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4G Coverage

Another survey from Which? This time 4G coverage

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As more and more people access the internet and their emails via their mobile phones, coverage and download speeds can be of crucial importance to businesses if they want to be competitive.

It is particularly important for businesses in the service sector, such as restaurants and other venues, that often rely on a percentage of their “impulse buy” custom from people either visiting an area or out and about.

Some timely new research has investigated 4G coverage in the UK and found that varies significantly in different parts of the country and that its overall availability at 65% puts it in 54th place globally, behind Estonia and Peru.

The research, carried out by the consumer group Which? and analyst OpenSignal measured data from mobile phones across 20 cities in the UK.

The top five for 4G availability were Middlesbrough with 82.7% availability, Sheffield (79.3%), Sunderland (79%), Leicester (78.6%) and Leeds (78.2%).

The bottom five were Bournemouth, Southampton/Portsmouth, Cardiff, Nottingham and London.

The study, which analysed more than 500m data readings from mobile phones taken from more than 30,000 users between December 1, 2016 and February 28, 2017 via an app, also looked at download speeds with Stoke-in Trent the fastest and Brighton the slowest.

According to Ofcom, the communications technology watchdog, its rules mean that “virtually all UK premises must receive a 4G signal by the end of this year.”

It remains to be seen whether this will happen.

You can find out about 2G, 3G and 4G coverage in your area with this Which? map here.

How Good Is Your Broadband?

How Good Is Your Broadband?

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The latest research from communications regulator Ofcom shows that average broadband speeds in urban areas are more than three times faster than those in rural parts of Britain.

Its annual study of home broadband ISP speeds in the UK revealed that the average Internet download rate is now 36.2Mbps (up from 28.9Mbps last year), with uploads hitting 4.3Mbps (up from 3.7Mbps).

For several years the Government has been promising “superfast broadband” defined as download speeds of at least 24 megabits per second (Mbps). It aims that 95% of UK premises will have access to 24Mbps download speeds by the end of 2017. Whether this will be achieved is still unclear.

However, the results of research published by Which? this month have revealed that there is a significant variation between the best and the worst broadband providers in the UK.

BT, TalkTalk, Sky and EE scored poorly for speed and reliability, with the biggest ISPs failing on basic customer service, speed and reliability.

The consumer champion surveyed 1800 people in November and December 2016 and found that TalkTalk and BT achieved the worst scores, with 38% and 45% respectively.

EE and the Post Office each managed 48%, while Sky and Virgin scored 49% and 52%.

Among the top scorers were Zen Internet, with 86%, followed by Utility Warehouse on 81% and John Lewis in third place on 68%.

Only four providers, Zen, Utility Warehouse, Virgin Media and Vodafone, scored more than three stars for speed.

You can find out more about the Which? survey here

Which? has been campaigning for better broadband speeds and has now set up a new, free speed trial tester.  Use this link to try it.