Mobile Phone Coverage

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Kenton Kestrel
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Mobile Phone Coverage

Post by Kenton Kestrel »

Out of personal choice I tend to walk / letterbox on the moor alone.

For safety sake I always carry my trusty O2 mobile phone which I of course can use in the case of an emergency.

However, I am fast coming to the conclusion that I may as well be carrying two tin cans and a very long ball of string! I certainly would have a greater chance of speaking to someone at the other end.

Can someone please tell me the network(s) that work better on the various areas moor before I am forced to set out to buy the string.
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Sowerby Streaker
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Post by Sowerby Streaker »

Sadly I have found the same, but as I too walk on my own, I carry 3 fully charged phones - one on Vodaphone, one on O2 and one on Orange (Orange works well North moors). I also carry a spare sim card on T Mobile. My vodaphone one is on a contract, but the other 3 are PAYG in cheap £9.99 phones. Best to carry them all to be on the safe side. Of course if you fall in a valleywith no signal then ...... :cry: :cry:
The Wandering Artist
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Mobile Phone Coverage

Post by The Wandering Artist »

Ever since I had my accident I have posed this coverage question to most of the phone sellers and not yet received a definitive answer or guarentee that 'their' phones will do the job.
I was told that there is a way on the internet to distiguish the coverage areas by most phone companies but had no luck to date.
I will await the resposes in eager anticipation - more so as I want a more modern phone now.
Dartymoor
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Post by Dartymoor »

The general view of about five years ago, when I had some links to the industry, were that o2 had about the best coverage throughout the uk.

But on Dartmoor there are, and probably always will be, very lage areas uncovered by any mobile signal because, well, there ain't no masts nor enough population to warrant them. (And people like me would probably object if they did start planting them everywhere!)

Satphones are falling in price all the time - a quick google shows you can get one, with a package, for under 550 american dollars (a search on a uk site shows them at around £700) and while it is much bigger than a mobile, possibly smaller than three mobiles?

Personally, and you may well put these words on my gravestone, part of Dartmoor's appeal is that it's still dangerous at times. Most of my life is cossetted and protected by legislation and cotton wool and to get out on the moor where there are real risks without signing and guarding and hazard tape is a refreshing change - and I'm not even an adrenaline junkie!

But... I do carry a phone because, well, I'm not an idiot :)
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Post by Nik - KOTM »

I am on Virgin, and generally not had many problems with connectivity on the moors, and recently Virgin also connects to the Orange network. Ironically it was the lack of Orange coverage in the southwest that prompted me to move Virgin
But having said all that all todays phones should connect 999 call to any available network.
Having said all that - there are spots on the moor that has no coverage, but moving around a bit by a few feet can get a signal
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reg the bullmastiff
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Post by reg the bullmastiff »

I have/use a dog with a barrel of brandy around his neck, and just in case it all goes COMPLETELY PETE TONG a revolver with two rounds in it! (sorry Reg your coming with me!)
Best thing about the moor?...... no signal SO nobody can tell you to rush home coz the kitchen tap has started to drip etc.
Best advice/ TAKE CARE (FAILING TO PRE-PAIR is PRE-PAIRING TO FAIL?)
:D I am with you Dartymoor lets live a little? :wink:
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Post by foxy »

3 mobile phones?
You must be the walkers I run past with the huge rucsacs and the bad knees 8)
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Post by Sowerby Streaker »

foxy wrote:3 mobile phones?
You must be the walkers I run past with the huge rucsacs and the bad knees 8)
:wink: Not so, they are tiny cheapo ones - 2.1/2" x 1.1/2", lighter than your average GPS. BTW I don't have them switched on, so as you say Reg, peace and quiet and no iritating phone calls. Emergency use only - oh and when I get back to the car, ring home to say I am safely off the moor.

Foxy, do you still have one of those 'brick' phones then :lol:
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Post by foxy »

Nope. It won't fit in my bum bag once I've got a banana and my windproof in there.
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Post by Kenton Kestrel »

Whilst I agree totally about the appeal of the moor, taking care and preparing thoroughly before setting out, accidents do happen and by their very nature they tend to be unforeseen.

In those circumstances I would like to think that, if I was in a position to do so, I could summon help either for myself or someone else or even report the finding a man with an empty revolver together with a large hound with a barrel of brandy around it's neck. Like the SS I also like to try to phone home when I come off the moor.

If you don't want to be contacted whilst on the moor keep your phone turned off. Having it with you though is surely a sensible precaution and an attempt to minimise the risk when walking alone.

Before I invest in my large ball of string I would still like to hear your experiences of mobile phone networks that work better in the NSWE and middle of the moor.
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Post by reg the bullmastiff »

If I WAS to empty the revolver I would empty the barrel FIRST! Hic.
Still have me phone turned off though.

:wink:
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Post by Nik - KOTM »

Sense prevails eh?
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Kenton Kestrel
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Post by Kenton Kestrel »

Damn I was looking forward to that brandy.
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Post by Sowerby Streaker »

:lol: Best carry 2 bottles then Reg just in case the pair of you meet up in and fall in a hole :? .

As an exercise, next time I go out will test all sims - next trip probably up to Ter Hill, then have to go along the Ring road up Okehampton. Another test on the GSD walk Great Links, Ryders Hill etc...

Perhaps others could do the same when they go to a different area and post their findings to help others.
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Post by Colin »

Sowerby Streaker wrote:
Perhaps others could do the same when they go to a different area and post their findings to help others.
I think that would be a really good idea, I will do the same, only have a vodafone phone though. If enough people did it I think it would be simple enough to bulid a map with the coverage for each mobile service provider for each each grid square.
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