Germany’s Mobile Dead Zones: Why Reception Is Still So Bad

Why does Germany still suffer from mobile dead zones? From Funklöcher to rail lines, here’s why reception remains so patchy.

Dear Reader,

A month ago, I found myself trudging through thick mud in Brandenburg, without shoes and without cell phone coverage.

The absence of trainers was voluntary given that I was in a place called The Barefoot Park.

But the lack of reception was not, and was made more noticeable after I briefly lost sight of my family in the park‘s sprawling premises. Poor mobile reception remains one of Germany’s most persistent infrastructure problems, with thousands of square kilometres still classed as Funklöcher — areas with little or no signal.

I contemplated ways of finding them that didn’t involve backtracking through mulch or rounded glass shards.

We managed to reunite -- sans technology -- and later left the Funkloch, colloquial German for a mobile dead zone. But the residents of Beelitz-Heilstätten, a semi-rural district just south of Berlin, were stuck in one for months, from mid-July until late October, when a radio mast was temporarily repaired.

Getting off a…