Going by experience, especially in the Glen Muick/ Dubh Loch area and the Glen Quoich / Gleann an t-Slugain area, if EE say on the map "You may experience some problems", it means no coverage and zero bars on the phone.

Humphrey,

That's a fun tool -thanks for the link.

I'm not sure if its provided by the phone companies or is independent?

I have a healthy distrust of EE's claimed coverage - it's improved a lot from the days when Orange was nicknamed NoRange, but still varies a lot in the mountains.

One of the joys of putting some munroes in the route is that you're likely to get a phone signal on top! Hopefully the Lapaichs will turn up trumps before I get to Cannich.

I guess the thing one can be sure of is that when the tool says there's no signal there isn't one!

Its good to know from people who've been there that I'll get a signal - I'd hate to miss a planned phone in because of no signal and trigger a search.


Graham

Living in the North Highlands (well north of the Challenge area) I can testify that EE coverage has improved massively in the last couple of years, ever since they got the contract to provide communications to the emergency services. There are masts going up everywhere. But it is still pretty dependent on sightlines. I can confirm hills are good, but roads are much better too now.

Well, this is good news, Vanessa. For many years Vodafone was the carrier of choice - they had the search/rescue/maritime contract. Have this moved to EE?

What's nippy is that in the UK we're unable to roam between networks - the only work-around would be to sign up to a non-UK provider - specifically within the EU whilst we still remain a member (NO! NO! NO POLITICS HERE!). That way you can access full roaming and, thanks to the recent EU directive (I DO NOT WANT TO DISCUSS POLITICS!) grab all signals.

All this will, que no, change as the current Horror Show continues ....

The method of using a non-UK provider to allow roaming on all networks is popular amongst the ultrarunning community, and I understand the preference is for a SIM from an Isle of Man provider. This will give you full roaming and a bill in GBP.

Worth remembering that calls to the emergency services can be made using any network, not just your own.

Humphrey, this page explains what is going on. The contract only extends 12 miles out to sea, so I'm not sure whether that is what you are referring to.

Vodaphone has always been pretty non-existent round here (Assynt), so I'm surprised to hear it had any kind of search and rescue contract. The land-based emergency services have been using Airwave for at least 20 years that I know of.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-emergency-services-mobile-communications-programme/emergency-services-network