Ofcom has identified ‘good coverage’ for mobile phone calls and texts in Chelsea & Fulham.
On 18 November, Ms Sharon White, Chief Executive of Ofcom (the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries), wrote to Member of Parliament for Chelsea & Fulham, Greg Hands, to explain the expected mobile phone coverage for his constituency.
Ofcom’s online Mobile Coverage Checker helps consumers check the expected mobile phone coverage for anywhere in the UK. Using data from the UK’s four mobile phone network providers, Ofcom’s interactive map shows the predicted level of coverage both for indoors and outdoors, as well as for voice calls, 3G, and 4G data connections. Ofcom’s online checker has proved to be a very popular tool both for consumers and for businesses, with over 286,710 people using the maps since their launch in August this year, and with about 1,500 people using the checker every day.
As per the following diagram, Ofcom predicts good coverage for calls and texts in Chelsea & Fulham.
However, Ofcom is keen to receive ongoing feedback from local residents in an effort to improve their maps, and to check that the maps match what local residents actually experience. 4,000 people have submitted responses so far, and as a result of this feedback Ofcom is able to update its maps monthly and carry out their own testing to validate the coverage of data from mobile phone networks. Ofcom plans to develop this tool further and will be rolling out improvements in 2016.
Later this year, Ofcom will launch a mobile app, which will allow people to test their smartphones’ and tablets’ Wi-Fi connections. Indeed, Ofcom estimates that consumers’ home broadband experiences may not be working as well as they could in about a fifth of UK homes. Accordingly, the new app should help identify if someone’s broadband isn’t performing as it should be, and it will suggest simple trouble-shooting tips to help address the problem.
Speaking in response to Ofcom’s announcement, Member of Parliament for Chelsea & Fulham, Greg Hands, said: “It’s really good news for my constituents that there is good mobile phone coverage right across Chelsea & Fulham, and indeed as we have all come to expect. I am also pleased to see that WI-FI access has now been rolled out to all London Underground and Overground stations across my constituency, with Fulham Broadway now covered.
“However, if you own experience of mobile phone coverage disagrees with what Ofcom has announced, please don’t hesitate to contact them as requested.”
To provide your feedback on mobile coverage, please visit https://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/webflow/mobile-coverage/ or contact Greg’s office at handsg@parliament.uk or on 020 7219 5448.