EE coverage.

[m0lsx]

I brought an EE SIM (£17 for a years data.) for my new Network radio, it is what a lot of people are using, it seems.
Driving across Norfolk yesterday even on primary main roads the coverage was terrible with the signal dropping out in the smallest dip in the road & no coverage at all across some large villages.
If this is what the Emergency Services can expect from the new EE system them we are screwed.

[thelad]

The new ESN will have more power and will have priority over the gen public, well thats what they say

[CW-2E0UCW]

I've experienced the same issues around the west side of of the M25 up to the M1

[Metradio]

How well do you think the Airwave system works out in the sticks ?

Mike

[G4RMT]

Apparently poor coverage is a contributing factor in the extension of Airwave. Suffolk and Norfolk are terrible. At the Lionel Richie concert at Holkham Hall, the sponsors (a large radio station network) wanted people to tweet, text and Facebook. 11,000 people with no signal at all for the day. The audience text in facility for the big screens was er, somewhat pointless. Yesterday in Essex, 1 bar on EE, none at all on the other networks. I have an app called open signal. It sends signal strength data to their servers as you drive around.

Look at our major roads in and out of the towns where many users have travelled - all red! Green in the centres of the towns - but away from them, grim!http://www.limelight.org.uk/EE-coverage.png

[m0lsx]

How well do you think the Airwave system works out in the sticks ?

Mike

I was on some of the busier main roads for much of the journey, not back roads. And Airwave may not be great but it's better than EE's coverage.

The new ESN will have more power and will have priority over the gen public, well thats what they say

All it took was a dip in the road or a few trees & the signal was lost & the main road to Fakenham from Norwich is twisty & gently undulating, with several places where it passes woodland. So upping power will not improve coverage on this busy main road & even on the outskirts of Fakenham, I lost the signal less than 2 miles from the town centre.

At the Lionel Richie concert at Holkham Hall, the sponsors (a large radio station network) wanted people to tweet, text and Facebook. 11,000 people with no signal at all for the day. The audience text in facility for the big screens was er, somewhat pointless.

Coverage along the North Norfolk Coast has always been poor, which given the NEED for emergency cover during the not uncommon tidal flood alerts is concerning.

Thanks for the app suggestion, you are the second person to suggest that app in the past few days.

[G4RMT]

The thing about Holkham Hall is that it attracts a lot of people and in an emergency, the communications black hole would be quite important. The Latitude Festival at Henham attracts a huge crowd - and as coverage is non-existent there too, the big phone companies bring in big cell trailer towers to give the people coverage.

[ajrm]

Stupid isn’t it. The further away from the cities you are, the more you rely on a mobile phone and the worse the signal gets.
Mobile phone providers don’t seem to have thought of this.