Shropshire phone signal crisis fight begins

The Get Us Connected petition is launched today, with the aim of sending as strong a message as possible to both the Government and the mobile phone industry.

The petition is on the Shropshire Star website and takes just a few seconds to sign.

And you can also sign a paper version at libraries across Shropshire, or fill the form in our paper and send it in to us at Ketley.

• Click here to sign our 'Get Us Connected' petition

• See also: Shropshire Star launches petition over county's mobile phone signal crisis

• Star comment: Join Shropshire fight on mobile phone networks

• What's the mobile phone signal like where you are in Shropshire? Let us know in the comment box below.

The petition will be handed to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Sajid Javid, urging the Government to apply pressure on to the main phone networks – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – to tackle the crisis.

Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow is backing the Get Us Connected campaign and was today asking members of the authority at its full council meeting at Shirehall to jump on board.

Since we started our campaign last week, even more residents and businesses have been in touch to lend their backing and tell us their horror stories.

And phone networks have also responded, with EE promising to launch an investigation to find a permanent solution to the issue of poor reception.

Councillor Barrow said: "I am delighted the Shropshire Star has launched this petition.

"This is not a party political issue and I think this is something the council will unite behind and support.

"Since the first story went in last week, I have had a lot of emails particularly from businesses saying all power to your arm."

He added: "It is so important for business to get a reliable signal and the fact that everybody knew about it and felt strongly about it, this has given people a platform to unite together and take the fight to the mobile phone suppliers because we all pay the same fees.

"Some people have even contacted me saying they have two mobile phones on different networks, just so they can be covered in more places, which must add to the expense.

"I think we have already seen the mobile phone providers realise that they have got to do something."

Councillor Barrow said: "We had all complained before but I felt we were just being fobbed off – but I think now they can see we are serious and they can see we are united locally.

"On the flip side, if they get the problem sorted and tackle it properly, they could do themselves a lot of good – the first company to sort this will get a lot of benefit out of it."

He said he had already seen a change in the phone companies' attitudes and urged people to sign the petition.

He has made a paper version available in council libraries across the county and there will also be a link to it on the Shropshire Council website.

Councillor Barrow added: "The people who have contacted me and commented in the Shropshire Star are from all across the county and on all networks, showing it is not a localised issue.

"Fair enough if it was just me, on the one route I travel having issues, then tough but it is in the whole county that people are having problems.

"I want to say to people, please sign the petition. There is strength in numbers and the more people that sign, the better chance we have got of resolving it."

Earlier this month Councillor Barrow revealed he was writing to the chief executive of mobile phone company EE, Olaf Swantee, about the poor signal quality experienced by customers in many parts of Shropshire.

He took to twitter to express his frustration with the EE signal in his home town of Oswestry, saying: "I am seriously hacked off with EE mobile phone coverage in Shropshire, it's a disgrace!"

Then MP Owen Paterson waded in to the issue, saying the problem is damaging the Shropshire economy.

He said at the time: "In north Shropshire I cannot drive between my five market towns without losing a signal. It is appalling for people – it affects their social lives and businesses.

"It is also not good for health reasons, especially if someone has an accident."

Across the county, there are hundreds of stories about the effects the patchy mobile phone coverage has, especially in more remote rural areas.

Steve Lewis, 45, of Clungunford, is the son of fellow villager Hilary Marks, who had to drop volunteering for West Midland's Ambulance Service's community first responders because she was not receiving alerts.

He said: "We took a contract out with T-Mobile four years ago and we could get a signal and we did – and from that we put family members on the contract and the signal has completely gone.

"Since February we have not had a signal but they say they have done nothing to make it any different, but it has changed.

"We will look to switch from EE when the contract runs out. Vodafone seems to pick something up – it is not brilliant but all we want to do is make a phone call.

"We have asked for compensation – we can only use the phone when we go out of the area and we are paying more than £55 a month."

"We were all right, it would work OK on 2G inside and outside, but now it does not.

"The campaign is something we would support, but we hope they listen."

In Telford, Paige Shephard, 20, of Randlay, said: "I am on EE and it is not good inside, it is just very slow at loading anything online and I miss messages sometimes – then they all come back when I step outside.

"The centre of Telford is all right but it is when you go outside the centre you get bad reception."

Newport resident Ian Martin, 69, who travels to Welshpool from the town regularly, said he had no problems with calling or texting people in the town but his service got significantly worse driving around the county and towards Wales.

He said: "I am on Virgin Mobile, which uses EE's network, and I have no problems in Newport but I go to the Welshpool area and the signal at the Banwy Valley is pathetic, you get nothing at all."

EE also came in for criticism from business owner Saffron Rainey, 47, who runs Cafe Radio in Bailey Street, Oswestry. He said: "Since the end of last year EE's coverage has been incredibly intermittent, some days it works but one day last week there was no coverage at all for the whole day.

"I have been in contact with EE and sent a series of emails because it impacts us. You miss calls even though your phone has been on all the time and you have people saying 'I have been trying to get hold of you all afternoon', which is not good if you own a business.

"Customers say they have the same issues. One person said he was locked into a contract and he said service was not good so they let him out of it – which I suppose at least they are recognising there is a problem but it doesn't look as if they are fixing it.

"If you miss a call for business, that has an impact and mobile communication is essential and if in Oswestry you cannot get that people won't set businesses up here."

There are signs the campaign is already starting to have an effect.

Earlier this week, EE spokesman Howard Jones, said: "We sincerely apologise for the ongoing signal issues affecting customers in Shropshire.

"We have made a number of site visits over the last month and fixed technical faults but now we are focused on a full investigation into all sites in the area to ensure we can improve both phone call and mobile data quality."

He added: "We will be working closely with the Shropshire Star to keep the community updated as work progresses."

It is not just EE who have come under fire. Users have also reported similar issues with O2, Vodafone and Three.

O2 spokesman Sarah Taylor said the firm was investing £1.5 billion in its network over the next three years which would include modernising its 2G and 3G networks as well as continuing the rollout of 4G.

A Three spokesman said: "We continue to add new sites and more capacity to our network, which will improve rural coverage." He added Three was on track to bring 4G to Shrewsbury by the end of next year.

Jane Frapwell, Vodafone spokeswoman, said: "In rural and remote location, networks can struggle to deliver coverage via traditional means. This may be due to the geography of the area or difficulties with planning permission."

• Click here to sign our 'Get Us Connected' petition

• What's the mobile phone signal like where you are in Shropshire? Let us know in the comment box below.