Business mobile coverage: checking signal where you work

Why coverage is the first thing to check

Headline coverage figures are usually quoted as a share of the population, but businesses do not only work where people live. Depots, industrial estates, farms, building sites, basements and steel-framed warehouses can all have very different signal from the postcode around them, and that signal can differ from one network to another.

The right network for your business is the one that works best in your locations: the offices, sites, customers' premises and routes your teams use every day. A network that is excellent in one town can be weaker on the industrial estate down the road, and the other way round.

Getting this right before you sign avoids a familiar business mobile problem: phones that look fine on a map but drop calls in the office.

How to check coverage properly

A good coverage check takes an afternoon and covers more than one postcode:

1. List every location that matters. Offices, depots, warehouses, regular customer sites, staff home addresses for home workers, and the routes field teams drive.
2. Use each network's own checker. EE Business, Three Business, O2 Business and Vodafone Business each publish a postcode coverage checker. Look at both outdoor and indoor predictions where shown, and at 4G, 5G and 5G Standalone separately.
3. Test on site. Take a phone on the network you are considering, or a borrowed SIM, and test calls and data indoors, in meeting rooms, in the warehouse and at the back of the building.
4. Test at different times. Signal and speed change through the day as masts get busier.
5. Ask your staff. People who work at a site already know where calls drop.
6. Check the network status page. Before blaming coverage for a sudden problem, check the network's status checker for local faults or maintenance.

Coverage checkers are predictions, and networks change their coverage over time. Recheck before you renew, and talk to us if a site has particular problems.

Why signal is weaker indoors

Mobile signal comes from outside, so anything between the mast and the phone weakens it. EE Business notes that building materials, steel structures and geography can all disrupt indoor reception. Common culprits are:

• Thick stone, brick or concrete walls
• Steel frames, metal cladding and foil-backed insulation
• Energy-efficient coated glass
• Basements, lower floors and the middle of large buildings
• Hills, valleys and tall buildings between the site and the nearest mast

This is why a site can show good coverage on a checker and still have dead spots inside. The fix is usually to bring the signal in, not to change network, although testing more than one network is worth doing first.

Fixes for weak signal indoors

There are several ways to improve calls and data indoors:

• Wi-Fi Calling. Phones make and receive calls and texts over your Wi-Fi instead of the mobile network. EE Business says all you need is a compatible phone connected to Wi-Fi, that the phone should switch to the mobile network if Wi-Fi drops during a call, and that it costs the same as normal calls and texts and uses no mobile data. It suggests using the mobile network instead if the Wi-Fi connection is below 1 Mbps.
• Indoor coverage solutions. Networks sell equipment that brings their signal indoors. EE Business, for example, lists a self-installed booster for smaller offices that uses outdoor signal, a managed service for medium-sized offices and tailor-made systems for larger buildings. Use equipment supplied or approved by your network rather than a booster bought online.
• Softphone apps. A cloud phone app on a phone or laptop makes business calls over Wi-Fi or data; see softphone apps on our cloud phone site.
• A different network for that site. Where one network is strong at a site and another is not, you can put that team on the stronger network. We supply EE Business and Three Business, and can also supply O2 Business and Vodafone Business, so you can mix networks.

EE Business notes that 999 calls can be made over Wi-Fi Calling and that it will try to send your location automatically, so make sure staff know where they are in case they need to give it.

For data at a site with weak indoor signal, a 5G business router with an external antenna placed where signal is strongest often works better than relying on phones.

Coverage beyond the mast: satellite-to-mobile

For people who work beyond normal mobile coverage, such as rural engineers, utilities, agriculture and outdoor events, satellite-to-mobile services are starting to fill the gaps.

O2 Business offers a satellite-to-mobile service for business. It kicks in automatically on compatible smartphones in areas its main mobile network does not reach, with no extra hardware or apps, for texting, messaging apps, maps, location sharing and weather. O2 Business says it performs best outdoors where you can see the sky, that some areas are not covered by the satellite, and that emergency calls are not supported over it; it publishes a map of the areas covered. Whether it is included depends on the plan. We can supply O2 Business; see O2 Business mobile phones and network.

Satellite messaging is a useful backstop for lone workers and remote sites, and works best as part of a lone-worker safety process.

3G is gone and 2G is next

The UK networks have switched off 3G to reuse the spectrum for 4G and 5G. Three has switched off its 3G network, and VMO2 says it switched off 3G before 2G to give customers more time to prepare.

2G is next. gov.uk says the UK operators will switch off their 2G networks between 2029 and 2033. Each network has set out its own plans:

• EE Business says it will begin switching off 2G from May 2029
• VMO2, the network behind O2 Business, says it plans to begin switching off 2G from 2029
• Vodafone Business customers: the 2G network they use is due to be switched off in spring 2030
• Three Business: Three does not support 2G, so devices need 4G, with 4G Calling (VoLTE) for calls

Modern phones are unaffected, but gov.uk and the networks point to equipment that can still rely on 2G, such as older phones, payment terminals, telecare, lift and fire alarms. Check alarms, card machines, door entry, trackers and telemetry now and plan any replacements; see business data SIMs. Make sure 4G calling (VoLTE) is switched on in phone settings, as gov.uk advises.

How we help

We can help you check coverage at every site and route that matters on the networks that suit you, test before you commit, and choose between Wi-Fi Calling, indoor coverage solutions, routers and a mix of networks. The networks publish their coverage, and we help you test it where you work.

For the networks themselves, read our guide to business mobile phone providers. Forever Group's main site also covers business mobile.

Contact us to talk about coverage for your business.