Nottingham fourth worst major city in the UK for 4G mobile data availability

Woman-on-the-Phone

Nottingham has been rated as the fourth worst major city in the UK for how accessible 4G mobile data is.

Nottingham came 17th out of 20 cities in a study which measured 4G access across the UK.

The report, by consumer group Which? and phone analytics company OpenSignal, also found Nottingham was rated as the fifth highest city for 4G speeds.

An average speed of 24.2 Mbps was recorded in Nottingham, a measurement of the speed of data transfer.

The overall 4G availability across the UK is 65 per cent, meaning mobile users cannot access 4G around a third of the time.

Alex Neill, Managing director of home products and services at Which?, 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.

“Our mobile phone is central to how we live our lives and that is why it is so frustrating when we can’t access emails or browse the internet on the go.”

Which? is calling for the government to work with Ofcom to make sure performance and service for customers is improved in the mobile market.

A report from OpenSignal in November 2016 found the UK had an average of 58 per cent 4G accessibility rate, ranking it 54th in the world, behind countries such as Estonia and Peru.

Co-founder of OpenSignal Brendan Gill said: “The mobile data experience isn’t the same in every city for UK consumers.

“OpenSignal users found signals more often in Middlesbrough than in Manchester and faster 4G connections in Stoke than London.”

Middlesbrough was rated as the best city for 4G access, with 83 per cent availability, with Bournemouth the worst at 68 per cent.

London came 16th in the table, just above Nottingham.

data-4g-table
The full Which? 4G data league table.

In terms of download speeds across the UK, Stoke-on-Trent was found to be the fastest city with Brighton the slowest.

The OpenSignal data takes a background reading every minute from a typical mobile phone user as they move around the area they live, work or travel on a daily basis.

OpenSignal uses analysis of more than 500 million readings from mobile phones taken from more than 30,000 users to generate findings.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has already announced in November £1 billion will be spent to spread fibre data networks and 5G – the next stage of mobile data – across the UK.

“Our future transport, business and lifestyle needs will require world class digital infrastructure to underpin them. So my ambition is for the UK to be a world leader in 5G,” he said.