Poor mobile phone reception is no laughing matter. For most living in cities, having to walk around the room for a signal may seem like an issue that was resolved in the past, nevertheless it’s not the case for everyone in Great Britain. 

In fact, around one in five of us struggle with mobile phone reception and cannot use our mobile phones to make a call without having to take time to find a signal according to Culture Secretary Sajid Javid.

Coverage

In a world where 4G is becoming the norm and a 3G signal is at the very least the expected, it might be hard for some of us to understand that around 20% of people, while in their UK homes, can’t make a call or send a text from their phone without a lot of effort. 

Of course, having bad reception or coverage is one thing, but not being able to do anything about it is an altogether different matter. 

Contract Issues

One thing that tends to become apparent and is well documented in national newspapers is the sheer wrangling it takes to get out of a mobile phone contract, even if coverage is poor. If you own and use a mobile phone under a particular provider, you expect to have use of the phone. At the most basic level of commerce, you pay for a service and the service provider should adequately deliver that service, meeting a minimum standard. 

Looking at a number of papers would suggest that what’s happening is otherwise. The Daily Telegraph recently published a piece filled with horror stories about customers with no reception, companies with little interest in offering redress and in some cases bad and insulting customer service. The paper article cast a terrible light on the mobile phone providers, showcasing them as uncaring, incompetent and even in some cases showing contempt for their customers. 

Possible Solutions

Problems need solutions and one such effort at resolving issues was proposed by Culture Secretary Sajid Javid. Initially, Javid proposed that mobile phone providers would be required to allow phones under contract with them use other networks if theirs didn’t provide an adequate signal. He also put forward plans for mobile phone network providers being required to:

• Share infrastructure – companies could place transmitters on each other’s masts
• Reform virtual networks
• Be obliged to cover a certain area of the UK – the way they would do this would be up to them. 

However, there were a number of issues with the idea and experts, as well as members of the government cite security concerns and battery life amongst others as reasons why this approach may not work and it was altered.

This resulted in the idea to share networks being scrapped; however there still are some positives. These will result in 90% of the UK landmass having text and voice coverage by 2017; this will increase full coverage, which takes account of being able to download data, from 69% to 85%.  It’s certainly a move in the right direction, however for the 10% and 15% who live in areas without basic and full coverage respectively, it could still hardly be considered getting your money’s worth. 

Here at Row.co.uk, we cannot wait for network reception to improve. In the mean time, be sure to look after your mobile phone with our insurance, click here for a quote. 

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.

The world of mobile phone networks has never been on an even keel and networks have always had strong points and weaknesses. In the UK this has meant we’ve always seen networks come and go and evolve and change. 

For instance BT is looking to purchase EE and Three wants to buy out O2 while other new networks are trying to come up in the market.

However, who are the best and who are the worst performers? We take a closer look at the recent RootScore study and find out who, what, where and how. 

Cost a Factor

Mobile network users in the UK care about two things, the performance of the network and how much it will cost them. Customers are looking for great quality that will not empty their pockets. As people have evolved to rely heavily on mobile phone connections to stay in contact and deal with businesses, the reliability of the phone networks has become a crucial factor. 

As you may already know there are four major phone networks found in the UK that are in close competition with each other including EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone. 

These networks are constantly focusing on improving speed and performance of their mobile internet and network connection. They want to be the network that people can rely on and trust but also offer speed.

However not all networks are able to give the same level of performance and according to the latest RootScore the positions they have already established for themselves in recent years, remain relatively unchanged. 

Best UK Phone Networks

According to research reports EE is the strongest phone network in the UK market and as you may know has been the dominant one for quite some time. 

According to the latest reports it is still the best phone network in terms of reliability, speed, calls and text messaging. It is also the largest phone network with around 31 million subscribers and the largest 4G network that gives great internet coverage at high-speed. EE has also received the highest Overall RootScore Award at 89.4 which was closely followed by Three, then O2 and Vodafone. 

Though EE has taken the position in speed, the general consensus is that Three is the more reliable network. The RootScore Award for reliability was higher for Three compared to EE at the national level, though in England it came second. As Three has closed position on EE now, both the networks seem to be the best at the moment with high levels of performance. 

Worst UK Phone Networks

The worst UK phone networks to consider are Vodafone and O2 as they come last in the vast majority of factors considered by the survey. Vodafone lacks in many areas but the basics seems to be the most apparent area for dissatisfaction. Vodafone seems to be providing good 4G coverage service indoors and outdoors, but its other services aren’t performing well. O2 performs worst of all in mobile internet performance and speed when compared to other networks. 

How to Choose a Network Provider

When choosing a mobile phone provider you need to realise that every survey and research would have some differences in results so it’s important to not trust one research blindly. However survey results do represent which ones have a better overall performance in the market so you can base your preference on that. 

When it comes to pricing you first need to analyse your usage in terms of calls, texts and internet so that you can choose the provider that can offer you the best payment plan. There are three payment methods which include mobile phone contracts, pay-as-you-go and SIM-only services. The one you choose should depend on whether you want to be tied up in a long term contract or not and how often do you use your phone. You also need to consider the network coverage that the connection will provide in your particular area so that you don’t end up with a network that won’t perform well for you!

So, when looking for a new phone consider all of the above as it should go a long way to hours of great call time. 

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.