Nearly 4,561 Miles of British Roads Have NO 2G Mobile Network Coverage

A new study from the RAC Foundation has revealed that almost 4,600 miles of British roads, about 2% the length of Britain’s entire road network, are not covered by any mobile phone network and this includes some big stretches of key roads (e.g. the A93 in Scotland and A149 in East Anglia).

On top of that some 28,975 miles of road (12%) were also found to only have partial 2G (voice and texts) coverage, meaning there are many stretches where some but not all phones will receive a signal depending upon the network operator (Three UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE).

Top 10 Local Authority Areas for Most Miles of Zero Mobile Cover
1) Highland (452 miles of road with no coverage)
2) Powys (437 miles)
3) Argyll & Bute (293 miles)
4) Cumbria (252 miles)
5) Devon (243 miles)
6) Dumfries & Galloway (237 miles)
7) North Yorkshire (231 miles)
8) Scottish Borders (226 miles)
9) Gwynedd (172 miles)
10) Ceredigion (156 miles)

As you’d expect the situation is worse for the more modern 3G and 4G mobile data centric technologies, although it should be said that 4G services are still being rolled out across the United Kingdom and so those figures should improve over the next year or two.

In fairness the RAC Foundation also based their analysis on official Ofcom data, although they don’t say how old the information is and this is important because the regulator’s published data often runs a year or so behind the present-day situation.

Never the less the RAC’s point is that it’s possible to make an emergency call on roads with full or partial coverage, but obviously if there’s no network cover from any provider then you could be in serious trouble; especially if it’s on a remote and rarely used stretch of road.

Steve Gooding, Director of the RAC Foundation, said:

“Most of us like to think we are always just a mobile phone call away from help but even in a crowded, high-tech country like Britain the reality is somewhat different.

Our work shows there are thousands of miles of road along which you would not want to break down or have an accident because calling the RAC, the emergency services or even home wouldn’t be an option. Even where there is partial network coverage it might not be from your network provider.

And it’s not just in emergencies that we rely on our mobiles. Increasingly we drivers depend on our smart phones for everything from telling us how to get from A to B, to what the weather is going be, to where the congestion is. Yet both 3G and 4G coverage is still patchy in many areas and the chance of downloading data when we need it can often be slim.”

At this point we suspect that the Government would point out that 4G services are being expanded to around 98-99% of the population over the next couple of years and they’ve also signed a £5bn agreement (much of that probably relates to the existing 4G roll-out) with the mobile network operators to expand geographic (landmass) coverage to 90% by 2017 (here).

Mind you the £5bn deal is still being hindered by concerns over tall masts, rental / access fees for infrastructure on private land and the cost of spectrum licences. Suffice to say that it’s not yet clear whether the 2017 target will be met and even then it won’t reach 100% of the United Kingdom, thus some roads will probably never receive full coverage.

Tip of the day – Try not to crash in a mobile notspot area and if you do then kindly try your best not to get seriously injured. Granted this may be easier said than done. On the upside if your car catches fire then you can at least rely on smoke signals, until it blows up and assuming you’re not stuck inside.