Councillor Geoff Wells misses my point entirely regarding mobile phone reception in the Woodingdean-Rottingdean area (Letters, October 3).

He firstly criticises me for attempting to drive and occasionally use a phone at the same time but had it occurred to him I use a hands-free kit?

It is not, nor has it ever been, illegal or, in my opinion, dangerous to use a phone in this manner.

He mentions a mast on Bexhill Road but had he realised what he was talking about he would know this mast is not even for mobile phones and is a utilities communication mast associated with the underground reservoir nearby.

There is a mobile mast much further to the east, along Falmer Road, but this is too far away to be of any use to residents of Woodingdean and Rottingdean.

More important, however, is that I frequently visit friends and relatives in the area and they, like me, are constantly frustrated about not being able to use their phones in their own homes.

Good mobile phone reception is not a privilege in this day and age and, with many people now opting for a mobile phone in lieu of a landline, is it not about time Coun Wells and others started representing the silent majority rather than the vocal minority?

-Spencer Payne, Baranscraig Avenue, Patcham