Iceland’s Worst Mobile Signal Areas To Be Mapped

The Post and Telecom Administration in Iceland (PFS) plans to make a detailed map of which areas along Iceland’s national highway have the worst mobile phone connections.

RÚV reports PFS workers have traveled thousands of kilometres around the country this summer in an effort to make a more detailed map of which parts of Route 1 have the worst connections with mobile phone signals. While you can get a strong signal over a great portion of the national highway that circles the country, some areas have weak or no signal at all.

The matter has been of recent relevance in the wake of a near-fatal accident which happened near Route 1 in northwest Iceland last week. As reported, a family had driven off the road and into the sea, but managed to rescue themselves from drowning. However, they were not able to get any kind of mobile signal, and only received help when they flagged down a passing truck.

It turns out that the area where the accident occurred – the Westfjords’ south coast, near Vattarfjörður – has no mobile signal over a stretch of several kilometres.

However, PFS cannot issue a demand that there be strong mobile phone signals across every stretch of Route 1. Making such a plan a reality would be prohibitively expensive.