More than half (55 per cent) of users surveyed by UK regulator Ofcom said they never, or hardly ever, endured a loss of mobile signal – but nearly one third (30 per cent) said they encounter such problems at least every week.

Furthermore, around two-thirds of those surveyed never, or hardly ever, had a blocked call (69 per cent) or dropped call (65 per cent).

In contrast, 20 per cent of people had experienced blocked calls or dropped calls (22 per cent). Unsurprisingly, the problem increases in rural areas.

The findings come as the UK government is pushing operators to boost coverage in the countryside. A recent report said it is considering national roaming to deliver improvements.

The government is already spending £150 million on infrastructure to reach those homes where providing mobile service is not commercially viable for operators.

In terms of user satisfaction, users in urban area are happier (78 per cent) with networks than those in rural (67 per cent) or remote (70 per cent) parts of the country. Ofcom pegged overall satisfaction at 76 per cent.

When the survey turned to individual operators, EE came out on top in terms of successful 2G or 3G call completion. The survey makes no mention of 4G, where EE is also pushing hard with its 4G rollout

EE had a completion rate of 97.0 per cent across the UK, ahead of O2 (95.3 per cent), Three (94.5 per cent) and Vodafone (92.6 per cent). The survey was conducted by RootMetrics on behalf of Ofcom.

The survey is one of the initiatives Ofcom is pursuing to encourage coverage improvements in the UK.