Mobile Signal 'Not-Spots' Targeted

11 June 2013, 06:00

People in rural Norfolk and Suffolk are being urged to help improve mobile phone signals.

People in rural Norfolk and Suffolk are being urged to help improve mobile phone signals.

The Countryside Alliance is asking people to download an app that tracks exactly how much signal phones pick up.

Sarah Lee from Countryside Alliance said: "Children from school are getting thier homework via the internet, they've got to submit it online, we've got social networks now, and if we don't bridge this digital divide we're going to leave rural communities behind."

The group want people to use the RootMetrics app at home and at work, so they can gather the results.

Ms Lee added: "We'll take our results to the mobile operators and the government and say these are our maps, these are where the real 'not-spots' are what can we do to work together to improve this?

"It will name and shame operators who tell us they've got a good signal, but we can say actually it's not as good as you think on the ground in rural areas, you could be next to a mountain you could be in a valley. In reality it could be very different"

Bury St Edmunds MP David Ruffley backed the appeal. He said: "Everybody pays the same rates for their phone packages, but they don't all receive the same level of reception.

"That means some people in Suffolk aren't getting a good deal. I want the Government and providers to realise this and make sure none of my constituents miss out from the mobile network."