Method and apparatus for enforcing tiered geographical anonymity in a mobile device

A mobile device, comprising:

• at least one wireless network transceiver;
• location detection logic;
• memory;
• and
• at least one processor, operatively coupled to the memory, to the location detection logic, and to the at least one wireless network transceiver, the at least one processor operative to:
• obtain mobile device location data from the location detection logic;
• generate a first resolution geographic descriptor that identifies a first size geographic grid area comprising a specific location identified by the mobile device location data;
• adjust the first resolution geographic descriptor to a second resolution geographic descriptor, by increasing or decreasing the resolution to correspondingly decrease or increase, respectively, the corresponding geographic grid area to a second size geographic grid area comprising the specific location;
• measure a network performance metric, the network performance metric including a data quality metric or a voice quality metric;
• geotag the network performance metric using the second resolution geographic descriptor;
• and
• send, to a server, an information update comprising the network performance metric and the second resolution geographic descriptor without providing the mobile device location data in order to perform data analysis to identify, by the server, a source of a network performance problem associated with the network performance metric.