Festival shop relies on good signal for business
Running a business without good phone signal has at times proved near impossible for this man - that's why he's backing the Get Us Connected campaign.
Nick Cooper owns a festival and fancy dress service, alongside a printing and embroidery business at Festour in Shropshire Street, Market Drayton.
But having to go into the very corner of the shop every time he needs to make a call is far from an ideal business strategy.
He said: "We use the phone to call suppliers, and also for our customers to ring us.
Click here to sign our 'Get Us Connected' petition
See also: The cost of Shropshire's mobile phone signal
"It's incredibly frustrating when we lose out on business because of bad phone signal - if people can't get through to us to place an order we don't even know they've tried.
"Sometimes we give people a quote and then they say they can't get through after trying and trying."
Do you run a business in Shropshire? Does poor mobile phone signal affect your trade? Leave your comments below.
Mr Cooper said that if the phone doesn't have signal, it can be days before a voice message comes through and customers can think they are being ignored.
He said: "We do have a landline which can be used, but being a festival shop we are out and about a lot so we have to have a mobile with us at all times.
"We were offered a service which would direct the landline's calls to the mobile, but there is no point paying the money for that when I can't trust it to get signal."
See also: Shropshire Council backing for Star's mobile phone signal campaign.
But with the business expanding Mr Cooper decided the right time had come to move premises. The company needed a larger base with a better layout.
"But phone signal was a reason," he said.
"We needed a suitable premises, and having phone signal is really important - I'm walking round the new shop now and there isn't a problem here."
And despite network giants reassuring customers they are doing all they can to improve signal, Mr Cooper, who worked at Vodafone for about five years, said it shouldn't be that difficult.
He said: "Whether it's just down to laziness I don't know.
"But most people when I worked in sales were happy with their signal - it's not a hard issue to solve.
"It just seems like all over Shropshire there is a problem."
Mr Cooper has said he will be backing the campaign and hopes to see better coverage soon.
He said: "Absolutely. Something needs to be done about it.
"In this day and age we shouldn't be suffering from it - there is no excuse for it."
Hundreds of people have joined our Get Us Connected campaign, which is backed by Shropshire Council and the regions MPs.
We are calling on the Government to put pressure on mobile phone companies to provide a better signal for Shropshire.
The Shropshire Star petition will be presented to a government minister and will be copied to the phone companies as well as the communications watchdog Ofcom.
The best way to sign up is online, which only takes a few seconds. You can also fill in our form or sign paper copies of the petition in libraries in Shropshire.
