Mobile Phone reception

tusker

Well-Known Member
As we all find ourselves in remote areas from time to time I was wondering which company provides the best mobile coverage. It is time to change my contract so looking elsewere. I have Vodaphone at the moment and it is rubbish espesialy in Sussex.
Tusker
 
I use orange, its quite good in Norfolk, certainly think you can get 2G coverage most places have a look at their web page they have coverage maps on there
 
In my experience there are black/blind spot for all the major companies which vary across the country.

I would make enquiries with mobile owners in the areas most likely to be frequented and go from there.

Also, the companies themselves are somewhat economical with the truth when you ask about their coverage in a particular area.

I was recently told that due to several of the Networks "piggybacking" (whatever that means!) coverage should not have much variation between the providers, but that has not been the case in my experience.
 
I have been with Vodafone since before the digital service, never had a real problem any where.
You will always find the odd dead spot with any network, also some phones are better than others at keeping a weak signal.
But the fact is so called smart phones both need a better signal strength to even make a call, and generally are worse at staying connected.

Neil. :)
 
Orange as they share networking with t-mobile now resulting in better coverage... If you ave the post codes of where you visit most you can check reception at these places online
 
In my experience of Scotland, particularly the west coast and islands, the only network where you stand a chance is Vodafone. So much that I keep a prepay SIM just for my visits there.

My other haunt, North Norfolk is a disaster zone for mobiles. I don't think any network can be recommended there, remarkable considering its reputation for being "awfully flat", and that Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse lives there. Funnily enough there is a base station less than half a mile from his manor house.

Also the networks which use 900 MHz GSM are far more robust than those on 1800.

I'm on 3, which used to be great because they had agreements to fall back onto a 900 MHz network when not in their 3G coverage, but they've renegotiated and it seems much worse now, and I can no longer fall back to GPRS data, it seems only the 3 3g network is accessible.

E.g. it used to work fine on the Tyne and Wear metro, roaming onto Orange, sadly no longer, since the Everything Everywhere merger.

Get a couple of cheap unlocked mobiles and some prepay SIMs and you'll be covered.

Of course the perfect solution is to use a foreign SIM which has roaming agreements with all UK networks. Its not cheap, but it gives the absolute best coverage. Funnily enough thats the method a friend used, and he was a GSM architect for Vodafone at the time.

And if you can find one, get hold of a vintage mobile, the sort with a sticky out aerial, or even a long pullout one. They were designed for the rubbish networks of the earlier years (the era of waving the phone around in outretched hand) so can hold onto a signal far better than modern designer jobbies that sometimes even have to be gripped in a certain way.
 
Last edited:
in my area EE works on some of the main roads and in town, other than that no where! Vodafone and O2 have reasonable coverage although with blind spots, and haven't tried the rest.
 
If you find yourself somewhere with no coverage, do a manual network search and you will see which other networks do cover the place.

Make a habit of this, and you will get a reasonable idea of which one to choose next time.

Of course it works the other way, i.e. jump ship and you may find yourself with no coverage in areas where you used to be covered.

This is also something you should consider when moving house. When looking round a new place, check the mobile coverage throughout, and the broadband connection, and the amount of southerly facing unshaded roof for installation of solar panels.

I don't think the HIP packs address any of this.
 
You might find this link useful:



OK in an emergency.


Not in my experience.

112 is the correct number to call in an emergency, simply because it is becoming the worldwide standard.

In the UK it works exactly the same way as 999

The GSM standard requires handsets and networks to connect such calls even in a handset with no SIM, or a prepay with no credit, or a contract 'phone that has been blocked for e.g. not paid bill.

But AFAIK none of the UK networks respect this.

I have experienced this twice now. A neighbours daughter who has abusive parents knocked on my door one night because she needed to talk to her assigned police contact. She was very frightened because her mobile had no credit, she couldn't call the direct line, and she had tried 999 and it didn't work. I tried 112 and exactly the same. We sat in my garden and used my 'phone, and the police came 2 minutes later, very impressed.

In the other situation, my 'phone was out of coverage at my place in Norfolk, another neighbour had ODed and needed urgent help (I do seem to attract them), "emergency calls only" didn't work, so I had to knock on doors to find someone with a mobile that would connect, and we tried several.

This should be publicised, and the networks forced to comply.
 
Last edited:
Vodafone is the only option where i stalk in the Borders and Perthshire. When visiting Family in Polperro Orange is the only one. You will just have to suck it and sse which works best on your ground.

Yorkie.
 
vodafone is getting worse as time goes on , my work phone is o2 and is really quite good .
The 'airwave' radio system used by the police, ambulance, fire service etc works on the O2 network, so, assuming that coverage quality was one of the main points in the 'tender' for which network it uses, I'd guess that O2 would be a good bet, I know it's rare for me to have no service. It also makes me wonder how the emergency services are going to use comms if the mobile networks go down. Though I'm sure there must be a backup

Pete
 
Many thanks guys,Sharpie your input very informative. I will probably go with O2 if they give me a good deel.
Tusker
 
The 'airwave' radio system used by the police, ambulance, fire service etc works on the O2 network, so, assuming that coverage quality was one of the main points in the 'tender' for which network it uses, I'd guess that O2 would be a good bet, I know it's rare for me to have no service. It also makes me wonder how the emergency services are going to use comms if the mobile networks go down. Though I'm sure there must be a backup

Pete

Pete as they found out with the London bombings, their mobile phones didn't work as the network was swamped by the public. Since then the cards were changed and the public system is shut down and emergency services have priority.
I,m not sure that the airwave system is all it's made out to be. I'm pretty much out of touch with these matters now but I've heard of problems some time ago but they may have been resolved now.
 
The 'airwave' radio system used by the police, ambulance, fire service etc works on the O2 network, so, assuming that coverage quality was one of the main points in the 'tender' for which network it uses, I'd guess that O2 would be a good bet, I know it's rare for me to have no service. It also makes me wonder how the emergency services are going to use comms if the mobile networks go down. Though I'm sure there must be a backup

Pete

Actually airwave is a completely different system, the network is based on Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) and uses different frequencies and higher power levels than ordinary mobile networks. Its quite controversial because if you worry about the radiation from mobile phone handsets and base stations, then you would be terrified by TETRA.

When they intalled a TETRA base station 50 yards from my office window I arranged to move.

Airwave: Home

Terrestrial Trunked Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Comments from the police from the national research-based TETRA Airwave safety campaign

 
Last edited:
Back
Top