Coastal Mobile Coverage

[prologica]

Hi All,

Here‘s a question I can’t easily find the answer to: which mobile network has the best offshore (coastal) coverage?

I sail around the East Coast (Suffolk/Essex/Kent) and in Summer in the English Channel as far as Cornwall. I was with Three and when I switched to Vodafone (Lebara) I had great problems getting a signal just a mile or so offshore. I switched back to Three (Idmobile) which has been ok, perhaps was not as great as before with my Poco smartphone, though I was impressed with being able to watch just a little of an England Euros game 7 miles off Portland Bill!

Whats your experience especially for data coverage?

regards to all
P

UFO34
Levington

 

[LittleSister]

You can get impression of who has the best coverage in which area via the Ofcom website. This maps coverage using modelling (so isn't guaranteed), and doesn't map off the coast, but you can see clear differences in the extent and strength of coverage between the four different providers (with their own networks) in the land areas adjoining the coast.

View mobile availability - Ofcom Checker
Put in your (or any) postcode, then on the next page select your (or any) address, then choose indoor/outdoor and whether 4G or non-4G, scroll down to the bottom and there's a button on the right hand side to 'View map of available services'. Once in the map, you can scroll around, zoom in and out, etc. around the country.

(Once you've decided which those 4 has the best coverage for the areas you are interested in you can view on the same website which other providers use each of the big 4's networks - About Checker and then open the 'Why does my provider not show up on the list?' question.)

 

[KompetentKrew]

I never had problems using Three along the south coast.

 

[Neeves]

You can get impression of who has the best coverage in which area via the Ofcom website. This maps coverage using modelling (so isn't guaranteed), and doesn't map off the coast, but you can see clear differences in the extent and strength of coverage between the four different providers (with their own networks) in the land areas adjoining the coast.

View mobile availability - Ofcom Checker
Put in your (or any) postcode, then on the next page select your (or any) address, then choose indoor/outdoor and whether 4G or non-4G, scroll down to the bottom and there's a button on the right hand side to 'View map of available services'. Once in the map, you can scroll around, zoom in and out, etc. around the country.

(Once you've decided which those 4 has the best coverage for the areas you are interested in you can view on the same website which other providers use each of the big 4's networks - About Checker and then open the 'Why does my provider not show up on the list?' question.)

Based on the situation in Australia

Just because there is good terrestrial coverage does not mean there is good marine coverage. The providers focus on and prioritise terrestrial reception (and areas of high population densities) as that is where income, for the provider, is located. Services are thus focussed at the terrestrial locations and aerials and repeaters are located with minor thought for the insignificant marine market. If you have good reception at sea - it is simply fortuitous.

I would have thought there was enough background here for members to collate data defining dead spots.

Reception will vary with the geography - a hill will reduce reception (even if the repeater in on another, but lower, hill) perfect for terrestrial coverage but planned with no concern for marine reception.

Basically the marine market does not justify the investment.

Interestingly half way across Bass Strait so 60nm off the coast we can receive perfect reception, but nothing anchored under a steep hill with a decent town on the other side of the hill.

Local commercial fishermen, or those round Tasmania, rely more on VHF or further out - SSB - than seems to happen in the UK.

Jonathan

I quote the situation in Australia and it would not be surprising our coverage is not typical - but maybe it is indicative.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I have vodafone on my mobile and BT on my tablet. On the west coast of Scotland, as elsewhere, the coverage is patchy, but there's usually a strong signal along the ferry routes, and where there's a main road close to the shore.
As Jonathan say, the mobile providers concentate there coverage where the cusomers are, by using directional antenna. For example there's good 4G on vodafone at the northern tip of Coll, there's perhaps 1 or 2 houses in the whole area, but it's in a diect line of sight to the Sound of Mull, which has lots of ferry traffic.
So check the coverage maps, ferry routes and coast main roads, and you'll get an idea of the best coverage.

 

[Sandy]

Depends how far offshore you go. Usually OK to about 5 statue miles offshore between Plymouth and Peterhead via Ramsgate.

 

[The Q]

Come to Norfolk and Suffolk and sail round the broads... Technically much of it is coast, as by river for instance the Bure is still tidal for about 20 miles up river..
We have black holes everywhere on the rivers.. Even at my house on a Norfolk Mountain at 19ft ASL, You won't get a signal unless you stand by a south facing upstairs window..
I suspect that large areas of mountainous Wales, the Scottish highlands and Islands have huge holes in coverage..

 

[Daydream believer]

I did get excited when O2 texted me a survey about the coverage in my area. Clearly they needed to know if it was poor. So obviously I gave it the lowest rating. Then I clicked send
But guess what-- no reception
So O2 still show that area I live in as OK for 3G reception. Well nobody has said otherwise, have they

 

[Boathook]

I'm with ee and coverage normally OK apart from Bucklers Hard (a few years back) and along parts of the Dorset coast. I have found in the past that the maps showing coverage can be optimistic. My phone has picked up signals around 12 miles offshore in some areas but I suspect that conditions were ideal.

 

[Alfie168]

Near Holyhead the O2 Network neatly connects you into a phone mast in the Irish Republic......or it used to as it happened to me a couple of times. Lets not go too far into EU roaming and a certain event which could 'enhance' your call costs as a result.

 

[James_Calvert]

You won't get a signal near high cliffs that interrupt line of sight. Likewise some inlets have patchy results.

All depends...

 

[Prologica1]

Thanks All,
I'm aware of the coverage maps but know from local experience they tend to be optimistic, and that marine coverage is not their priority. Good to hear confirmation of Three's coverage on the south coast.

Regards P

 

[LittleSister]

Does no one go sailing to get away from it all any more?

 

[mil1194]

Come to Norfolk and Suffolk and sail round the broads... Technically much of it is coast, as by river for instance the Bure is still tidal for about 20 miles up river..
We have black holes everywhere on the rivers.. Even at my house on a Norfolk Mountain at 19ft ASL, You won't get a signal unless you stand by a south facing upstairs window..
I suspect that large areas of mountainous Wales, the Scottish highlands and Islands have huge holes in coverage..

You are correct about the Welsh ones. You don't even have to be in a mountainous area. I live in Mumbles and there is no phone signal within about 75yards of the house on any network. Ironically when we're out on the water - ranging from Porthcawl to Port Eynon we have full coverage on a range of networks. 3 has worked best for us.

 

[The Q]

Does no one go sailing to get away from it all any more?

yep I do , I don't have a mobile phone now, and never took it sailing anyway, even though to get rid of the black hole, they put a mobile transmitter on the back of the club starters box!!

 

[Bru]

The Ofcome coverage map is useless. It's either hopelessly out of date or hoplessly pessimistic or both

According to it, I have no Three coverage at home or at the boat. It also indicates numerous dead zones on my usual route from home to boat. At home I have a usable 2 to 3 bar 3G signal and at the boat I have a strong 4G signal! Travelling between the two I know of no dead zones at all (I have streamed music from Spotify from start to finish without any problems on mumerous occasions. That's streaming not downloaded for clarity)

And during my pre-Covid UK travels as a courier, I very rarely lost the Three signal even in some very out of the way places. I also rarely lost the Vodafone network on the back up phone

My empirical experience is that coverage is rather better than the networks predict and considerably better than Ofcom predict

At sea around the South and East Coasts (as far as North Norfolk), I almost invariably have a usable Three data signal up to at least 10 miles offshore. I also once inadvertently roamed onto the French mobile network whilst sitting on a bench within the environs of Dover Castle! (I have a witness to that!!)

 

[Prologica1]

Does no one go sailing to get away from it all any more?

Absolutely! But I do want to check forecasts, check pilotage, the odd free AIS check and call to book a marina berth (a big problem last summer), and the odd update to family if I'm on an overnighter.

 

[Prologica1]

. I also once inadvertently roamed onto the French mobile network whilst sitting on a bench within the environs of Dover Castle! (I have a witness to that!!)

I can vouch for that. My son moved to Folkestone and at various points along the coast, even at low levels, I get a "Welcome to France" type roaming message!

 

[TSB240]

Absolutely! But I do want to check forecasts, check pilotage, the odd free AIS check and call to book a marina berth (a big problem last summer), and the odd update to family if I'm on an overnighter.

You are a Darwin Award contestant if you use "the odd free ais check" on a mobile for anything other than playtime or historical movements.

Please don't rely on it to give you any sensible current information.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

There are places where the mobile signal is better at sea than on land. The Eastern side of the Clyde is one - the signal along the coast between Cloch Light and Largs is awful onshore, with many dead or very low signal spots (Kip Marina used to be especially bad!), but as soon as you got out into the Clyde, the signal was fine. That's because the configuration of the shore, while interesting to a geologist, is not conducive to a good signal along the coastal strip, being a broad wave-cut platform backed by a steep slope or even cliffs that have been uplifted by isostatic rebound. Signals along the coast are often blocked by the rise at the back of the wave-cut platform, and the majority of settlements are on the wave-cut platform.