I was in rural Uganda during my husband’s birthday so I stood by Lake Victoria and sent him a text. He didn’t receive it for hours: not because I was in sub-Saharan Africa, but because he was visiting his parents in Cornwall.
For those of us who live in cities, it’s easy to forget how patchy Britain’s mobile phone and internet coverage can be. The regulator, Ofcom, says there are 1m “forgotten homes” that have broadband speeds of less than 10Mb per second. That means residents struggle to download films, stream music and use video-calling services. Britain might be the sixth biggest economy in the world, but it’s only 31st in terms of broadband speed.
The story is the same with mobile coverage: many “digital deserts” exist, where 4G connections are not available. And these don’t have to be rural. I looked up my parents’ address in suburban Worcester on the Ofcom website and got an “amber triangle” — indicating problems with coverage — for voice and data. (Try it yourself at checker.ofcom.org.uk.)
After persistent lobbying from MPs — and a lack of swift action by phone companies — the government is acting. Homes and businesses will gain the legal right to fast broadband by 2020 after BT’s offer to improve on its own timetable was rejected.
In the meantime, here are a few tips. Use the Ofcom checker to see if another mobile provider would be better; if none is, switch to wi-fi calling, using FaceTime Audio, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or Skype from your phone. To improve your wi-fi signal, give your router space in the middle of your house, off the floor, and keep the area around it free of other electronics. Special “mesh routers” can help boost the signal around the house, although these are often expensive — BT’s Whole Home three-disc wi-fi pack costs from £189.
Advertisement
In rural areas, satellite broadband is an option — though there is often a hefty installation cost, and the “lag” caused by pinging the signal into the sky and back can be annoying.
Or, you know, move to rural Uganda.
Helen Lewis is deputy editor of the New Statesman
@helenlewis
Don’t panic: your problems solved
My iPhone’s dial pad works for tapping in a number, but once connected, it won’t respond — so I can’t, for example, press the “#” key when asked. Can I fix it?
ED, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Advertisement
The dial pad consists of virtual buttons, so your phone must be disabling the touchscreen during a call. This software glitch can be cured with a simple restart: hold down the power button and follow the prompts. If that doesn’t work, force the phone to “clean house” by rebooting: hold down the power and home buttons together. Last resort is to make a full backup on a computer and reset the phone to its factory default, then restore the saved data from the computer.
Matt Bingham
Email your tech queries to dontpanic@sunday-times.co.uk
Apps to save your life
“The Tinder for …”
BABYNAME
Free, Android, Apple
The power of Tinder — swipe right for like — works with more than just dating. Baby names, say: a couple install the app and swipe to produce mutually agreed possibles from a list of 30,000 originals.
STYLECT
Free, Android, Apple
Or shoes. There’s a huge selection of women’s styles here: swipe to comb through them, helped by filters such as price and colour. Narrowed down your search? Click links to buy, often with a discount.
Advertisement
RIPPLE — PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
Free, Android, Apple
Or execs. Create a business profile, share it and then swipe left or right on other users to build up contacts. Flashy but new, so profiles are thin on the ground. MB
Test Bench
Alexa without Amazon
BEST FOR MULTIROOM
Sonos One £199
The wi-fi speakers here aren’t made by Amazon but can be voice-controlled using its AI, Alexa, and their own apps. The One is a sonic step up from Amazon’s Echo speaker, and can stream Spotify and fit into a Sonos multiroom system.
sonos.com
BEST FOR PORTABILITY
UE Megablast £270
As well as landing a terrific audio punch, the battery-packing Megablast is waterproof, offers mains and wireless charging and, unlike the One, connects over Bluetooth (although you’ll lose Alexa). Spotify support is promised soon. MB
ultimateears.com