Mobile coverage mapped across River Severn Partnership region
Bin lorries carried trackers to test signal across 20,000Km of road.
A map of how well the 4 major phone providers cover the region within the River Severn Partnership has been created by a company called Streetwave.
The aim was to generate a quality and accessible dataset to support individuals, communities and businesses across the region to make the right choice about network providers.
The data is set to be used to support lobbying efforts to improve coverage across the region.
Council bin lorries, that visited every street and house in the region, were fitted with trackers that measured the strength of o2, EE, Vodaphone and THREE.
The survey recorded the signal strength along 20,000Km of the public road network.
The results revealed that across the region 15% of postcode areas are unable to receive a signal from any of the 4 Mobile Network Operators at a strength that is likely to support a good quality voice call.
The results also provided data on which phone network is best at providing essential coverage:
Entire River Severn Region
EE – 80%
Vodafone – 69%
Three – 50%
O2 – 48%
Gloucestershire
EE – 89%
Vodafone – 71%
Three – 63%
O2 – 54%
Herefordshire
EE – 74%
Vodafone – 74%
Three – 59%
O2 – 57%
Worcestershire
EE – 86%
Vodafone – 75%
Three – 57%
O2 – 46%
Warwickshire
EE – 90%
Vodafone – 72%
O2 – 57%
Three – 55%
Shropshire
EE – 72%
Vodafone – 72%
O2 – 50%
Three – 48%
Powys
EE – 60%
Vodafone – 56%
O2 – 46%
Three – 35%
Staffordshire
EE – 87%
Vodafone – 74%
Three – 57%
O2 – 50%
Monmouthshire
EE – 65%
Vodafone – 60%
Three – 45%
O2 – 39%
Telford & Wrekin
EE – 74%
Vodafone – 67%
Three – 58%
O2 – 51%
George Gibson, from Streetwave, said: There is a disparity between the way that mobile coverage is reported in this country and experienced by ordinary people.
"For the last sort of 2 decades it's always been predicted, so the mobile companies will look at where they have masts and estimate because it's the cheapest way to do it."
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We recently launched Map Your Mobile, a new tool with improved information to better reflect the mobile coverage people can expect in their area. This is a significant step forward in helping customers compare coverage and find the best provider for them, and we’ll continue to update and enhance the tool.
“While organisations have different measurement methodologies, our new tool empowers people to assess and compare coverage and performance in their area, and includes crowd-sourced data based on users’ real experiences.”