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Thursday, December 17, 2020

Annual Ofcom report reveals mobile coverage hits and misses

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has published its annual Connected Nations report, analysing the availability of mobile communications services across the country.

It notes that all the UK’s major mobile network operators continued to roll out new 5G coverage this year. There are now around 3,000 5G transmitters across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which is ten times as many as last year. 87% are in England, 7% in Scotland and 3% in Wales and 3% in Northern Ireland.

There’s outdoor 4G coverage from all four networks for 97.5% of UK properties, although this is weighted towards towns and cities: it’s just 87% outside rural properties. However, 8.6% of the UK’s land mass can be described as 4G ‘not spots’, with no mobile network available.

Despite usage changing due to the coronavirus pandemic and increased home-based working, the number of reported network resilience and security problems was largely similar to recent years.

The report also looks at fixed-line broadband service, noting that 7.9 million UK homes – 27% of UK properties – can now access gigabit-speed broadband (downloads of at least 1000Mb/s). Northern Ireland and Scotland have the highest availability, with 56% and 42% of homes respectively able to choose these services. The UK's current average broadband speed is 72 Mbit/s. 0.6% of properties across the UK (around 190,000) still cannot get broadband download speeds of at least 10Mbit/s and upload speeds of 1Mbit/s. Some of these properties are also unable to connect to 4G indoors: Ofcom estimates 43,000 premises in the UK are unable to access either a decent fixed-line broadband service or good indoor 4G coverage.

[Interactive report]
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Opinion Articles

SpinVox visit offers a few clues about the technology

Mark Bridge writes:

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The company’s promise was simple: to turn voicemail messages into SMS text messages.

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That just about covers it

Mark Bridge writes:

In my last article I looked forward to a world of cyborgs… but feared that decent battery life could stifle my dreams. And this week I’m on a similar theme, despairing that the UK’s mobile coverage problems probably won’t be solved before the Silver Jubilee of Vodafone and Cellnet’s networks.

To illustrate my worries, let me tell you a story.

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What price for a hands-free conversation?

Iain Graham writes:

When you get up tomorrow morning and get in the car, why don't you screw up three £20 notes and lob 'em out of the window?!  Oh, and whilst you are at it, take out your driving licence, and put three points in the penalties column!!

Why would you do that, I hear you ask?

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The Singularity is… errm… on its way, I think

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m an optimist. I’m not quite sure why I’m wired that way but I’m perfectly happy with it. Much as you’d expect, I suppose. And although I tend not to tap-dance in the gutter when it’s raining, I firmly believe that life is like a musical.

That’s probably why I’m such a fan of what’s become known as ‘the Singularity’; a point when technology and evolution are expected to combine. As computers become smarter, so they’ll be able to build smarter computers themselves – and before you know it they’ll be repairing people and improving the design. If all goes well I’ll look like a combination of Robocop and Jude Law.

“Fascinating”, I hear you say. “Bring on the medical nanobots. But what’s all this got to do with mobile phones?”

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Web Browser vs. Application Stores

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However they don’t solve the fundamental problem of handset compatibility.

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