Buffering Britain

Britain’s mobile phone network is really unfit for purpose. Particularly when doing what a MOBILE network is supposed to do — moving! I’m on @EE which is supposed to have the best coverage in U.K. - it’s awful! This isn’t an inherent problem with 5G. Other countries have deployed the same technology far more successfully. Opensignal ranks Britain LAST among 29 European markets for mobile network performance. Denmark achieves 226 Mbps average download speeds against Britain’s 84 Mbps. So what went wrong? 5G typically uses higher frequencies than legacy networks, with shorter effective range and poorer penetration into buildings and vehicles. Reliable coverage therefore requires sufficient mast density, capacity and overlapping cells to maintain connectivity during handovers. Britain hasn’t invested adequately in that infrastructure. Much of our 5G still depends on 4G architecture, while the closure of 3G has removed a legacy fallback. Add network congestion, patchy rural coverage and unreliable handovers, and the result is familiar: phones displaying 5G but unable to transfer data, connections disappearing on motorways and trains, and calls dropping mid-conversation. And where is @Ofcom? It proudly reports 99%+ outdoor 4G premises coverage. But that figure is based on predicted signal strength, NOT independently verified, continuous connectivity. Indeed, Ofcom’s own figures show that only 84% of UK landmass has predicted good 4G coverage from all operators. A signal at a stationary address is not the same as a usable connection travelling at 70 mph. Ofcom has overseen the transition to 5G and the retirement of 3G without ensuring that network resilience, capacity and reliable handovers meet the needs of mobile users. Why aren’t operators required to demonstrate real-world connectivity along roads and railways, with published measurements of dropped calls, failed handovers and data interruptions? We have confused the availability of a technology with the delivery of a service. A mobile network that cannot reliably maintain a connection while mobile is fundamentally failing its purpose. Ofcom should be held accountable.