A coastal town in north Wales suffers all the usual drawbacks of overtourism – including litter and a lack of parking caused by hoards of visitors during the summer months.
But Llandudno also has another, more unusual and pressing issue – the strain of tourists on its mobile phone networks.
The infrastructure in the town often described as the most popular in Wales for seaside trips has been lacking for years, stoking the resentment of locals at visitors using up precious bandwidth drawing the peak times of July and August.
It leaves residents unable to make basic phone calls and businesses struggling to complete card transactions, according to North Wales Live, as well as “chronically” damaging the tourism industry by cutting visitors off from using mobile data to find new places to eat and shop.
Locals said they could attest to bad signal in the coastal area. Ian Carter said: “Nowhere [connects] on Vodafone, usually have to connect to WiFi in Wetherspoons”.
And Bridget Martin added: “I live in the town centre and signal is almost non-existent. Not enough available bandwidth to support the amount of usage.
“Tourist season is even worse – even they complain about no signal. Disgraceful.”
Head of economic development at Conwy Council, Elen Edwards told a cabinet meeting last month that only 61% of households in the town have 5G coverage, compared to 74% in Wales and 85% across the whole of the UK.
“I know the frustrations. I was at an exhibition the other week and it was packed with holidaymakers [in] large queues … and I was sitting next to two ladies who were complaining about the connectivity, so it is a problem,” Ms Edwards added.
She also said the council was committed to working with communications companies to improve “digital and mobile connectivity” in the area.
This could be achieved by attaching small devices to street lights in Llandudno, boosting local signal at the expense of a private firm in coordination with mobile network providers.
Despite – or perhaps in spite of – this, Lladudno was recently named one of the happiest places to live in Wales by RightMove, clocking in at second place in the country and 22nd in the UK overall.
The study bases its ranking on criteria including sense of belonging, community spirit, artistic and cultural activities and green spaces – all factors that could correlate with falling a little off the grid.
It also boasts a traditional Victorian seafront with long, sandy beaches, a 1.5-mile promenade and Wales’ largest contemporary art gallery MOSTYN.
