IT nightmare is anagram of no-signal village's name

"It is exasperating," said Mike Hemsley, who lives in the village of Itteringham, Norfolk.

While it is picturesque, it has almost no mobile reception, and he is quick to point out how apt an anagram of its name is – IT nightmare.

The rollout of broadband has improved things, with locals now able to use wi-fi calling, where calls and texts are made over a wi-fi connection.

But there are daily frustrations, for example, if you need a text to complete two-stage security.

"It's a scrabble up the stairs to try and put the phone out the window, get the signal and then continue," the 68-year-old explained.

With a population of just 121, according to the 2021 census, Itteringham is tiny.

But it has a busy community shop, café and post office, staffed by volunteers including Hemsley.

Dating back to 1637, it is said to be one of the oldest village shops in the country, although the signal here has not really improved much since the 17th Century.

"As long as the wi-fi is working, then it's not too problematic," explained Hillary Bell, who coordinates the shop team.

"But we do find a lot of customers don't stay perhaps as long as they would like to, because they're worried about the fact that they're uncontactable whilst they're here."

The village does have decent broadband connections, but if those go down – as they did last year and the year before – it can effectively be cut off for days.

"The impact is huge because it means we can only take cash payments during that time and a lot of people just don't carry cash anymore," said Bell.

"We would have had quite significant loss of sales during that time."

Itteringham is not alone when it comes to weak connectivity in north Norfolk, with research from the local council suggesting just two areas in the district had "good" coverage.

Enjoying coffee with friends in the cafe, Jayne Rounce from nearby Aldborough, said people in her village also had "a very poor signal".

"It was actually mentioned in our pantomime about how poor it is – the whole audience got it," she explained.

"It can be very frustrating, especially if you're trying to contact the dentist or a doctor and you start talking, but then the signal goes."

With its aim of "all populated areas to have standalone 5G by 2030" the government is carrying out a mobile market review to support investment in networks.

Meanwhile Mobile UK, which represents the major operators, has said the firms are "investing heavily to transform the UK's digital landscape".

Hemsley said websites of the major operators suggested a signal had already been possible in Itteringham but "either they don't understand the problem or they're ignoring it".

"We expect to have water, we expect to have electricity in our homes and I think that mobile phone signals have become that same expectation," he added.

But while Bell said people in the village "feel a little bit forgotten" she admitted there were some benefits to being in a signal blackspot.

"It adds to part of the beauty and the charm of the area, in that you really can get away from it all here, whether you intended to or not."

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