Great Western Coffee Shop

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-27963341):

What, no fixed line connections to Cornwall? Have the cables under the Tamar been cut?
Obviously the nations finances are in such a poor state the HM Government can't afford a satellite phone if needed either.

Good that the BBC goes out if it's way to "support" Cornwall's tourist trade too.

If the No. 10 account is with Vodafone, he'd better avoid the third-world coverage on the GWML between Reading and Didcot too.
 >:(  :D

02 based networks seem to have the best coverage down here. My Tesco mobile seems to work everywhere, which is unheard of in Cornwall!

I'd second that.  I quite often have meetings near St Ives and the people there swear by O2 - I just swear at Vodafone.  However we have installed one of their Sure Signal boxes at the venue which at least means I have service while in the building.

I also have an EE network, don't get me started on that coverage. Although yo is much improved. It now works at home!

Seems like things have improved little since the days of Harold Macmillan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exSGHBCx88E

Cornwall has always had good fixed connections.  The international cables landed at Porthcurno in West Penwith and Goonhilly down for Satillite links to the BT network!

Until your landline goes down, like mine has this week, taking the SureSignal with it. Now have no phone at all! Grrr!

What annoys me (and my family) is that the operators always deny that we have a poor to non-available service around here. The provided maps on their internet sites are always optimistic as to the quality of service but they do take into account that many of the 200 or so homes on our estate are in a slight depression suffinet to cut off or reduce coverage . My daughter needs to have mobile service at home for her work duties and when she was with Vodafone the Sure Signal device worked fine. She is now with "3" whose service at home is just not available (worse than Vodafone) but its tarrifs for low users are great. She persuaded "3" to give her the "3" equivalent to the Vodafone Sure Signal box as an incentive for her to change. I I would recommend any one who needs to use their mobile at home investigate this possibility.

Yeah the SureSignal has been an absolute God send - 100% signal all around the house and some of the garden. Without it, I get 1 bar (in good weather), on the window sill at the front (but only downstairs) - which is OK until someone calls and I pick it up, as it then drops out completely!

I didn't realize 3 also does a box, that's good to know. I am currently using my 3 3G dongle for internet access which works really well from here too, just a shame it costs so much on PAYG for the odd emergency.

Up here in the "Alps" we have the two extremes. No 3G mobile signal but you can get 330Mb on fibre!! (at a cost)

DO NOT get me started on this subject...! DEFINITELY DO NOT get my started on vodamoan!

Cornwall has some excellent Internet Connectivity. The village where I used to live now has ADSL2+ and FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) before Frome did! Infact. Dobwalls Village had ADSL2+ before Taunton got it!!

So you can imagine my frustration that North Bradley near Trowbridge has FTTC for a few domestic dwellings, yet the nearby White Horse Business Park which is closer to the Exchange does not >:( BT don't like going to Business Parks it seems. Another one in Exeter has a similar problem!

My parents live in the middle of nowhere, yet I have pulled down 12MB/s over 3G. That's faster than their ADSL 20cn connection (Which hits the full 8MB limit and is probably one of the only households in the village to do so). This means a long range WiFi connection provides a faster internet connection to a nearby farm just visible to the naked eye at speeds faster than their ADSL connection. Because the BT Cables run all around the village before reaching this Farm. Yet as the crow flies to the BT Exchange this distance is almost the same!

Coveragewise in Frome and the surrounding area. Three Mobile or EE/Orange/T-Mobile are the best bets. Three struggles in some of the older buildings as their network runs mostly on the 2100MHz Band and only uses 3G (I am discounting 4G for the moment as it's not available here). I've found where I do not receive a 3G Signal on Three Mobile. I have received full coverage on EE using 2G.

Vodafone have to be the worst around here. It took 58 minutes to download 1 MP3 from iTunes on an hours bus journey from Frome - Bath on the F267. Only did it complete a second MP3 in speeds I expect when the journey ended in Bath.

I repeated the journey a few weeks later and found I was getting Speedtests at no more than 0.02MB/s (Or 20KB/s - which is terrible for a good 90% of the journey!) On the return journey I swapped the SIM for a Three Mobile SIM and received speeds of between 2MB and 10MB/s for nearly all of the journey. The 2 places where the signal fails completely it also did on Vodafone, Three, EE & O2. These are Beckington and Midford Hill. Midford Hill on EE has improved slightly now the Odd Down area has 4G Masts. Think they must have upgraded the 2G ones too.

When I queried then Data Speed with Vodafone I received the reply that Somerset was predominantly GPRS (2G) and that "Vodamoan invests alot of money in it's network!" and that I had no recourse for complaint as I was receiving a Data Service. The Data Service was so slow, it was physically unusable. Yet other networks worked fine.

I'm sorry, but if Three and EE et al can provide me with 3G on the same bus route, Vodamoan aren't spending enough money, are buying the wrong kit or investing in their urban areas!

I'm with EE and they are awful. I have had various problems with them since contract started last year and when I phone them up and the operators answer the call: "Thanks for calling EE, the UKs Best Network" It immediately makes me even more angry. Considering the service I have received from EE in the past, if they are the UKs Best Network then God help us. A fellow forum member however has probably the best customer service fail I have ever seen to date. Threatening debt collection over a CREDIT balance... ::) ;D :-X

Am I the only one who would be even more angry if someone answered the phone and said "The UKs Best Network" when I have a complaint?

Oh and when I challenged EE on why they had not called me back despite assurances from around 12 different agents when I finally wrote to them... I received the following answer:

"With regards to your comments regarding customer call-backs not being made; I can see from your account that this has happened on more than one occasion"

Those last 4 words are the most important...! Make of it what you will ::)


Told you not to do it... :P ;D :-X

I've fallen for it again, haven't I?? ::) :P ;D

I don't recall ever telling that story on here.....or has someone else had the same experience?

EE more recently charged me ^3.50 per month for having a credit balance greater than my bill. I took a complaint to them and they compensated me with ^70 odd quid credit, then charged me ^3.50 a month for not paying by DD whilst the credit covered the bill!

To be fair, some aspects are out of their control. They wanted to upgrade the masts here but the villagers complained. Same happened down the road where you can barely get 2MB broadband, let alone a phone signal.

With all the mergers, acquisitions and network deals the other networks have, their coverage increased as they were able to use the previous rivals masts. Planning for masts is hard to come by in the areas they need it, so if EE/O2/Orange have a monopoly in an area, it can be hard for Vodafone, Three to get a look in - that's one reason for the comments about making it a requirement for telecom companies to share masts in areas with bad coverage (great idea if you ask me) - but of course coverage is also a key selling point for each network.

Vodafone have 80+billion burning a hole in their pocket from the sale of Verizon, they are desperate to invest it somewhere (talks of various TV related purchases with the push on mobile TV now), and I believe they are planning to invest quite heavily in their network as well. Its shame, I've been with Vodafone for 22 years this year and its only since I moved out of town that I realized how spotty their network coverage is, especially whenever I go camping it would seem!

As for EE, I ordered a free SIM from them, which they decided to send via a bloody courier. It took almost 2 weeks before I received it as I was at work everytime they tried, they refused to leave it without a signature, they refused to leave it with my neighbor when he offered. They insisted it was a mobile phone everytime I spoke to them. In the end it was returned to EE and they sent another one out to my work address. Never even used the darn thing, it must have cost them a fortune with all the courier hassle!

I do wonder if some f those who complain about poor cellphone service are also those who oppose the construction of the masts or antenae that are required to improve matters.

I am aware of a case in London where the erection of a mast on a school building was strongly opposed, despite children and parents complaining about frequent lack of service in the area.

You are correct on both counts...! Another member (perhaps even more) had this issue!

I also have an ongoing issue of similar nature where Orange (EE et al) have sold an account to Lowell Group which is in my name. Having never had an Orange account that did make me smirk. I of course checked my credit files and it wasn't on there. But the date they sold the account was most interesting... 29/04/2041 ::)

Typo yes... But I wonder if I could use the "They do not own the account" as a defence :P

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Now this I find most interesting. Because some cite health risks from use of a mobile phone. Yet on the flipside of that coin, the signal is around whether you are using a cellphone or not.

Similar to the use of Mobile Phones in Petrol Stations. Whilst Forecourt Attendants are told to say that it poses a significant health and safety risk. To date, no serious incidents have been attributed to the use of a mobile phone. Regardless of where a device is used or not. The signal remains.

If you ask me, wearing Nylon Clothing whilst using a filling pump is infinitely more dangerous... ::)

All that aside. Senior Ladyfriend Trouts lease some roof space to T-Mobile in Essex on 2 of their buildings. A small consultation was done with local residents by them and measurements of microwaves were well within the guidelines before and after the installation of the Mast.

Using the same Microwave Measurement thing. It was placed near a DECT Phone (Cordless BT Phone Line type device) and that registered more microwave energy output than the bloody Cell Mast when measured from a 20 metre distance!

Those things placed on your bedside table at night in-case the phone rings? That is by far more "radioactive" than a Cell Mast it seems!

I'm not sure I can agree with O2 being overall the best for Cornwall. O2/VF will be great if all you care about is voice and SMS, but if you want data you'll be left on EDGE, or more likely GPRS. Vodafone has finally brought 3G to my village (years after Orange/3/T-Mobile did); unfortunately the performance is so poor that they clearly haven't upgraded the backhaul to the site.

For data, 3 or EE are undoubtably the way to go (EE has the added advantage of seamless 2G backup, whereas 3's is not). Even in the more rural bits. To steer things towards trains a bit, it's the same there too. On the main line in Cornwall or Devon you'll probably be struggling with GPRS if you use VF or O2, whereas you get HSPA (or even 4G/LTE) on EE or 3. Always impresses me how people soldier on with woeful performance from the "older" networks (email is a challenge) while I am able to stream Netflix with ease while trundling around south Devon or across Bodmin Moor.

I wonder where our Dave was in Cornwall to have to cut a holiday short over it? Or what network he was on? You'd think he could have just got the chauffeur to drive him into town to get a signal rather than having to go all the way back to London..

I'm sure there's a lot less to this than meets the eye of a journalist with space to fill. What is the content of the story? PM breaks holiday to return to London to deal with international "events". No doubt lots of factors came into that decision, one being that he could not be kept in close touch if he went off doing what was planned for the family. Staying at his holiday home on his own is neither a holiday nor a very effective way of working - so, having a high opinion of his indispensability he goes back to London instead. The specific Cornish phones angle might only have contributed 10% to that decision.

It's not that long ago that, when a PM went on holiday, he was out of contact - except for an urgent telegram maybe. I'm not convinced we had fewer "events" then, either. Or worse government.