A guide to using the Rootmetrics app

We all pay the same to run our mobile phones, regardless of where we live. But rural businesses and individuals tell us they have a far poorer service.

Now we are searching for proof to ensure people living in the countryside are not forgotten by mobile phone companies and benefit from the Government's £150m mobile phone infrastructure project. All you have to do is download an app onto your smartphone or tablet which tests the strength of your signal and automatically records the result. Just go to the iTunes app store, or Google Play and download the free RootMetrics app.

Then please test the signal while you are out and about, as well as at home, in order to rapidly improve the information on the map of rural reception that we are compiling.

We need you to keep on testing over the summer and beyond, to ensure the data is as comprehensive as possible. The results will be combined with readings from others in your area to create a map showing which mobile operator is best in your part of the country. We will be putting the coverage map to communications companies as well as Parliamentarians, so your help is vital if we are to show the extent of bad coverage in the countryside. I have said before that it is possible to get better coverage in Helmand Province than in rural Dorset and for the sake of our families and rural businesses we need to do all we can to ensure their lot improves.