Mobile cover in Scotland

m janes
m janes Forum Participant Posts: 1
edited November 2017 in UK Campsites & Touring #1

Hi, my husband and I are planning to tour the east coast of Scotland next year. We frequently visit out of the way sites for steam fairs etc in the south of England and I've found mobile coverage is usually poor to non-existent. I bought a Huawei Mifi a couple of years back to try to overcome this but tbh the mobile phone worked as well or better, so that was a waste of money! I'd like advice on what coverage to expect while travelling through the Highlands (we aren't doing the islands this time), and if there is anything I can do to boost whatever signal we can get. At present we are with GiffGaff who use the 02 network. TIA.

Comments

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,152 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2017 #2

    It’s a rugged rural area and coverage is pretty much as you'd expect in such terrain.

    I use O2 and have obtained a signal in the vast majority of places in northern Scotland and even Orkney and Shetland. However, away from built up areas you might only pick up GPRS, or just a basic phone signal.

    The various mifi units pick up a phone signal and convert that signal into Wi-fi to form a personal hotspot. They don't generally boost the signal as far as I’m aware. Signal boosters are available but pricey and of dubious worth.

    You can also get Wi-fi boosters but unless you pick up a Wi-fi signal, such as site Wi-fi or a BT hotspot, they will have little practical application.

    In some places I have had sufficient signal to tether my Pad to the phone but in others only been able to send text. It’s pretty much pot luck and even a good signal can vanish in bad weather. Hope for the best but don’t expect miracles is my advice.

     

     

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,647 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2017 #3

    We toured in the past up there and had mixed signal response with 3 mobile. We've managed to get a response from out 3 MiFi where there's none on the phone. I agree with TW.....don't expect to get a signal everywhere, just accept what you get.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited November 2017 #4

    We use giffgaff and it works well in Scotland. In fact it works well all over the UK. You should be OK with your set up. We have a Huawei too but rarely use it now.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited November 2017 #6

    If you need to check coverage anywhere in the UK this Ofcom website is useful. See here LINK

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited November 2017 #7

    Hi

    Hopefully you find this useful we live in Scotland and mainly tour in Scotland, All our devices are EE the following sites have the following EE coverage.

    We have not used EE for internet but have found the phone coverage pretty good with them in much of Scotland.

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