From BBC Magazine:
The Welsh village of Staylittle can be found to the west of Newtown in Powys. It's an isolated place - the nearest market town is almost eight miles away. "Staylittle, which has remained outside the perimeter of progress and stayed little, is miles from anywhere," complained a reporter in the Times in 1965. Fifty years might have passed since then but the village's communications are still tenuous.
It has no mobile reception. And because of this, most people in Staylittle have to rely on their landlines to stay in touch with people. But a fortnight ago, the villagers were cut off. Ten days later, Staylittle was still waiting for the problem to be fixed. The main conduit of communication is one working landline in the Post Office.
Yes, the UK is more compact than either the US or Australia, but I imagine it's still frustrating to be as cut off as the people here are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @06:40AM
No more dial-up porn, and the neighbors are starting to look attractive in an ugly sort of way...
(Score: 3, Funny) by davester666 on Saturday September 05 2015, @07:59AM
I'll bet the local pub is never out of stock, try as the locals might...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @08:22AM
The bottomless jukebox isn't bottomless! I've played every song on it!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Beige on Saturday September 05 2015, @07:17AM
Staylittle is along one of my favourite drives in Wales, from the Clywedog reservoir through Dylife to Machynlleth, and there's usually a ton of tourists driving past. I actually drove through the place once out of curiosity, and from a car driver's point of view it's nowhere near as isolated as some of the small hamlets in the northern mountains. Sure, losing communications is a pain and adds risk, but there are definitively worse places to be.
(Score: 2) by Jerry Smith on Saturday September 05 2015, @07:35AM
Some people consider hyperfast internet as most essential in their life, other people rather live in Staylittle. Don't forget, for some people the internet is compensation for to world outside, they lock themselves up in offices, cars en houses because their outside world is not so nice to live in.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @07:44AM
The outside world is great! Every time I go outside I see people spitting on the sidewalk. People are only slightly more civilized than dogs that shit in the street. No wait. I actually have seen people literally shitting in the street. So yeah the outside world is great! The WORLD is full of SHIT that calls itself PEOPLE.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday September 05 2015, @11:04AM
Move out of Beijing, my friend.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @07:49AM
Americans think 100 years is a long time, English think 100 miles is a long way.
There are many places that are 40+ miles away from anything resembling a store that sells food in the US. I have yet to be in one that has cell reception. Nevermind what goes on in Canada. Being isolated there can mean being 1000 miles from the nearest paved road...or any road.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @07:54AM
Best part of being in Canada is not being in the US.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @08:01AM
It must be so awful to share two borders with the Evil Empire. Tell you what, why don't you hosers invade again. Burn down the Black House this time, would ya? Thanks.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Saturday September 05 2015, @11:09AM
The best part of being in Canada is Canadians. Kind, considerate, decent people. The second best part of being in Canada is the land itself; I grew up a stone's throw from Glacier National Park and you'd think it'd be impossible to beat that scenery, but Canada does. Being next to the United States is the only flaw the place has.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @05:49PM
Racism, nationalism, and other prejudicial bigotry still is when it is positive. Not all Americans are bad. Not all Canadians are "kind, considerate, decent people". You, with your efforts against sexual prejudice should have realized this long ago.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday September 05 2015, @06:16PM
A typical cellphone has enough power to reach a cell tower up to 45 miles away. Depending on the technology of the cellphone network, the maximum distance may be as low as 22 miles because the signal otherwise takes too long for the highly accurate timing of the cellphone protocol to work reliably.
In the western part of the US, you can find large areas of zero cell reception, but they won't be within 8 miles of a tower.
I've encountered areas in upstate New York that have no cell reception, but if you go around the hill (or drive up the hill) you can get reception.
Hills and valleys are a cell phone's worst enemy.
So we have to assume there is no cell tower near the nearest grocery store either.
Still, Someone must have bought groceries in those 10 days. You would think they could have placed a call from the grocery store to the phone company.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2015, @03:10AM
Still, Someone must have bought groceries in those 10 days. You would think they could have placed a call from the grocery store to the phone company.
What makes you think they didn't?
(Score: 1) by citizenr on Saturday September 05 2015, @01:25PM
pointless article
(Score: 3, Informative) by Nuke on Saturday September 05 2015, @10:19PM
pointless article
Pointless and ridiculous. I'm amazed that on a US website that "the nearest market town is almost eight miles away" is supposed to impress anyone. I am in the UK and it does not even impress me.
I am also in Wales and halfway between two market towns, 16 miles apart (Chepstow and Monmouth). That is typical of old-established market towns in Europe because it allowed a peasant in the "worst" case (like mine) to walk to market and back in a day. I also have frequent loss of land-line phone connection and sometimes electricity. I have no mains sewerage and no mobile phone reception that you can rely on. I think that is quite normal for the UK rural areas. If I wanted to complain I'd go and live in a city.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday September 05 2015, @02:35PM
This is not really going to change anytime soon. Lots of countries have these kinda places, they are like cellphone and communication dead-zones. There was a difference for many of these places in Europe when the telecom company was a state-owned company. Then they didn't really have a problem with it, they pulled copper out to little villages where it was a handful of houses in the middle of nowhere. But after they have been privatized that just ain't the case anymore. They are to small for the telecom companies to find it financially viable to pull fiber out to them, they'll eventually do it when the copper lines become a hassle. So a line blowing down or getting cut of due to construction or weather usually takes ages these days to have repaired. They are out of cellphone coverage for the same reasons. There are just to few people living there for it to be financially viable to put up coverage.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday September 05 2015, @06:37PM
This is not really going to change anytime soon.
Yes it is. Sooner than you think.
Both in the UK and the US, there are projects in place to bring cell service to the very last corners of the nation.
Why?
Because its cheaper than land lines to build and maintain. Even when you factor in the cost of the tower and a microwave back-haul link, it ends up being way cheaper. In places where the government owns the networks, a cell tower can be thrown up for around 200,000. (governments give themselves land leases, permits, etc).
In a city it can be much more.
In rural areas it can be very cheap, you can rent a tiny corner of a farmer's field (and the needed space is getting smaller all the time with the use of mono-pole towers) for a couple thousand a year. In many rural areas out west, they just us microwave links for back-haul, and hang that all on the same tower.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday September 05 2015, @10:25PM
Both in the UK and the US, there are projects in place to bring cell service to the very last corners of the nation. Why? Because its cheaper than land lines to build and maintain.
But no-one is compelling them to bring a service there at all, and if they don't it is cheaper still. According to Thatcherism, it has to be left to market forces
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday September 05 2015, @10:36PM
Nobody compelling them.....
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/02/ofcom-tweak-commits-mobile-operators-90-uk-landmass-coverage.html [ispreview.co.uk]
As expected Ofcom has started to put the recent coverage agreement between Mobile Network Operators (MNO) and the Government into practice by introducing a new licence variation(s) that commits Three UK, EE, O2 and Vodafone to provide voice coverage across 90% of the United Kingdom’s landmass by the end of 2017.
http://www.threemediacentre.co.uk/news/2015/pr_23-4-15_network.aspx [threemediacentre.co.uk]
https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2013/07/31/gbp150-million-set-aside-for-mobile-coverage-enhancement-project-in-the-uk/ [telegeography.com]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11801457/Revealed-is-your-mobile-provider-lying-about-its-phone-coverage.html [telegraph.co.uk]
I think you protest too much.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday September 05 2015, @06:16PM
"What's this, what's this? We'll have NO trouble heere....This is a local shop for LOCAL people....". Edward Tattsyrup
(Score: 2, Funny) by kazzie on Saturday September 05 2015, @06:36PM
Or, rather, "Llai o'ch helynt... siop leol i bobl LLEOL yw hon..."