Technology

Ofcom urges better mobile signal on UK trains

Regulator finds networks meet basic performance standards only part of the time, train wi-fi works well 1% of the time in tests

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Getty Images A women with red hair wearing headphones and holding her phone. She is sitting on a train and looking out of the window. Getty Images A women with red hair wearing headphones and holding her phone. She is sitting on a train and looking out of the window. bbc.com
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A set of tests across 24 rail segments found that British passengers are usually “off grid” the moment the doors close. Ofcom told the BBC that Vodafone met its definition of “good performance” only 17% of the time on trains, while EE did so 42% of the time; Three and O2 were around one-fifth. The regulator’s benchmark is modest—5 Mbps down, 1.5 Mbps up and 50 ms response time—yet even train wi‑fi performed well only 1% of the time, according to the same assessment.

The numbers land in the middle of a familiar blame chain: mobile operators point to trackside mast coverage and planning permission, train operators point to networks, and passengers pay for the whole stack through fares and contracts while getting intermittent service. Ofcom’s message is that both carriers and “local authorities” need to step up, and it cites councils that have rejected more than 90% of applications for new or upgraded infrastructure over the last five years. Mobile UK, the industry body for EE, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone and Three, told the BBC that rail coverage has “unique structural and capacity challenges” and urged planning reform.

The industry’s second ask is more direct: public money. Mobile UK argues that taxpayers should fund some of the infrastructure needed to tackle black spots because purely commercial rollout will not cover the rail network. That shifts the economics from “build where customers pay” to “build where the state insists,” which is attractive for operators facing high civil-works costs along long corridors with patchy demand. It also turns a service quality problem into a budget line, with the usual consequence that the fight moves from engineering to lobbying—who qualifies as a black spot, what counts as adequate, and which supplier gets the contract.

Ofcom also points to physics inside the carriage: weak signal from masts around train lines, and some train types that block signals. The BBC report notes criticism of train companies for using outdated wi‑fi technology and throttling speeds too aggressively. Government sources previously told the BBC that ministers want to improve onboard internet by allowing connections to low-earth satellites rather than relying only on 4G and 5G, and the Department for Transport plans to spend £57 million on the wi‑fi improvement project. The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, is expected to formally announce plans in summer 2024.

The practical outcome for passengers may hinge less on any single technology than on which party ends up carrying the cost of reliability: operators, train companies, councils—or a national programme that socialises the hardest parts of the network. For now, Ofcom’s threshold is 5 Mbps.

On much of Britain’s rail system, even that remains something you only get when the train slows down near a station.