Three UK Extends 4G Mobile Cover on the London Underground
Mobile operator Three UK has today followed the earlier announcements from EE and Vodafone by confirming that their 4G (mobile broadband) network is also now live across six new stations on the London Underground (tube) network (here), covering parts of both the Central and Northern lines.
The latest expansion builds on the pilot coverage already available via the Jubilee line between Westminster and Canning Town. Coverage is now live at and between Holland Park, Notting Hill Gate and Queensway on the Central line, with Archway, Tufnell Park and Kentish Town on the Northern line also live. Following further testing over Christmas, this will then be extended to include Camden Town, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus in the New Year.
The new neutral host distributed antenna system (DAS) network, which is being built by BAI Communications for all mobile operators to access via wholesale, eventually aims to cover the entire London Underground by late 2024 (ticket halls, platforms and tunnels). For a more detailed summary, we recommend reading yesterday’s article. No doubt O2 (VMO2) will be making a similar announcement in the near future.
David Hennessy, Chief Technical Officer of Three UK, said:
“We’re delighted that Three customers will be able to enjoy great connectivity across more parts of London as we continue to extend our coverage across the entire Tube network.”
End.
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 and Linkedin.
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So again, o2 last to the party.
The change from O2 in wanting to be an innovator such as being first to get the iPhone and support all of the features such as visual voicemail, to where they are now with a network that barely functions has been a fairly phenomenal shift in not many years. We have customers do speed tests at new sites just to see what options are there for temporary or backup 4G connectivity, and O2 are consistently among the worst performing networks.
o2 are rubbish
While I understand the UK Tube network is complex and very limited in terms of space, yet I wonder how backward this country is. We are in 2024 and there is still no Mobile coverage for most of the Tube.
Countries like Sweden have had mobile coverage in the tube for the last 15 years. You got to wonder if the UK is even able to deliver this by 2024 as the article does elude to.
so what. It’s annoying. Oh hurdy gurdy listen to my super important business talk on the train. I prefer no signal on the tube thanks. Also sweden, lol, you mean Stockholm. Ever been to Upsala? Signal on the tunnelbana there? nope.
Germany is the same, been to both Hamburg and Berlin using both U Bahns deep underground and never had a issue with no signal, think how deep the Northern line can be and than imagine being able to access ISPreview etc…
As to FY Fan moaning that it would mean such investment would be annoying, well I’ve spent weeks out there travelling in what would be considered the peak or off peak travel and strange as it might sound, not once did I come across fellow passengers having a loud phone call that everyone could heard so I strongly suggest that it is just a figment of the poster’s over active imagination.
Nor do I hear people blast “music” from tinny speakers too.
As to Anon, I agree that this country is backwards thinking where investment is concerned as the country is led by NIMBYs and Accountants who count every penny like Scrooge vs Engineers who know what needs to be done and how for example take the roll out of 5G, improving existing 4G coverage or even if you want to look at other industries, the lack of drive for renewable energy such as wind farms or electrifying UK trains etc…
I’d like 3 to extend their 4G coverage in the CR0 postcode (London Borough) where I live as it’s basically nonexistent – sub 1Mbps download, and the uploads just timeout. Presumably it’s massively oversubscribed, but 3 don’t seem to care (I have complained to 3 to no avail).
The only reason I remain a 3 subscriber is because I have a 3 pico-cell at my parents (they have no coverage at all, from any mobile network).
The femtos were turned off months ago!
@Anonymous true, however I was unaware the femto service was ending when I renewed my elderly mum & dad with Three for another 2 years in November 2021, or even when I renewed myself with Three for another 12 months in June 2022, so I’ve got between 11 and 6 months before I can port all the accounts out of Three without taking a large early termination hit.
If the end of Home Signal service had been flagged up to me prior to renewal – not one of the 3 accounts received *any* Home Signal related communication or notification from Three that the service was ending – then I would most definitely not have renewed a single account.
I’m at my parents right now with the Home Signal permanently disconnected, and we can sometimes get 1 bar of Three 4G signal at the front of the house or in the garden if we are lucky, but typically no signal at all in the rest of the house. And forget about 5G. At least with the Home Signal, everyone had 3 or 4 (out of 4) bars of 3G.
My brother has a work phone on O2 which picks up a 2-3 bar 4G signal so that’s a huge improvement in the last 6 months or so, and it’s likely O2 will be the beneficiary when we port out of Three just as soon as we can.
Does this include MVNOs?
Yes it does.