Besides the expectedly shoddy signal in the remotest regions of the country – where mobile phone masts are few and far between, and internet speeds as well as the ability to make calls slow to a crawl – issues are surprisingly common in cities, too.
Mobile internet signal, which allows us to make calls, WhatsApp friends, browse the internet and download emails and TV programmes**,** is vital for areas where Wi-Fi isn’t available, such as when we’re on the move or away from buildings, which is where free public Wi-Fi signals tend to be offered.
I don’t even understand how, I know of places where there are literally 5g towers at one end of the road, and like 50 metres down the road you will get no actual connection.
It’ll say you’ve got signal, but nothing will actually load and it’s madness. At the very least it is entertaining when you get the cranks defacing the base of the tower with stickers being like “DANGER: STAY AWAY!!!! RF RADIATION!!!!!!!!!!”.
Inside_Buy5325 on
Im saved by WiFi calling. Vodafone business user here.
Jazzlike-Mistake2764 on
This is somewhere where I’ve really felt us going backwards. I went to Europe recently and was caught off guard by how rock solid the mobile connection was. I kept finding myself expecting something not to load while I was on the move, but it did – every time.
Scrappy-Doo2 on
I have excellent signal with EE wherever I go. I keep 5G turned off though as that seems to have connection issues frequently. 4G is always good.
Paulstan67 on
We recently spent 8 weeks greek island hopping and had 5g pretty much everywhere, (including some remote tiny sparsely populated islands).
Came back to UK. And even at the airport… No data signal…it’s a joke.
RandomRecGoalie on
Another issue that’s more complex than it seems and that many people will not have a full understanding of.
Some providers do not have access to all bands available for a service. For example Lyca Mobile does not (or did not unless they have changed) access EE’s band 20 5G services. If you are on Lyca Mobile and stand next to the transmitter on Band 20 you won’t connect to 5G. Use someone like 1pMobile and you are fine.
Where I live O2 and especially Vodafone 4G services used to be excellent. They both broadcast from the same transmitter. Since Vodafone upgraded to 5G, both 4G services are extremely unreliable now even though they should be the same as before. The upgrades have resulted in all local towers being marked as out of operation for various reasons for days at a time. At one point they had switched 3G back on for several months after it had been “removed”.
A majority of 5G services in this country are 5G NSA and require a good 4G service to work in the first place. My local EE tower is now 5G and I get fantastic 4G and 5G from this even in the country side (up to 200+Mbps downloads and 15Mbps uploads on a good day).
Other services like the Three network have good signal where I am, but they either throttle and traffic manage the network aggressively, or are just massively overloaded, that even if you have a perfect signal you have no service available you can actually use reliably!
__bobbysox on
I’ve actually written my first ever complaint to my network provider about this – not that they gave me any compensation or an apology for a shit service. I go to Greek Islands, Eastern Europe and and you get fast 5G coverage everywhere without issue.
In my town of ~40k people in Kent, you can’t even load whatsapp using mobile data despite my phone showing full bars. My network provider essentially shrugged and said you just have to tough it out because the masts are congested and unhelpfully told me to connect to public wifi hotspots.
AnalTinnitus on
Yeah, it’s bad where I live. It’ll say I have a few bars of 4G but nothing will load. The only time I can really use my phone is when I’m connected to WiFi.
Talkycoder on
Is this not a provider issue, rather than a UK-wide one?
EE has been giving me perfect coverage, even on trains and in remote areas. Previously was O2, and the only issue was spotty connections between Euston and Birmingham via train.
When I was browsing contracts before swapping to EE, all other networks had mixed reviews regarding coverage. EE and O2 are the most expensive, so I can see why the other networks are more appealing.
If you guys think our coverage is bad, you should try Germany. I’m currently in Berlin, and the signal drops if you walk into any building…
Bladders_ on
Complete idiotic idea to transition to a wavelength that has less penetration!
We need more not less.
StarSchemer on
My wife and I literally cannot have a conversation from workplace to workplace or home to workplace without it cutting out.
It’s infuriating since we pay the mobile network and then fall back on WiFi calling using another provider we pay for.
The thing that bugs me the most is that in 2002 in my exact same town, I could speak to people *for hours* with great signal on the old 2G networks which I can’t even use on my current phone.
Lingonberry_Obvious on
What’s the best mobile network in terms of coverage in London? I have both Vodafone and EE, and so far EE seems to be much more reliable.
But curious to know if there are other providers who are better?
therealstrongwoman on
I only really noticed how bad our coverage is until I visited Andalusia in Southern Spain, even the most remote places have 5g coverage.
nikhkin on
The most frustrating part is when you have full signal, but still can’t get anything to load because (I assume) the network is being overloaded by the volume of people trying to use it.
I can accept being somewhere with no signal, but when the signal itself is useless it’s a joke.
Historical-Cicada-29 on
British infrastructure is fucking ridiculous.
Everything promised around 2008 (better broadband, phone coverage, building houses) has all gone to shit.
Leveling up scheme? Yeah right.
Don’t get me wrong, broadband has improved, but good luck trying to end a contract with Virgin.
Personal_Lab_484 on
In 2022 I got on a train from Barcelona to Madrid spent an evening dancing with some Norwegians from a hostel then a train the next morning to Marbella.
My story isn’t interesting. What is interesting is I used my phone on instagram and YouTube from the moment I left Barcelona to the moment I was sat in Marbella and never thought about it. Only in Marbella did I realise, going through all the empty Spanish countryside I still had 5g.
And no one fucking lives there.
We have some of the worst cell coverage in the OECD it’s fucking pathetic.
It’s a market failure. The companies extort money for roaming now. This was ostensibly for investment!
Government intervention is needed to address the failure of the market
EDIT: A worse example than even this was when i worked in Westminster and didn’t have signal to send a WhatsApp message as I looked at Big Ben. As in the centre of our civilization. Fuck me
Bathhouse-Barry on
I got on O2 purely for the use abroad. Signal has been shit for months now. Had perfect reception in both Poland and Spain, better than at home.
bordin89 on
I was amazed by signal quality in the middle of the jungle in Thailand. Try Central London, there’s always terrible signal in Piccadilly Circus and Soho.
flipside1o1 on
Oh the irony of having to wait 8 mins for this to load on my phone
endrukk on
Yeah, the lack of healthy competition in this country is alarming.
djdylex on
10 years ago the signal coverage in UK was pretty phenomenal. Now unless you are in a built up area that isn’t too busy (because London is fucked) then you cant get a good signal.
I don’t really understand the need for so much faster speeds at least for mobile phones, because I don’t think data requirements have really gotten that much bigger? Like watching a YouTube video doesn’t need more resolution because phones haven’t gotten that much bigger. I can’t really think of much people do on their phones that actually requires 50mb/s or 100mb/s speeds.
bruh-iunno on
“we’re shutting down 3G” please don’t it’s all I have
CryptographerMore944 on
I’ve known this as a fact for years due to living abroad for most of my twenties. Put coverage sucks. The UK is only place I’ve lived where you get black spots in the centre of major cities. I’ve been out in the sticks in some places and had better signal than in parts of Leeds.
llem-e on
I have missed 2 important calls from work because of this. Honestly it’s getting ridiculous. Do they *want* me to pay the bill? Like come on!
Wonderful_Dingo3391 on
The telecoms industry never recovered from from high cost the operators paid for the 3g bandwidths. Engineers are also chased off land by farmers and gypsy’s.When they go to do maintenance on a rooftop in the city’s, they find that their equipment has been removed and pirate radio put in its place. There is no money in the industry anymore just chancers. Huawei also came in didn’t pay the contractors who then went bust. Thanks Cameron and Osborne. I got out.
26 Comments
If you’ve tried to use your [phone](https://inews.co.uk/topic/mobile-phones?srsltid=AfmBOoriZ2aaNIgc6SifXhRXb4SPlkOWu62mtp6JaMyFxDyrGQ42DyOg?ico=in-line_link) to navigate your journey somewhere or check the train timetables recently, you may have hit a brick wall.
Consistently poor mobile signals, regular drop-outs and network outages are among the most common complaints by frustrated UK consumers, according to Which?, with [17 per cent of mobile users](https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.which.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle%2Fthe-most-common-mobile-network-complaints-and-what-to-do-about-them-aA81X7w4KQL9&data=05%7C02%7CSerina.Sandhu%40inews.co.uk%7C78822bb6b75b42c0919808dcbd2a70cd%7C0f3a4c644dc54a768d4152d85ca158a5%7C0%7C0%7C638593237197113042%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=o3O0XFjmwVZ936u1MUTQGk9qa28Gw8TSw8KEVg6P1N0%3D&reserved=0?ico=in-line_link) reporting issues.
Besides the expectedly shoddy signal in the remotest regions of the country – where mobile phone masts are few and far between, and internet speeds as well as the ability to make calls slow to a crawl – issues are surprisingly common in cities, too.
Mobile internet signal, which allows us to make calls, WhatsApp friends, browse the internet and download emails and TV programmes**,** is vital for areas where Wi-Fi isn’t available, such as when we’re on the move or away from buildings, which is where free public Wi-Fi signals tend to be offered.
Rural coverage has long been pretty poor: [just 69 per cent of rural areas](https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ofcom.org.uk%2Fphones-and-broadband%2Fcoverage-and-speeds%2Fconnected-nations-spring-2024-interactive-report%2F&data=05%7C02%7CSerina.Sandhu%40inews.co.uk%7C78822bb6b75b42c0919808dcbd2a70cd%7C0f3a4c644dc54a768d4152d85ca158a5%7C0%7C0%7C638593237197125369%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qaCZp5idwj0GNlvn2L3S9LrGpYAflzi64FqINAvAq0k%3D&reserved=0?ico=in-line_link) are covered by all four big mobile network providers, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom. But due to a confluence of different factors, the mobile phone blackspots that have long blighted the countryside are starting to hit cities, too.
I don’t even understand how, I know of places where there are literally 5g towers at one end of the road, and like 50 metres down the road you will get no actual connection.
It’ll say you’ve got signal, but nothing will actually load and it’s madness. At the very least it is entertaining when you get the cranks defacing the base of the tower with stickers being like “DANGER: STAY AWAY!!!! RF RADIATION!!!!!!!!!!”.
Im saved by WiFi calling. Vodafone business user here.
This is somewhere where I’ve really felt us going backwards. I went to Europe recently and was caught off guard by how rock solid the mobile connection was. I kept finding myself expecting something not to load while I was on the move, but it did – every time.
I have excellent signal with EE wherever I go. I keep 5G turned off though as that seems to have connection issues frequently. 4G is always good.
We recently spent 8 weeks greek island hopping and had 5g pretty much everywhere, (including some remote tiny sparsely populated islands).
Came back to UK. And even at the airport… No data signal…it’s a joke.
Another issue that’s more complex than it seems and that many people will not have a full understanding of.
Some providers do not have access to all bands available for a service. For example Lyca Mobile does not (or did not unless they have changed) access EE’s band 20 5G services. If you are on Lyca Mobile and stand next to the transmitter on Band 20 you won’t connect to 5G. Use someone like 1pMobile and you are fine.
Where I live O2 and especially Vodafone 4G services used to be excellent. They both broadcast from the same transmitter. Since Vodafone upgraded to 5G, both 4G services are extremely unreliable now even though they should be the same as before. The upgrades have resulted in all local towers being marked as out of operation for various reasons for days at a time. At one point they had switched 3G back on for several months after it had been “removed”.
A majority of 5G services in this country are 5G NSA and require a good 4G service to work in the first place. My local EE tower is now 5G and I get fantastic 4G and 5G from this even in the country side (up to 200+Mbps downloads and 15Mbps uploads on a good day).
Other services like the Three network have good signal where I am, but they either throttle and traffic manage the network aggressively, or are just massively overloaded, that even if you have a perfect signal you have no service available you can actually use reliably!
I’ve actually written my first ever complaint to my network provider about this – not that they gave me any compensation or an apology for a shit service. I go to Greek Islands, Eastern Europe and and you get fast 5G coverage everywhere without issue.
In my town of ~40k people in Kent, you can’t even load whatsapp using mobile data despite my phone showing full bars. My network provider essentially shrugged and said you just have to tough it out because the masts are congested and unhelpfully told me to connect to public wifi hotspots.
Yeah, it’s bad where I live. It’ll say I have a few bars of 4G but nothing will load. The only time I can really use my phone is when I’m connected to WiFi.
Is this not a provider issue, rather than a UK-wide one?
EE has been giving me perfect coverage, even on trains and in remote areas. Previously was O2, and the only issue was spotty connections between Euston and Birmingham via train.
When I was browsing contracts before swapping to EE, all other networks had mixed reviews regarding coverage. EE and O2 are the most expensive, so I can see why the other networks are more appealing.
If you guys think our coverage is bad, you should try Germany. I’m currently in Berlin, and the signal drops if you walk into any building…
Complete idiotic idea to transition to a wavelength that has less penetration!
We need more not less.
My wife and I literally cannot have a conversation from workplace to workplace or home to workplace without it cutting out.
It’s infuriating since we pay the mobile network and then fall back on WiFi calling using another provider we pay for.
The thing that bugs me the most is that in 2002 in my exact same town, I could speak to people *for hours* with great signal on the old 2G networks which I can’t even use on my current phone.
What’s the best mobile network in terms of coverage in London? I have both Vodafone and EE, and so far EE seems to be much more reliable.
But curious to know if there are other providers who are better?
I only really noticed how bad our coverage is until I visited Andalusia in Southern Spain, even the most remote places have 5g coverage.
The most frustrating part is when you have full signal, but still can’t get anything to load because (I assume) the network is being overloaded by the volume of people trying to use it.
I can accept being somewhere with no signal, but when the signal itself is useless it’s a joke.
British infrastructure is fucking ridiculous.
Everything promised around 2008 (better broadband, phone coverage, building houses) has all gone to shit.
Leveling up scheme? Yeah right.
Don’t get me wrong, broadband has improved, but good luck trying to end a contract with Virgin.
In 2022 I got on a train from Barcelona to Madrid spent an evening dancing with some Norwegians from a hostel then a train the next morning to Marbella.
My story isn’t interesting. What is interesting is I used my phone on instagram and YouTube from the moment I left Barcelona to the moment I was sat in Marbella and never thought about it. Only in Marbella did I realise, going through all the empty Spanish countryside I still had 5g.
And no one fucking lives there.
We have some of the worst cell coverage in the OECD it’s fucking pathetic.
It’s a market failure. The companies extort money for roaming now. This was ostensibly for investment!
Government intervention is needed to address the failure of the market
EDIT: A worse example than even this was when i worked in Westminster and didn’t have signal to send a WhatsApp message as I looked at Big Ben. As in the centre of our civilization. Fuck me
I got on O2 purely for the use abroad. Signal has been shit for months now. Had perfect reception in both Poland and Spain, better than at home.
I was amazed by signal quality in the middle of the jungle in Thailand. Try Central London, there’s always terrible signal in Piccadilly Circus and Soho.
Oh the irony of having to wait 8 mins for this to load on my phone
Yeah, the lack of healthy competition in this country is alarming.
10 years ago the signal coverage in UK was pretty phenomenal. Now unless you are in a built up area that isn’t too busy (because London is fucked) then you cant get a good signal.
I don’t really understand the need for so much faster speeds at least for mobile phones, because I don’t think data requirements have really gotten that much bigger? Like watching a YouTube video doesn’t need more resolution because phones haven’t gotten that much bigger. I can’t really think of much people do on their phones that actually requires 50mb/s or 100mb/s speeds.
“we’re shutting down 3G” please don’t it’s all I have
I’ve known this as a fact for years due to living abroad for most of my twenties. Put coverage sucks. The UK is only place I’ve lived where you get black spots in the centre of major cities. I’ve been out in the sticks in some places and had better signal than in parts of Leeds.
I have missed 2 important calls from work because of this. Honestly it’s getting ridiculous. Do they *want* me to pay the bill? Like come on!
The telecoms industry never recovered from from high cost the operators paid for the 3g bandwidths. Engineers are also chased off land by farmers and gypsy’s.When they go to do maintenance on a rooftop in the city’s, they find that their equipment has been removed and pirate radio put in its place. There is no money in the industry anymore just chancers. Huawei also came in didn’t pay the contractors who then went bust. Thanks Cameron and Osborne. I got out.