Mobile Phone Signal

[Guest]

Hi all I need your help once more. We have just moved settings and have found that we can not get a mobile signal whilst in our building. As you can imagine this has caused us endless problems. If anybody else is in a Community Centre and has problems like this how did you fix it? The Council refuse to put a land line in, (they say it would cost £10,000) despite telling my Ofsted inspector that there would be one.

 

thanks

Debbie

[hali]

oww not good - talk to your Early Years team - something will have to be done !

[HappyMaz]

Oh dear Debbie - that's a real pain isn't it? We are in a rural setting and mobile signal has been a bit of a trial. I've also found that changing the handset can affect signal - but which mobile providers have you tried already?

 

And what have Ofsted had to say about it?

 

Maz

[Guest]

Well thats the thing!! We haven't contacted Ofsted but have been in touch with our early years teams.

 

At the moment the chair and the treasurer have the mobile with them and they are running up and down with messages (fortunately they do not live too far away). I can get a signal with T-Mobile outside the building so in an emergency I could get help, but thats not the point I have to stand outside in the road to make any phone calls. We have tried O2, Orange, Vodaphone, T-Mobile and everyone else we can think of. We are now looking at having a mast put up on top of the building to see if this boosts the signal.

[HappyMaz]

We are now looking at having a mast put up on top of the building to see if this boosts the signal.

It almost certainly will - and the company may even pay you to put it there. However, I have to say that we weren't best pleased when a mobile company wanted to put a mast next to the Church where my children's nursery was. None of the parents thought it to be a good idea and there was a serious protest.

 

Don't suppose you have internet connection either? I have an 'internet' phone line for the nursery. Not sure how it all works though - far too technical for me!

 

Maz

[Guest]

It almost certainly will - and the company may even pay you to put it there. However, I have to say that we weren't best pleased when a mobile company wanted to put a mast next to the Church where my children's nursery was. None of the parents thought it to be a good idea and there was a serious protest.

 

Don't suppose you have internet connection either? I have an 'internet' phone line for the nursery. Not sure how it all works though - far too technical for me!

 

Maz

 

 

 

mmmmm has made me think, heres me imagining it to be a discreet little blip on the roof of the building and it could in fact be a whopping great thing that may even need planning permission.

[HappyMaz]

mmmmm has made me think, heres me imagining it to be a discreet little blip on the roof of the building and it could in fact be a whopping great thing that may even need planning permission.

I would imagine it would need planning permission - and it depends upon how your local council views mobile phone masts. Worth looking into though?

 

Maz

[Guest]

What about finding out which provider gets the best reception in your area and changing? We used Vodafone initially and the reception was awful, although at home it was fine. We changed to Orange and we have brilliant reception, and we are in the cellars of the church hall.

Linda

[sunnyday]

Hi all I need your help once more. We have just moved settings and have found that we can not get a mobile signal whilst in our building. As you can imagine this has caused us endless problems. If anybody else is in a Community Centre and has problems like this how did you fix it? The Council refuse to put a land line in, (they say it would cost £10,000) despite telling my Ofsted inspector that there would be one.

 

thanks

Debbie

Have you tried contacting BT and asking about the cost of a landline - I really can't imagine it would cost £10,000 - we had one put into our village hall (admittedly it was thirteen years ago) it cost something like £250, we set up a call barring system (local calls only and no mobiles) and registered for 'light user' quarterly bills are around £17.00 - hope this helps

 

sunnyday

[Guest]

BT have had grants in the past for getting community groups in rented accommodation onto the Internet. It might be worth getting in touch with their social / corporate responsibilty arm to see if they could help. That isn't the title I want to give them but I am a bit tired and can't remember it properly - sorry! For a bit of local publicity though they might be willing to help you out.