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back to article David Cameron 'guarantees' action on mobe not-spots. Honest

It’s election time, so all the party leaders are promising everything to everyone. The latest one from David Cameron is good mobile phone coverage. According to Mobile News, Cameron told a meeting of chartered accountants: “These things aren’t discussed in some dusty corner of a business park. They are discussed round the …

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  1. Elmer Phud

    Maps

    "“We want better quality information on mobile coverage made available to consumers, so that they can make an informed choice. That's why each MNO has agreed it will also provide data to Ofcom to enable it to publish an interactive online map, which will allow consumers to check where coverage is available and report to Ofcom areas of poor coverage. We want to focus on the quality of consumer experience and are keen to see Ofcom press ahead with this work.”"

    I thought the MNO's already have coverage maps.

    Usual 'bung in yer postcode' sort of thing.

    Look at maps - informed choice.

    1 2 Reply
    1. theModge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Maps

      Indeed. It'd be good to see a non-fiction version though, the operator provided ones seem to be a figment of their imagination.

      7 1 Reply
    2. AlbertH
      Reply Icon

      Re: Maps

      Look at maps - informed choice.

      Sadly, no. The MNOs have their own bizarre interpretation of what "coverage" actually is. The stupidity of the educators doesn't help, either:

      "You can't put a mobile aerial on the roof of our school / community centre / block of flats because of the damage to health / headaches / sterility / other malaise that it will cause". These clueless morons have never heard of the inverse-square law and don't realise that holding their mobes to their lobes is going to irradiate them many thousand times more strongly than the antenna some tens of metres away through a few walls.....

      Our local coverage was crippled by one stupid woman in a nearby block of flats complaining of headaches "caused" by the mobe repeater on her rooftop (eight floors above, incidentally). The MNO left the base in place, and she was unable to tell that it had been switched back on for over a week - until she found that her phone actually worked again: she then mysteriously developed the "headaches" again....

      Similarly, a local school refused to have wi-fi installed because of the "damage" it would do to the poor little darlings in their care!

      4 1 Reply
      1. John H Woods Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Maps

        " These clueless morons have never heard of the inverse-square law and don't realise that holding their mobes to their lobes is going to irradiate them many thousand times more strongly than the antenna some tens of metres away through a few walls....." --- AlbertH

        It's even worse than that ... by insisting there are no local masts, they cause phones to operate at much higher power levels: if you want to protect your kids you should insist there are masts on the school roof.

        5 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Maps

          planning and morons go hand in hand. We've seen it with mobile masts (want a better signal but don't want the masts) we have it down here (Sunny Cornwall) with wind turbines and solar farms. gets on my fecking nerves, and 99 times out of 100 the ones doing the moaning are old duffers who'll be dead by the time any large wind or solar farm are built!

          0 0 Reply
    3. Corin
      Reply Icon

      Re: Maps

      Except the plan is to improve coverage of landmass in general - I don't only want the phone to work at my home or workplace, but on the bits in between...

      1 0 Reply
    4. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Maps

      Why anyone would take a British election promise seriously is beyond me. They make the Americans look honest.

      1 0 Reply
  2. Graham Marsden
    Facepalm

    "You may be driving along an A-road and suddenly you lose your signal"

    I hope, David, you mean "You may be in a car with someone else driving and suddenly lose your signal".

    If not, PUT THE FUCKING PHONE DOWN AND CONCENTRATE ON THE ROAD!!!

    20 1 Reply
    1. Martin Summers Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: "You may be driving along an A-road and suddenly you lose your signal"

      I was going to try and defend him by saying he more than likely was referring to people using headsets. But you're absolutely right. Being deeply involved in a sales call or any call for that matter whilst driving is stupid, headset or not. The amount of utter wankers I see driving with their actual phone clasped to their head recently is unbelievable, unfortunately tends to be independent tradesmen in their transits. Business or a sale is not more important than someone's life.

      8 1 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    I think he's been told by that Crosby chap to be a little more passionate and excitable. In the last couple of days, he's said he gets 'Pumped Up' and now, after his pumping up, he's 'Banging on the Cabinet Table'. You have to feel sorry for Samantha really.

    5 1 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Coverage? Lower prices please, or at least make them all pay their tax

    Next month O2 is bumping up PAYG call costs by ~16%, texts by ~15% and voicemail calls by 50%.

    It appears they're trying to push more people into regular monthly payments as they've heavily increased the benefits of their PAYG £xx/month tariffs.

    http://www.o2.co.uk/pricing?g=E

    1 0 Reply
  5. s. pam Silver badge
    Megaphone

    How about making them pay their £9 Billion in taxes due too Dave-O?

    I honestly gave up 10 years ago thinking we would ever be as advanced as India for mobile telephony here in the 4th world.

    Damnit make the Mobile providers pay their taxes Dave and the government can give the coverage for free!

    3 3 Reply
  6. Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face

    The call of political parties everywhere...

    "We will clear the deficit AND "invest" more in public services AND give you all a free Unicorn."

    Vote for us.

    7 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The call of political parties everywhere...

      "Vote for us."

      Well at least the conclusion is known. I offer you not a prediction, nay even a forecast, bow down as I TELL YE THE TRUTH BEFORE IT HAPPENS:

      On May the 8th, a smug, unattractive, gormless, talent free, rubber faced liar will become the next prime minister. Upon crossing the threshold of Downing Street to soil it with their presence, they will immediately forget all the vague half promises they made in the campaign, and proceed with the same pompous charlatantry of the current and previous showers, whilst sticking their fingers in their ears over anything the wider population care about. You didn't believe promises about mobile phone coverage, and you don't believe that any of them will resolve the deficit, get immigration under control, etc etc so you won't be disappointed.

      3 0 Reply
      1. Vic
        Reply Icon

        Re: The call of political parties everywhere...

        I TELL YE THE TRUTH BEFORE IT HAPPENS

        Man, you are clairvoyant. I am truly humbled...

        Vic.

        0 0 Reply
  7. DocYogi

    Personal reasons?

    Considering that the PM's constituency of Witney has some of the poorest broadband in the Cotswolds perhaps he has a vested personal interest in having it improved? Witney itself was widely trumpeted to have had 4G connectivity recently but it doesn't extend far.

    0 0 Reply
  8. David_H
    Holmes

    It has to happen...

    ... because they (all sides I believe) are planning to turn off the TETRA network used by the emergency services and go over to 4G coverage.

    I can just image the talk in the den of the educated criminals. "There's no mobile coverage in this village, so we can do as much damage as we like and hide when the Rozzers eventually turn up. They won't be able to talk to each other as there's no phone coverage, so they won't be able to search properly, or talk to base to get the helicopter, and we'll be able to slip away undiscovered. Perhaps we can light a few fires as well and injure a few people with impunity. All we have to do is cut the dangly telephone wire out of the village."

    0 0 Reply

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