Ofcom is calling for a nationwide effort to improve mobile connectivity across the UK rail network.
The UK communications regulator measured mobile performance across 24 segments of key railway lines covering England, Scotland and Wales. The research revealed that mobile performance was poor on between 58% and 83% of tests carried out on trains, depending on mobile network.
Good performance is defined as achieving minimum download speeds of 5Mbits per second, upload speeds of at least 1.5Mbits per second, and a response time of 50 milliseconds or less. This would typically allow people to make video calls, stream content or scroll social media.
EE met those good performance standards 42% of the time, Three met them 21% of the time, O2 20% and Vodafone only 17%.
Ofcom says that these results show that for “too many people, stepping on board can mean going off grid”.
This reveals that mobile signal from masts on the ground often aren’t strong enough around train lines and that some carriage...