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Rural Answers
Mobile phone reception
Presumably to improve service new masts are needed, and suitable sites for masts investigated.
But which mobile company does one contact to try to get masts put up? Undoubtedly landowners must be included in discussions about where they are sited.
Does anybody have experience of trying to improve mobile reception in a rural area – particularly an area surrounded by hills?
How did they go about it?
Neil Paterson
18-Jul-2008 @ 16:48PM
Rose La Terriere
We have a vodaphone and an orange mast in our glen. Why cannot O2 put its equipment on their masts. These remote places need phones far more than built up areas. Come on Scottish Gov.
18-Jul-2008 @ 16:19PM
Chris Ferne
I guess you'd have to approach the individual service providers: Orange, Vodafone, O2, etc. But they're strictly commercial companies and won't install anything unless they can see a definite financial - or huge PR - opportunity.
Technically, it's also a big task. TV has the same problems: take South Wales, where there's good TV coverage - one mast covers almost the entire area, while some small valleys alone need several 'repeater' masts, at huge cost. And those were installed by the BBC, fulfilling its Charter duty to the public, not by a private company!
Mobile phone operators are also apt to quote their coverage as reaching "n% of the population" - a moment's thought reveals this to be an entirely specious model. The places where people live is not where the coverage is important - it's the places where they don't!
Mobile Reception
18-Jul-2008 @ 17:29PM
Elizabeth Perrott
We, on the Isle of Whithorn , which is 22 miles from nearest a road have been campaigning for mobile reception for years. In our case they used the excuse of terrain but we later were told it is not cost effective to place another mast , and the nearest one only covers up to 10 , miles away. We often have our main phone lines down in high wind and there is no way to summons help. Ironically we can sometimes tap into the MAnx signal if we go onto the sea front! Though that is then classified as ' roaming' with additional charges.
The Scottish Executive should be dealing with this, especially as BT are now removing lots of call boxes, so there isn't going to be anything for visitors to this very special area which relies heavily on tourism to survive. ON another note, they have recently closed all the public loos hereabouts so tourists have more immediate difficulties than mobile phones!
Again it is the total dismissal of rural communities, we dont count, we don't exist, and it is our fault no doubt for chosing to live here!