A carer in his 80s fears he would not be able to contact help quickly if his wife suffered an accident or a fall as they have no mobile phone signal.

Ken Field who is sole carer his wife at their home in Millwood End in Long Hanborough worries that if he needs urgent help he'd be "running down the road trying to find a signal".

He said: "There’s no mobile phone in this part of the village. We recently got a new caring company. The first thing that happened was that the boss lady came and was sat in her car and she said to us, you’ve got no signal! They rely on it because they have to report back."

Mr Field said he has digital skills, having worked with computers since the 1960s, but worries about power cuts and the broadband failing.

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He said: "The problem is in Hanborough in winter weather we cut intermittent power cuts because they haven’t cut the trees back.

Oxford Mail: Long Hanborough

"That upsets the wifi and the router and we have to log in again. Two or three years ago we had 15 power cuts in one day.

"What I’m really worried about is when the traditional landlines are switched over in two years' time, what will happen then?

Mr Field added: "These mobile companies don’t have a grasp of reality. The spaces between the masts are too big. They need to cycle round and see where they get a signal and where they don’t."

Mr Field said he carried out an informal survey on Facebook, asking about patchy mobile signal and it got 100 responses, including many from a recently built housing development.

He said: "There is no signal in Freeland to speak of. I got lots of comments from Hanborough Gate – they do not get a signal. Everyone is using wifi calling. In fact I was rather impressed, they’re just getting on with it – but what happens when the internet goes down, there’s no fallback.

"In Hanborough from the Co-op roundabout to the George pub is intermittent and then after the George and around the station it’s good I’m told.

"Then by the dip into Bladon it’s gone. That’s a well known not spot."

Last month West Oxfordshire district councillors unanimously backed a motion to address the longstanding issue of inadequate mobile phone signal in villages.

It was proposed by Freeland and Hanborough councillor Alaa Al-Yousuf.

He said: "In today's digital age, reliable connectivity is not a luxury; it's a necessity.

"We are determined to ensure that rural communities in West Oxfordshire have access to the same level of mobile phone service as our more urban counterparts and that is why we wanted to bring this motion to full council."

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Senior representatives of Digital Mobile Spectrum Ltd will be invited to brief councillors and residents at a public meeting at the earliest opportunity. 

DMSL manages and runs the The Shared Rural Network (SRN) developed by the UK’s four mobile network operators - Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three  - with support from the government.

Ofcom said it is making more airwaves available to boost reception and working with the government to improve the Shared Rural Network.

Mr Field said: “If Blenheim can’t get a signal in Hanborough Gate with all the influence they have round here I’m not hopeful."