Do any mobiles ever work in the countryside?

vet8

I live in the country in NE Hampshire, hardly the middle of nowhere and we are only 10 miles from 2 big towns and yet I can get no signal on either my Orange mobile or my new Vodaphone one. My OH's are the same. We used to get a poor signal on Orange, but this has got worse over the past few years and is now absolutely useless.

But the worst thing is that it is not just here. I go on holiday to rural areas in Britain and inevitably wherever I go there is no signal. I reckon about one in ten rural areas seems to have a good signal, the others areas are useless.

The government has said it wants to get rid of "notspots"' but on the providers' network coverage trackers it always says there is a good signal where I live so we are not even regarded as a Notspot.

Do any rural people get good signals anywhere?

pepdavies

O2 is best here in mid Devon. Data speeds are low but there is a weak signal in most places

PasturesNew

It is hit and miss away from big cities. And, you can't find out which company will give you a signal as you actually need to be standing IN each property to test it. Maps give you a general idea if you MIGHT get a signal, but not if you WILL.

It's the way it is - and it'll always be like that.

Peter333

The only phones that seem to work where we live (a tiny village in the sticks, and quite high up, and very rural,) is a little £6 one from Tesco like this:



http://www.tesco.com/direct/ee-nokia-106-black/765-3158.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=765-3158

Similar phones can be found at Argos for between £5 and £10. My daughter's fancy £600 iphone 6 only has a signal half the time, and yet this cheap basic phone has a signal some 95% of the time.

Since we moved here, we have always had a basic mobile phone, and give this out to everyone we don't want to give our landline to, as our main contact number (because they almost always manage to get through...)

When it comes to smartphones, I don't think any of them have a great signal out in the sticks.

diamonds

Wifi calling and apps for broadband connections.


I have a EE and Virgin contract, I also have a o2 payg sim in my phatlet wifi/backup phone, with a TalkMobile (Vodafone) and two 3 payg sims (different plans) under the cover, Scotland signal issues can be massive on all networks outside main towns.

Simply I divert calls to whoever has the best signal in whatever area, I even have Vectone sim for PC/tablet/phablet app use.

Hopefully if 3 buy o2 its 50/50 ownership of EE MBNL & 50/50 Vodafone & o2 Cornerstone will be merged into equal third each AND national roaming becomes the norm.

Then competition is based on frequencies bought not actual physical base station locations as all 3 will share them - BT/Voda/3.

WellKnownSid

I do live in the middle of nowhere - it's a thirty minute drive to the nearest mobile signal - and another three hours if you want 4G (or 3G if you're unlucky and on VO2).

We had a brief spike in service when Orange and T-mobile merged - they made a big fuss about network sharing - before turning off several basestations about a year later meaning less signal than before. Things have now improved and EE offer reliable 3G - plus WiFi calling is high quality.

Things will also improve - VO2 have a shared mast planned which it is hoped will bring a mobile service to our village by 2017 - and hence 4G.

elsien

Vodafone works in the depths of Cumbria.

WellKnownSid

And just to add - it's also damn frustrating that you could go on holiday just about anywhere in Europe from around ten years ago - walking across a field, hanging off a mountain, exploring a forest or negotiating a tricky desert pass - and you only had to lift your phone to see four or five bloody bars of 3 sodding G!!!

diamonds

WellKnownSid wrote: »

I do live in the middle of nowhere - it's a thirty minute drive to the nearest mobile signal - and another three hours if you want 4G (or 3G if you're unlucky and on VO2).

We had a brief spike in service when Orange and T-mobile merged - they made a big fuss about network sharing - before turning off several basestations about a year later meaning less signal than before. Things have now improved and EE offer reliable 3G - plus WiFi calling is high quality.

Things will also improve - VO2 have a shared mast planned which it is hoped will bring a mobile service to our village by 2017 - and hence 4G.

Were you Orange before you got access to TMob ? or vice versa ?

Yeah Orange base station closures were a joke, they should have merged all then took away excess, who'e EE backhaul merger was a joke and handled a mess. Kineto Wireless were shocked EE pulled a ready to launch dual network wifi calling app whilst it was about to embark on disconnecting Orange base stations causing signal issues.

Glad your coverage got better, some EE customers were the lucky ones. Others were held to ransom on contract terms with EE denying they knew why signal had gone. Again why Ofcom does not have a central info of such business decisions for consumers to access is beyond crazy and how poor Ofcom still is even with a new Chief.


Who knows how it will all pan out with Vo2 Cornerstone, as usual us consumers will be last to know and us who are stuck in contract. 4G ? from experience any signal is likely to degrade before 4G! #TRUE :rotfl:

diamonds

elsien wrote: »

Vodafone works in the depths of Cumbria.

Even on Virgin West Coast until about 30 miles outside Glasgow, EE nor 3 did.

diamonds

WellKnownSid wrote: »

And just to add - it's also damn frustrating that you could go on holiday just about anywhere in Europe from around ten years ago - walking across a field, hanging off a mountain, exploring a forest or negotiating a tricky desert pass - and you only had to lift your phone to see four or five bloody bars of 3 sodding G!!!

Why I hope the o2/3 merger opens up national roaming, if EU costs same as home in 2017 national roaming UK should be so with 1 shared backhaul company and down from 5 to 3 networks. Its the only fair way forward for UK consumers with retail price capping in place, again like EU on wholesale, they may not be charities but they most certainly are not by legislation allowed to be a cartel.