Situation update - as at April 2024

Finally some good news to report - as of mid April - Rodney received some positive news concerning the replacement of the Phone mast, indicating that it could be in place over the next couple of months.  This appears to have been further coroberated in discussions with contacts in Mr Huddleston's team.

We are seeking further confirmation of schedules 

HISTORY

Community - MASS COMPLAINT CAMPAIGN!
Replacement Phone Mast needed in our villages ...

Since the fire at the hay barn at Nightingale Farm over 3 years ago, which destroyed a Cellphone mast - much of Bishampton, Throckmorton and surrounding villages have been without any adequate cell phone service.

The mast was operated jointly by EE (owned by BT) and Three (Hutchinson Telecom).


Early communications with the operators revealed that they planned to replace the mast with a higher specification 5G mast.

After protracted delays planning permission for a replacement mast was sought and approved in late 2022 leading to hopes of a quick completion.


We know some households are managing  with "Voice over WiFi" services over their home broadband - but this is not available to everyone and not the service for which we are all paying.  Lack of reception also causes problems using many online services which use mobiles for authentication and of course potential difficulty reaching emergency services 


NOTE:

EE's network - also supports BT Mobile, PlusNet mobile, Lyca, 1p mobile and others

3's network - also supports  SMARTY mobile and iD mobile

Where are we now?

Almost 12 months after the planning approval - there is still no sign of progress with a new mast.

The landowners at the farm advise that they have had little recent contact from the operators and we have been unable to get any reassurances over timeframes from the operators.


Further investigation by residents, notably Rodney Hodgkins, has indicated both a lack of progress or indeed urgency on the part of the operators suggesting that without a significant body of complaints - our need may being out prioritised by other cases.

 

WE ARE ASKING FOR YOUR HELP!

If affected we are asking for your support in A MASS COMPLAINT about the long term lack of service for our community...   

IF YOUR SERVICE IS FROM EE (or services which use the EE network)

you can call 150 on your mobile phone or use the following link Make a complaint (ee.co.uk)


IF YOUR SERVICE IS FROM 3  (or services which use their Network)

you can call 333 or use the following link Complaints form (three.co.uk)


We recommend using the forms as these are automatically recorded!


WHAT TO SAY

You wish to make a formal complaint over the extremely poor signal quality re mast 98206 in Bishampton.
Points that people may wish to raise are that:-

  • Many of your important services eg banking require coverage for two factor authentication and you cannot receive messages at home
  • they are responsible for national emergency phone coverage and currently Bishampton and Throckmorton do not have reliable coverage.
  • Service has been inadequate since the mast at Nightingale Farm burnt down in December 2021
  • Planning permission for a replacement mast was granted in December 2022 but nothing further has been done. 



Rodney has also asked that people send copies of their complaints to:-

Claire Simpson, EE Executive Complaints on email address: customer.complaints@ee.co.uk quoting Reference Number: 21563774 stating that they have complained about the poor signal quality in Bishampton and urging EE to bring forward the replacement of the mast.

Please also cc Nigel Huddleston our local MP  - nigel.huddleston.mp@parliament.uk


Thank you!


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