Your phone displays its signal strength as a series of bars on your screen. And we have all experienced the frustration that accompanies a loss of signal. All of our mobile phones depend on good network coverage to keep us all in touch. Some networks provide more consistent coverage than others, although things are improving all the time.

Generally speaking, if you are the close to a mobile phone base or mobile phone transmitter or tower, then your mobile telephone signal should be great. Unfortunately, things are not as straightforward as all that, as we shall see.

You will tend to find that phone coverage is more reliable in urban areas. Although, this is not always the case, as all urban areas, even busy cities like London, have dead zones where no mobile signal gets through. This does not mean that there are no mobile phone towers in the area, but that somehow the signal transmitted by the mobile tower is not being picked up by your phone, as it is being blocked by something.

Buildings of all shapes and sizes can block mobile telephone signals. The ones to watch out for are the skyscrapers. And you could definitely find your signal getting patchy, or even disappearing altogether, if you are in amidst a patch of tightly-packed high rises.

Those in rural areas can often lack a proper phone signal, as mobile network coverage tends to be weaker in these areas. Because rural areas are less densely populated, they have suffered a little in the network coverage stakes. Mobile phone providers have concentrated on covering areas where they have the most customers, neglecting countryside coverage in the process.

But in the countryside, the main bug-bear of mobile phone users is the lack of mobile phone coverage in general. These less-populated areas tend to be less well served by the mobile provision companies, basically due to the lower number of customers there. This hardly seems fair as we all pay the same mobile phone tariffs and call and text costs no matter where we live and work, so why should some pay for weaker service?

This is a problem that looks set to be addressed by the up and coming introduction of 4G networks. We have already seen 3G arrive, and there is no question that this has helped push boundaries in mobile coverage terms.

And now we wait patiently for 4G, the next generation, which will mean crystal clear coverage for all of us, no matter what our location. So as technology advances, so continues to push coverage further, and to a better and better standard.