Vodafone voted worst for rural calls.

Have you ever been in the middle of nowhere and attempted to make a phone call and realised you have no signal? Ofcom have reported Vodafone are the worst network for connecting rural calls. Networks such as EE, O2, Three and Vodafone were all compared on their performance. The research was measuring the quality of calls with coverage and the number of calls that failed to connect and unexpectedly cut off. Is it not apparent that one should be able to pick up their mobile phone and make a call regardless of whether they are in the heart of the city or if they are in the middle of nowhere; logic would dictate this would be the case. 

In the case of working in the city, 78% of people stated they were satisfied with their mobile network, while 33% of rural customers stated that they were unsatisfied with their service. Looking at these figures as a whole, these are quite worrying figures. In 2013, a study confirmed that 97% of EE phone calls were successfully connected in urban areas, along side a 93.7% successful connection rate in rural areas. On the other hand, 92.6% of Vodafone calls were successfully connected in urban areas, while they only had a 79.9% successful connection rate in rural areas. EE have stated that their successful connection rate is due to "investing hundreds of millions each year in expanding the reach of our network so that more people can make calls in more places". 

O2 were also successful in the report, with 95.3% successful connection rate in urban areas and 87.4% in rural areas. O2 released the statement of "we are pleased that we are the best network in urban areas across England and the UK, where the majority of our customers are." The report went on to say that "a fifth of people said they were experiencing blocked and dropped calls at least once a week, and this increased in rural areas". Should it not be apparant that the signal strength of the phone should remain, within reason, the same no matter where you are? EE's results are supporting this. 

To conclude, we really can see that EE's connection rate is soaring with success with their incredible results regarding the Ofcom report. Will we see a change in the way Vodafone are operating in order to boost signal strength and successful connection rate? We shall have to wait and see.... 

Regards

Millie Hebbard

Customer Service- Fivebars Mobile

Sources: 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=vodafone+vs+ee&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=KcPtU-faH-id0AXOu4DABQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg#q=ee+vs+vodafone&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=dfNwaOoOOMrWXM%253A%3BBnMrfylldAJxaM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcblcdn.co.uk%252Fimages%252Fguides%252Fee-vs-vodafone-mobile--l-289.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.cable.co.uk%252Fguides%252Fee-vs-vodafone-mobile%252F%3B300%3B300

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28758595