If you are constantly having issues making phone calls or sending texts you might be living in a UK black spot. Despite most areas of the UK now being connected to a 4G or 5G signal, it appears some more rural areas are still struggling for coverage. That’s according to a new report from the team at Nomad who say they have used official Ofcom data to work out which postcodes are worse off when it comes to using phones.
Coming bottom of the pile is East Anstey in Devon, (postcode EX16 9JT) with other areas such as Rugeley – Staffordshire (WS15 2UQ, Rushton Spencer – Staffordshire (SK11 0QX) and Higham – Kent (BB12 9BW) all performing badly.
Here’s The Top 10 Worst Locations for Phone Coverage
East Anstey (EX16 9JT) – Devon
Rugeley (WS15 2UQ) – Staffordshire
Rushton Spencer (SK11 0QX) – Staffordshire
Higham (BB12 9BW) – Kent
Mayfield (TN20 6BW) – East Sussex
Hubbert’s Bridge (PE20 3QR) – Lincolnshire
Luppitt (EX14 4SR) – Devon
Aisholt (TA5 1AR) – Somerset
Hanbury (B60 4BS) – Worcestershire
Ugborough (PL21 0FP) – Devon
Luckily, if you can’t make a call without annoying interference, things should improve over the coming years with the UK Government having previously announced that it had entered into an agreement with EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone to grant funding for a Shared Rural Network (SRN).
Under the new terms, each of the four mobile networks committed to providing good quality data and voice coverage to 88 percent of the country’s landmass by the 30th of June 2024, and 90 percent by the 31st of January 2027.
Hopefully, that will fix some of the black holes and that update won’t come quickly enough for those currently suffering from dismal connection.
Speaking to the team at Nomad, one unhappy mobile user named Olivia Lott, said “Before buying my home, I knew that signal would be patchy (it’s rural Devon, after all), but I didn’t expect it to be quite such a black hole.
“Mobile signal strength where I live is dreadful. When I first moved here, my smartphone at the time didn’t have WiFi calling, so my only option for getting signal was walking up the nearest hill and flailing my arm around. I very quickly got a landline, and frankly I don’t know anyone else my age who has one.”