Out of interest, did any of you notice any disruption to TV reception at around the same time?
As you may be aware, frequencies that in the past were traditionally used for TV broadcasting, (in the range 690 to 854MHz), have been re-allocated to mobile phones. These are the lowest frequencies that have generally been used for GSM phones in this country.
As the frequency becomes lower, the effect of weather conditions, (not necessarily local to you), becomes more apparent. You may have noticed warnings on TV weather forecasts in the past about disruption to TV reception?
What might have happened in this case is that a Tropospheric Duct temporarily formed between the Channel Islands and your part of the country. This can make distant signals stronger in certain areas than the local masts, and phones just lock on to the strongest signal at the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric_propagation
Note that this is different to when the natural topography in an area shields UK signals and makes foreign ones stronger. It is not uncommon for people in East and South-East Kent, for example, to receive messages that they are on French or Belgian networks.
Out of interest, @Cynic1960, as you are on Anglesey, do you ever connect to networks in the Republic of Ireland?
