Mobile was ‘nothing more than a paperweight’ as Selsey Vodafone woes continue

Earlier this week the company apologised to customers, saying recent problems were down to a local mast undergoing planned work.

However, many people contacted the Observer to complain about the network and to say this was not a recent problem.

“It’s just ridiculous,” said Chichester resident Hannah Boyns, who works at Selsey-based firm Checkatrade.com. “There seems to be one mast and they say it’s planned work. I’m thinking how much work does one mast need?

“It’s just one of those things – if I lose you it’s because I’m on my mobile in Selsey.

“It seems to be Vodafone and O2 that are most affected.”

She added: “The problem is that the signal is down and the phone is constantly looking for a signal. If you don’t take a charger you’ve got no battery left by the end of the day – it saps your battery.

“It’s quite a common problem and I’ve claimed money back before from Vodafone, which has proved difficult to say the least.”

Meanwhile, Sherree Byrne got in touch to say her phone had been ‘nothing more than a paperweight’ this week

“I am also a Vodafone customer and have had no reception all this week,” she said. “It’s completely crazy, I pay a lot of money a month for a contract to then get no signal for three days.

“No word from the company about a mast being fixed, they just keep us guessing.

“So far this week my phone has been nothing more then a paper weight.”

Vodafone

Vodafone did respond earlier this week to an initial request for information.

The company said on October 14: “We’re sorry some of our customers in Selsey have experienced signal issues this week. A local mast is undergoing some planned work but we should have the site up and running as normal early this evening.”

However after several people contacted the Observer to say this was not a new problem, the Observer requested further information from Vodafone but is still awaiting a response.

O2 has also been contacted after people said they also experienced problems with the network.

Customers

Other Vodafone customers also contacted the Observer.

Corrinna Bentley

“My husband and I have been with Vodafone for years. The current signal problem is nothing new.

“We regularly have connection issues but it has been awful in the last few weeks. If we weren’t on contract we would seriously consider changing networks. We used to think it was because we are so remote. Here’s hoping this report will make Vodafone do something.”

Lynn Strange

“I’m writing to say that it is not the last couple of weeks there been problems with signal, it is more like the last couple of years. It is terrible in Selsey you can’t make calls or send messages. It shows on your phone ‘sorry no coverage please try again later’.

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