Phone signal on trains not good enough most of the time, research says

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The phone signal on trains in Britain is not strong enough to scroll on social media or stream videos most of the time, according to research by the media regulator Ofcom. The findings show that mobile networks are failing to provide reliable services across the country, with Vodafone meeting Ofcom's standards for "good performance" only 17% of the time. Ofcom's testing, which covered 24 sections of track in England, Scotland, and Wales, revealed that EE was the best-performing network, meeting the standards 42% of the time.

However, even EE's performance was not good enough to support demanding online activities. Three met the standards 21% of the time, and O2 hit them 20% of the time. The main problems, according to Ofcom, are weak signal from phone masts around train lines and the fact that some carriage types don't allow signals to get through.

The regulator's threshold for "good performance" - a download speed of five megabits per second, an upload speed of 1.5 megabits per second, and a response time of 50 milliseconds - is far lower than average 4G speeds. However, mobile networks still failed to achieve it most of the time. Mobile UK, which represents the major phone providers, including EE, Virgin Media O2, and Vodafone, acknowledged that there are "unique structural and capacity challenges" to keeping a good train signal.

The organization urged the government to "act now" with planning reform and investment, suggesting that taxpayers should fund some of the infrastructure needed for black spots, "as commercial rollout alone cannot bridge the gap on the rail network". The government has announced plans to boost train wi-fi by allowing train companies to connect to low-earth satellites. The Department for Transport plans to spend £57m on the project, with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander expected to formally announce the plans this summer.

In a separate criticism, Ofcom found that train wi-fi performed well just 1% of the time, with train companies criticized for using outdated technology and throttling internet speeds too much.