Which? and OpenSignal analysed over 500m data readings, taken from over 30,000 users of the OpenSignal app to discover which areas of the country have the best 4G mobile signals and found that you’re unlikely to get a decent mobile broadband signal at least a third of the time.
Mobile phone customers in the north east of England have the best chance of getting a 4G mobile phone signal
Users in Middlesbrough were able to access a 4G signal 82.7% of the time coming first in the rankings of 4G availability across 20 of the biggest cities in the UK. It’s not all good news though, the average 4G speed that they receive – 20.8Mbps – is one of the slowest that tracked in the city-level analysis.
Sheffield came second with residents able to access 4G 79.3% 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% 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% of the time.
Can you rely on 4G where you live and work? In my house it’s spotty and I lose the signal in the middle of the house. I know I have WiFI, but surely these days 4G should be everywhere, if not in the middle of the countryside then at least indoors in every major town and city in the UK.
| 1 | Middlesbrough | 82.7% | 1 | Stoke-on-Trent | 26.6Mbps |
| 2 | Sheffield | 79.3% | 2 | Coventry | 24.8Mbps |
| 3 | Sunderland | 79% | 3 | Leicester | 24.4Mbps |
| 4 | Leicester | 78.6% | 4 | Liverpool | 24.4Mbps |
| 5 | Leeds | 78.2% | 5 | Nottingham | 24.2Mbps |
| 6 | Liverpool | 78.1% | 6 | Birmingham | 24.1Mbps |
| 7 | Newcastle | 77.9% | 7 | Manchester | 23.4Mbps |
| 8 | Birmingham | 77.5% | 8 | Bournemouth | 23.1Mbps |
| 9 | Glasgow | 77.5% | 9 | Sunderland | 22.8Mbps |
| 10 | Edinburgh | 77% | 10 | Southampton | 22.6Mbps |
| 11 | Bristol | 75.9% | 11 | Newcastle | 22.5Mbps |
| 12 | Manchester | 75.3% | 12 | Leeds | 22.5Mbps |
| 13 | Brighton | 75.2% | 13 | Glasgow | 21.9Mbps |
| 14 | Coventry | 74.8% | 14 | Sheffield | 21.3Mbps |
| 15 | Stoke-on-Trent | 74.3% | 15 | Middlesbrough | 20.8Mbps |
| 16 | London | 73.6% | 16 | London | 20.5Mbps |
| 17 | Nottingham | 73.3% | 17 | Edinburgh | 20.4Mbps |
| 18 | Cardiff | 71.8% | 18 | Bristol | 18.8Mbps |
| 19 | Southampton | 69.6% | 19 | Cardiff | 17.7Mbps |
| 20 | Bournemouth | 67.5% | 20 | Brighton | 17.6Mbps |
