September 9, 2019 11.56 am This story is over 54 months old

Poor phone coverage blighting half of NK residents, report finds

Almost 100% of the district is covered by at least one provider
| Photo: Adobe Stock

Around half of residents in North Kesteven struggle with poor phone reception outdoors in their parishes – despite the whole district being covered by at least one provider.

Indoors, the number of complaints rise to around 70%.

Councillors at NKDC are next week set to hear the results of a survey of 70 of its parishes which aimed to gauge mobile phone coverage in their area.

“In summary, mobile phone coverage issues are experienced in the majority of parishes, with approximately half of respondents having issues with reception outdoors and approximately 70% indoors,” said the report.

Almost 100% of the district is covered by at least one provider, with 98% of outdoor land masses covered by all operators – above England as a whole which has coverage of 91%.

The report found that the best overall phone reception across the district is provided by O2 and Vodafone with EE and 3 taking most of the flak – however, the differences vary from service to service and area to area.

Residents were also given the opportunity to respond with comments of their own.

One person in Leadenham said: “When you speak to the providers, they happily look at their computers and assure you that there is good coverage – their systems do not reflect reality.”

Several parish residents also reported mobile signal deteriorating I their areas, while others note that social media is often filled with complaints.

Areas with a particularly high response were Threekingham, Witham St Hughs and Cranwell, Byards Leap & Brauncewell.

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