The cost of Shropshire's mobile phone signal

If you ever need to know the value of a mobile phone, ask a self-employed tradesman.

Blind spots across Shropshire aren't just an inconvenience, they costs hard cash as potential appointments fail to get through.

And, there is also the frustration of poor mobile internet coverage that comes with a patchy 3G signal.

Paul Barnes, 38, is an electrician who runs his own business, Paul Barnes Electrical, in Norbury, Bishop's Castle.

He is on Orange, on the EE network, and said phone coverage had actually got noticeably worse over the past year.

"There's a total lack of coverage coverage and 3G signal in south Shropshire," he said.

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Mr Barnes is signing the Shropshire Star's Get Us Connected petition and urged the whole county to get behind it to ensure our region is on a level playing field to other parts of the country.

He added: "Being an electrician I move about all the time and I often need to check emails or research something.

"Now I'm on a job in Leintwardine, I need to be on the internet to research a heating problem - which I should be able to do on the phone, because that's what they sold me - but I can't get on."

Thankfully, he said, he could get a phone signal, so called a plumber colleague who had to go on the internet for him.

He said there was simply no point upgrading to the latest phone technology with service so poor.

"EE are promising everything, everywhere, and there's nothing, nowhere.

"Last night I had a phone call from them offering me a deal on 4G phones, and I had to tell them I'm actually talking to the paper about poor signal."

He said the situation was also damaging to his business.

"With any emergency work, if someone tries to phone me and they can't get through, they'll phone another electrician.

"It's not just that one job you miss out on, because you go from little acorns to big trees - a small call-out can lead to bigger jobs from that customer, so you miss out on that too.

"And word will go around that 'this electrician isn't reliable because he can't answer his phone'."

He said following complaints EE had reinstated a mast that had been taken away, but it didn't seem to have solved the problem.

"Service is still not as good as it used to be," he said.

"A lot of people in Bishop's Castle are complaining about the signal."

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