“Try before you buy” your mobile phones says Ofcom

Ofcom, the UK communication industries regulator has called for a new “try before you buy” policy to help mobile phone users get proper coverage. The consumer panel of  Ofcom conducted a survey of over 1700 mobile phone users in the UK and found that more than half of them faced problems with  mobile reception. It was also found that  this experience was regular with one third of the respondents and that 91% of small businesses also had problems with coverage mainly due to the lack of  accurate coverage information.

To meet this problem, chairwoman of the panel,  Anna Bradley said that providers can offer a  a ‘try before you buy’ clause to customers that will let them use the phone and give it back it they didn’t get coverage. The panel found that the most common problem that mobile phone users faced was ‘not spots’ where there was completely no reception whatsoever. The survey indicated that 36% of  users faced the problem of ‘not spots’ with 18% of the cases being regular. 20% of users experienced poor sound quality and late delivery of text messages.

Anna Bradley also added that mobile coverage is ‘ hugely important’ for consumers as well as small businesses and that while more and more new mobile phone services are being introduced, several users are having problems with something as basic as making a voice call.

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