Help us boost rural mobile coverage in 2014

Nearly 100,000 samples of mobile phone reception are pouring in each day as part of the Countryside Alliance's project to map rural mobile phone signals – and we need your help to keep up the pressure. In June the Countryside Alliance put out a call for smart phone owners to download the free RootMetrics app and send back samples of the mobile phone signal where they are. Since then the number of samples to the database has increased by 66% and 95,000 new reports are made each day.

However we need more samples from all areas of the countryside – especially Cumbria, the Scottish borders and Northumberland.

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

That's why we are searching for evidence to ensure people living in the countryside are not forgotten by mobile phone companies and that they benefit from the Government's £150m mobile phone infrastructure project.

Countryside Alliance executive chairman Barney White-Spunner, said: "We are delighted by the fantastic support we are getting for our campaign. It is very important that we can prove that some people living in the countryside are not getting a good deal from their phone service providers.

"The rates of phone coverage quoted by phone companies are a best case scenario. Once we have the true picture we can lobby Government and the phone companies to improve your phone service."

And Bill Moore, CEO and president of RootMetrics said: "We believe that mobile phone users on the same network and tariff should receive the same level of service and customer experience, regardless of location. We're delighted to be able to help the Countryside Alliance highlight the issue of rural mobile phone coverage and performance in the UK. "

To take part, all people have to do is download the free RootMetrics app onto their smartphone or tablet and use it when they are at home and out and about.

The app tests the strength of their signal and automatically records the result. And both the app and maps available at rootmetrics.co.uk can show which company provides the best service in a particular area.