I want to write a blog or an open letter directed at mobile phone operators and shopping centre owners with regards to mobile phone reception in shopping centres. This blog or open letter isn't directed at any one particular company or mobile phone operator, but relates to a common problem in regards to lack of mobile phone reception within the buildings and what could be done to remedy the situation.
These days, I live near Coventry, so quite often go into Coventry City Centre and go into their West Orchards Shopping Centre. While inside the shopping centre my mobile phone reception isn't very good and quite often non-existent, having to rely on WiFi within the centre to gain Internet access is the least of my worries sometimes. I've never needed to make or receive a phone call or important text message while in there, it's a concern of mine if in an emergency, I needed to.
My latest annoyance with the lack of reception in West Orchards was on Saturday afternoon when my girlfriend and I were attempting to pay for some food we were buying from the Jacket Potato & Pie outlet in the Food Court. This annoyance wasn't with my lack of reception, but with the lack of reception encountered by the vendor, who was using a Chip n Pin terminal which connected to the bank via a mobile phone connection. You could argue, "why weren't they using a wired Chip n Pin terminal?" I would assume it was because of their IT set up wasn't advanced enough to do so, I would guess the vendor of the unit isn't part of a chain or big company, so rely on getting equipment as financially efficient as they can.
Ordinarily, having a wireless Chip n Pin terminal wouldn't be a problem, as the outlet would be located somewhere that had a reliable mobile phone signal, so could connect every time someone pays by card. I don't know what mobile phone network the terminals use, maybe it's a different operator depending on who the shop/restaurant/food outlet goes to.
On Saturday, I Tweeted all of the main mobile phone operators in the UK, Vodafone, O2, EE and Three, to see if I could get some sort of explanation as to why, in this day and age, we still have problems with mobile phone reception in shopping centres. I didn't tweet any of the others, as they piggyback on the aforementioned networks, so should get as good (or bad) reception as the network they piggyback on. West Orchards isn't the only shopping centre to have issues, Lakeside in Thurrock is also bad for the issue too.
From my understanding on how mobile phones work, they use forms of radio signal between masts and the mobile devices. Masts are generally outdoors, either on top of buildings or at the top of pylon style stands. Using this method, steel used in structures can interfere with radio signals getting into the structure. I would imagine that most shopping centres being multi-storey (West Orchards, being 4 or 5 storeys to allow access to its shops and multi-story car park and Lakeside being 3 storey) would use a lot of steel to support the building. That would probably pretty much explain why the issue exists in most shopping centres.
However, I am also aware of technology that exists that could provide better signal within shopping centres. Internal antennas. Vodafone uses them at the building where I work and they are wall mounted and not much bigger than two full size tower PC units. So why don't mobile phone operators deploy these in shopping centres? Yes, I know it would cost them money, but they get enough money from their customers to cover this and I'm pretty sure they could get agreement from the shopping centre owners if it temps a higher footfall into the shopping centre, more people using their shops and keeping the shops in business and therefore continued rent payments and shops not closing because they don't get enough custom to warrant staying open.
So come on people, please get it sorted! Would help a lot of people, and vendors using mobile Chip n Pin terminals.
