Streetwave UK Surveys Mobile Network Coverage on the River Thames

Network analyst firm Streetwave has today published the results from a new study they conducted, which examined mobile network (4G, 5G) coverage and mobile broadband performance across part of the River Thames (Putney Pier to Westminster Pier) in London, while travelling onboard an Uber Boat (Thames Clippers). Vodafone came out on top.

The live survey, which used Streetwave’s portable network measurement and monitoring kit, was conducted during the afternoon rush hour on 20th May 2026 (3:40pm to 4:29pm). The kit captured real-world signal quality and service speeds across one of London’s busiest commuter river routes.

All four of the major UK operators – EE, O2, Vodafone and Three UK – were found to have delivered strong ‘Basic Coverage‘ scores along the route. Streetwave also measured ‘Good Coverage‘, a higher threshold that reflects the speeds needed for video calls and data-intensive tasks, where results varied more between networks and O2 was particularly poor.

Streetwave defines Basic Coverage as reflecting locations where the mobile network provides users with data speeds of above 1Mbps download, 0.5Mbps upload, and below 100ms (milliseconds) of latency (i.e. supporting only the most basic of use cases or needs).

The company also defines Good Coverage as being locations where the mobile networks provide at least 5Mbps download, 1.5Mbps upload, and less than 50ms latency – supporting a wider range of everyday tasks including video calls, remote working, and higher quality streaming. The results were as follows.

Basic Coverage Scores

Good Coverage Scores