Mobile phone users in Brighton have poor access to a 4G signal and the slowest download speeds out of 20 of Britain’s biggest cities, according to new research.
Average 4G availability was 75.2 per cent, according to the consumer watchdog Which? using data produced by the wireless coverage mapping business OpenSignal.
Out of the 20 cities, Brighton came 20th for download speeds and 13th for 4G signal availability.
The figures ranked Britain as 54th in the world for 4G availability, using data from an earlier OpenSignal report.
Which? said: “Unique analysis of over 500 million data readings, taken from over 30,000 users of the OpenSignal app, revealed that phone users in Middlesbrough were able to access a 4G signal 82.7 per cent of the time.
“That meant it came first in our rankings of 4G availability across 20 of the biggest cities in the UK.
“Sheffield came second in our rankings, with residents able to access 4G 79.3 per cent of the time, and Sunderland was third.
“Surprisingly, London only came 16th while phone users in Bournemouth had the least chance of getting a 4G phone signal of the 20 cities we analysed, only able to access the faster speeds it offers 67.5 per cent of the time.
“However, residents of all 20 cities enjoy a better 4G experience than the UK population as a whole.
“Poorer coverage in more rural areas means that the average UK phone user can only access 4G 65.1 per cent of the time – though our analysis shows that this is getting better.
“Yet, while phone users in Middlesbrough have the best chance of getting a 4G signal, the average 4G speed that they receive – 20.8Mbps (megabits per second) – is one of the slowest that we tracked in our city-level analysis.
“And while this speed is still faster than many home broadband connections, it only placed Middlesbrough in 15th spot in our rankings.”
The average speed in Brighton was 17.6mbps, compared with 26.6mbps in Stoke, which topped the table.
The research covers the three months to the end of February.
Which? said that the next government should work with Ofcom and mobile phone providers to improve performance and service for customers.
Which? managing director of home products and services Alex Neill said: “These latest findings underline the need for Ofcom to keep the pressure on mobile operators so that every part of the country gets a decent service on their mobile phone.
Very interesting comparison, but what do the differences in speed across the country really matter?
If you can get 17.6 mbps in Brighton this is more than double the bit rate needed for an 1080i HD TV channel – what speed do you actually need for mobile access?
Isn’t this plenty fast enough for mobile access if you can apparently get up to 300 mbps from Virgin Media or 76 mbps for fibre to your home.