Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Monday, January 27, 2014

Mobile phone coverage: is this as good as it gets?

Mark Bridge writes:

A new report has highlighted the issue of poor mobile phone coverage in rural Sussex villages. BBC Sussex invited me onto their ‘Sussex Breakfast’ radio show to explain what could be done - and, as usual, I made enough notes for a lecture rather than a three-minute interview.

Here’s what I would have liked to have said if I’d been given a disproportionate amount of time to talk!

In many ways, the fixed-line telephone network has given us unreasonable expectations of call quality and coverage. A nationalised and subsidised telephone service can put a ‘Telephone Box’ in every reasonably-sized village if it wants.

Conversely, the UK’s cellular mobile phone networks have always been competitive. Price, quality and coverage have tended to be their battlegrounds. But that means cities and larger towns are favoured, because you’re spending less per customer on infrastructure than in less-populated places.

I reckon there are four main reasons for ‘not-spots’, those areas where there isn’t any mobile phone coverage:

  • money: areas where the population density is low, there aren’t many passing visitors and there’s not much revenue to be generated.
  • geography: the challenges of hills, valleys and trees blocking radio signals.
  • buildings: traditional construction using thick stone walls can cause problems with coverage in and around these properties.
  • mast location: issues with planning permission, with the health concerns of local residents or with the appearance of large structures.

Ultimately, let’s not forget these are radio waves. Yes, we’ve moved on from Long Wave to FM and DAB, giving us better quality when we can receive a signal. We’ve got digital phones and high definition sound - but sometimes geography is against us when we try to use phones. Radio waves can’t go through everything. If you’re in a valley or on the side of a hill - or even on the wrong side of a house - you can be stuck without a signal. [Top tip: if you can’t get mobile phone service and you’re indoors next to a window, open the window. Yes, really.]

Frequencies make a difference as well: low frequency spectrum is better at covering larger areas than higher frequency spectrum - and that means it’s cheaper for mobile operators to cover rural areas because they don't need as many masts. It’s also why the shipping forecast is still on Radio 4 Long Wave. Lower frequencies are also better for getting inside buildings. The flip side is that higher frequencies are better at handling higher internet speeds. Most network operators have a mixture of lower and higher frequencies - and most phones will automatically switch between them.

So... is this as good as it gets?  Should we just put up with the mobile coverage we have?  Short answer: no. Longer answer: here’s how we can deal with not-spots.

Emergency roaming. Since 2009, it’s been possible to call the emergency services (999 / 112) using another mobile network if your own network is unavailable but the other UK network has coverage. There’s nothing special to do; just make the call as you would normally.

Mast-sharing. We don’t need more masts if there’s already one there. A mobile network can put its equipment on another network’s mast - and sometimes even share equipment as well. In fact, there are already formal agreements in place between Vodafone and O2 and between EE and Three.

Home boosters. Some networks offer ‘femtocells’ or ‘small cells’ that connect to your broadband and provide coverage inside your house. They can be available for a single up-front payment, by adding to your monthly bill or occasionally given away free by a network if they think you’re a particularly deserving cause.

Community network schemes. Vodafone has been particularly keen on this idea. It’s trialling the ‘Vodafone Open Sure Signal’ scheme, putting suitcase-sized units in key buildings and even on telegraph poles to provide 3G service in unconnected areas. Instead of connecting directly into Vodafone’s network, they use existing broadband connections to carry voice and data traffic.

Alternative carriers. Technologies including WiFi and satellite communications may be a practical replacement if mobile service isn’t available.

Government intervention. Actually we’ve already got this. The original 3G licence conditions from 2000 required networks to cover 80% of the UK population with 3G service (although this is admittedly only around 45% of the land area). An updated target was later introduced, compelling networks to cover 90% of the UK population by 30th June last year. There’s something even tougher for 4G: the allocation of radio spectrum won by O2 UK requires the network to provide indoor mobile broadband coverage to 98% of the UK population by 2017. This is expected to cover more than 99% of the UK population when outdoors - and is expected to prompt O2’s competitors to keep up.

The Mobile Infrastructure Project. This is the government’s not-so-secret weapon. Launched in 2011, it’s spending £150 million to improve coverage in areas where there wasn’t any commercial incentive to do this. Technically, it’s only allowed to do this in areas where there was no mobile coverage at all, otherwise it would be unfair under competition law. The money’s being spent on setting things up; the ‘big four’ UK networks (Vodafone, O2, EE and Three) have then agreed to take care of running costs. It’s being done in five phases: the first sites started to go live last year. Overall, around 60,000 homes and commercial properties are expected to benefit from the Mobile Infrastructure Project, with economic benefits thought to be worth more than double the initial investment.

Mobile coverage will never be perfect. That’s physics for you. But I can honestly say it appears to be getting better.

You can hear the The Fonecast team talking about the week's top mobile industry news stories in our weekly podcast. Listen to the programme on our website, by subscribing free via iTunes, by using our RSS feed or on the Stitcher.com mobile app.
Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

Mobile industry predictions for 2015, from smartphones to spectrum

Podcast - 17th December 2014

The Fonecast predicts 2015: Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge gather round a sapphire crystal ball and make their forecasts for the next 12 months in the mobile industry.

Whose product line won't survive until December 2015? What will happen with the BT/EE merger? Which new features will be introduced by smartphone manufacturers?

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Mobile industry podcast: new smartphones, new network equipment and new insight

Podcast - 10th December 2014

It's time for another news-packed mobile industry podcast from TheFonecast.com, starting with the European Parliament's latest ruling on in-car emergency communication.

After that we're talking about Microsoft's departure from the Nook eBook business, Three UK's 4G growth, Acer's tablet-sized phone, EE's rural coverage solution and some interesting new research about mobile-enabled customer service.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Takeovers, break-ups, national roaming, dubious advertising and the death of the landline

Podcast - 3rd December 2014

We begin this week's podcast with updates on two topics we discussed last week: the potential purchase of a UK mobile network by BT - and the crowd-funded Jolla Tablet.

After that we talk about the GSMA's reaction to national roaming, the potential death of the landline, a new threat to Google, management changes and advertising for 4G data.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

BT talks to O2, Nokia and Jolla announce new tablets, Apple Watch developers get started... and Ofcom plans for more mobile capacity

Podcast - 26th November 2014

In this week's podcast we're talking about the potential purchase of the O2 UK mobile network by BT.

We also discuss new tablets from Nokia and Jolla, the end of a patent battle, mobile payments via instant messaging, app development for the Apple Watch and plans to make even more spectrum available for mobile broadband in the UK .

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

The week's UK mobile industry news, including BlackBerry, TalkTalk, 4G data and much more

Podcast - 19th November 2014

Time for another podcast presented by Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge. They begin this week's programme by talking about the latest enterprise-friendly developments from BlackBerry.

Next comes a new survey from Ofcom about the UK's 4G data speeds, followed by news about TalkTalk's MVNO deal with Telefonica, the growth of WiFi in the home and a report from AVG about social media sapping smartphone performance.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
245678910Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«October 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
30123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031123
45678910

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement