It is partly down to inept politicians and the concessions they dictated to the mobile networks. In Norway, they demanded the networks cover 97% of the geograp

It is partly down to inept politicians and the concessions they dictated to the mobile networks. In Norway, they demanded the networks cover 97% of the geographic areas. It's why you might get 3G or even 4G in the middle of nowhere, on top of a mountain, wherever you might drive. However, in the UK the inept politicians demanded 97% of the population, not geographically. So all the UK networks just built perfect coverage for all the cities and towns, and could mostly ignore everywhere else. Which means even in the populous South East England whenever I drive slightly outside my town towards one of the bigger cities 20-30 minutes away I can not have a conversation in my car as the connection is always lost. Nor on the train into London. And also must be a nightmare for the small villages that fall outside the 97%. (On the plus side whenever we go to the country pubs around here, I can not be reached, and noone can look at the phone during dinner...)