna direction, position etc. This is to ensure the possible location is open to interference (open water environment) or isolated. Good map is needed for this. Check if the site is sectorized or Omni. If it is Omni, set the cell into sectorized cell. Check if the signal strength is uplink or downlink limited. Mostly, It is designed to be downlink limited. Check the coverage cover expected area from the planet. If it is not, check the antenna tilt and orientation. Change the direction or tilt if it is too much downtilt or pointing to a wrong direction. Sometime, low output power might cause low SS. Check output power and if it is low, increase the output power. Check cell whether it has hotspots from drivetests. If found, adding new site is recommend. In order to check power distribution, run Cell Traffic Recording (CTR) to that particular cell. Check if the cell has indoor coverage problem. If yes, add micro site instead.