O2 UK extends 5G standalone mobile broadband network to Cumbria
Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has this morning announced that they’ve switched-on their next-generation 5G Standalone (5G+) mobile broadband network in the Cumbria area, which is said to reach up to 219,000 people in Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness, Workington and Ulverston etc. – delivering “faster speeds, better coverage and lower latency at no extra cost.”
O2’s rollout of 5G+ first began in February 2024 (here) and aims to reach “at least 90% outdoor coverage” in every location they cover. The operator’s latest deployment in Cumbria is said to benefit communities from Carlisle and West Cumbria to the Furness coast and the county’s market towns (some of this went live a little while ago and is only now being confirmed).
The new 5G+ network is currently live across over 86% of the UK’s population. The technology offers a pure end-to-end 5G network that can deliver ultra-low latency times, greater energy efficiency, better speeds (particularly uploads), network slicing, improved support for IoT devices, increased reliability and security etc. By comparison, early 5G networks used a Non-Standalone (NSA) approach, which was hobbled by being partly reliant upon older and slower 4G infrastructure.
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The full list of locations (towns and cities) in Cumbria able to access it include Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness, Workington, Ulverston, Walney, Millom, Keswick, Seaton, Askam-in-Furness, Appleby, Arnside, Milnthorpe, Sedbergh and Longtown.
The new network is typically available to O2’s customers with compatible devices, although we still wish that mobile network operators would supply geographic coverage figures for their 5G+ network too. Population figures always sound good, but the reality is often very patchy.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Awful network. The absolute worst of the 3.
Switch off free to air Ariel not due until 2034/40 why is virgin /O2 clinging onto next generation 5g now, they Virginia held back couple week ago waited other ,mobile internet
Proiders clear all and returned to normal free to sit TV Ariel programmes,
Virgin /O2 changed all this swiped all BBC free TVs off the airwaves kept for themselves
That not way transition to switch of Freeview television channels, by putting their poles in line to gain overpowering signal and take away frequency to black out Ariel television to gain revenue by stealth take away entertainment from public don’t have or afford broadband/ or even WiFi, stealing others fun causing misery. Leaving would be hopeful viewer have their sets restored proper viewing without forceful means.