To provide an automated coverage hole detection (CHD) method based on the modification of the setting of a specific parameter of a UE in an LTE-based cellular wireless network.

Physical RLF events of the UEs, possibly indicative of a coverage hole, are monitored. At least some of the UEs in a given cell are selected for modifying their parameter setting. For UEs of 3GPP LTE Release 8 and 9 that do not have advanced logging and reporting capabilities upon the physical RLF, the existence of a coverage hole is detected by analyzing the correlation between the settings of a timer (T311) and the probability for the UE to transit to an RRC_IDLE mode. The settings of the timer are systematically adjusted via eNB signalling to evaluate the characteristics of the observed RLFs. For a network serving a combination of UEs having different capabilities (e.g., Rel 8/9, Rel 10, or a subsequent Rel), the method can be applied together with the advanced logging and reporting capabilities.