Streetwave Rank 20 London Boroughs by Level of Good Mobile Cover

Mobile network analyst firm Streetwave has today published a new study that attempts to rank 20 of London’s Boroughs based on the level of “Good Mobile Coverage” they receive from the UK’s mobile network operators. Overall, Southwark had the highest average levels of Good Coverage (76.3%), while Barnet had the lowest (48%).

Streetwave typically adopts a scientific approach to their studies (i.e. they don’t use crowdsourcing), which collects data on an address-by-address basis and is designed to represent real-world consumer experience. The study is also network generation agnostic, meaning they don’t prioritise any connection technology type (2G to 5G) and allow each operator to manage them in the same way a consumer would be managed by the network.

In terms of the new study, the stated measure of “Good Mobile Coverage” has been defined as the percentage of locations where a mobile operator, typically using 4G and 5G technologies, can simultaneously offer users at least 5Mbps of mobile broadband download and 2Mbps of upload speeds (i.e. enough for most typical or basic mobile use cases and needs).

The final score was then calculated by taking the average level of ‘Good Coverage’ within each council from the four main mobile networks in the UK: EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media), Three UK and Vodafone. But sadly, we only get an overall total for each borough and there’s no breakdown for each area by mobile operator, which would have been useful to see.

However, the 28.3% difference in ‘Good Coverage’ levels, between the best and worst boroughs, does appear to show the sharp contrast in mobile network quality within different parts of London for residents, businesses and visitors.

Results – 20 London Boroughs Ranked by “Good” Mobile Cover