UK’s worst locations for phone signal revealed

Every UK resident has experienced the frustration of trying to make a call or send a text, only to be taunted by weak or non-existent phone signal. “My only option for getting signal was walking up the nearest hill and flailing my arm around”, says Olivia Lott, a local from Devon, one of the worst locations revealed.

Using data from the UK’s official communications regulator Ofcom, Nomad has identified the country’s worst locations for mobile service. The methodology can be found at the end of this article.

Locations in Devon and Staffordshire Have the Worst Signal in the UK

EX16 9JT in East Anstey, WS15 2UQ in Rugeley, and SK11 0QX in Rushton Spencer have been crowned the worst locations for mobile signal in the UK.

Rugeley and Rushton Spencer are both located in Staffordshire, making it one of the two most unreliable regions for mobile coverage in the UK, along with Devon.

The tests run showed that there was neither voice nor data signal in these 3 areas from any of the four phone operators; EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone.

Locations in Kent, East Sussex and Lincolnshire are Second Worst Locations for Phone Signal

Higham [BB12 9BW] in Kent, Mayfield [TN20 6BW] in East Sussex, Hubbert's Bridge [PE20 3QR] in Lincolnshire are joint second worst locations for mobile signal in the UK, offering just a hint of connectivity to keep locals on their toes.

Only Vodafone users in Hubbert's Bridge [PE20 3QR] have limited voice signal, while residents using EE, O2 and Three remain completely disconnected.

In Higham [BB12 9BW], Mayfield [TN20 6BW], and Luppitt [EX14 4SR], O2 is the way to go to enjoy some limited voice signal, while the other phone operators offer none.

Aisholt, Somerset is Third Worst Location Phone Signal in the UK

Aisholt [TA5 1AR] in Somerset is the third most unreliable location for phone service in the UK. Residents of the area who have opted for EE as a provider made the right decision – it offers limited voice and data signal, unlike its competitors; O2, Three and Vodafone which don’t provide any service in that area.

Methodology

In order to show which locations in the UK have the worst mobile phone signal, Nomad scraped data from the UK’s official communications regulator, Ofcom, using their mobile and broadband checker which predicts the availability of mobile services.

Analysing both voice and data service, the tool provided estimates of signal availability in specific locations across the 4 main UK network providers; EE, Three, O2 & Vodafone. Each location and network signal was then given a label as “likely”, “limited” or “none”.