Why the UK phone signal is so poor

Some of the UK's biggest cities are blighted by poor mobile phone network coverage.

Most mobile networks boast they cover 99% of the UK, but 17% of users have experienced problems with their connection, according to the latest Which? mobile network satisfaction survey. Complaints included network dropouts, recurrent outages and consistently bad phone signals.

While problems in rural communities are expected – the last UK Government even published a briefing paper on the subject – few people anticipate they will have to search for the magic four or five signal bars on their phone in a major urban area. However, many city-based users say they also have problems and, reported Yahoo! News, analytics company MedUX found that London had the worst 5G speed performance of all Europe's main cities, for both uploads and downloads.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

'It's the infrastructure'

The problem, as Andy Aitken of mobile network provider Honest told the i news site, is a lack of investment. "We're not upgrading our telecom infrastructure to keep up with more devices and users", he said. In addition, the UK's planning system made it difficult to put up the giant telephone masts needed for better mobile coverage. 

Even when planning is given, there are still problems, according to the London Evening Standard, which said the former Conservative government's ban on Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei in 2020 put back the UK's roll-out of 5G phone masts by two to three years. This causes problems because most phones are "automatically programmed" to use 5G, even if there is a stronger 4G signal, said The Spectator's Kristina Murkett. 

But the issue is not only troublesome phone calls. The lack of connectivity also hit the UK's productivity rate, "which has been a major cause of wage stagnation and chronic under-investment". Commuters in Japan can expect "seamless" 4G on their trains when travelling in tunnels between islands. In contrast, the Thameslink service between London and Brighton "doesn't even offer tables or plug sockets".

Warm house or better signal?

People working from home are also hit by the lack of connectivity, especially if they are in a new-build. "New buildings use more energy-efficient materials which effectively block the outdoor mobile signals from entering the building," Sam Jackman from mobile connectivity company Shared Access told the i news site.

Electric car-owners can't even escape to find a better signal. According to The Independent, two-thirds of Britain's most common public EV chargers could be hit by poor mobile coverage. 

Citing a study by the RAC Foundation, the paper said 66% of Type-2 chargers outside London were located at a site where at least one network provider did not have usable 4G coverage. In the capital, the figure dropped slightly to 61.3%.

Drivers access the chargers through a mobile phone app, while the chargers themselves also need a connection to function. 

According to the data, however, reports of a growing problem may simply be crossed wires due to the increased use of mobiles. "While the evidence suggests that connectivity is stable and only set to get better, it may be that consumers are becoming more aware of signal issues as phones become ever more essential and integrated into our everyday lives,"  Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at Uswitch told the i news site.