UK’s best and worst areas for 4G coverage and speed

New research shows 4G service varies wildly across the UK’s 20 biggest cities.

Middlesbrough has the best mobile 4G coverage in Britain, according to new research from Which? and OpenSignal.

Residents in the Northern city enjoy 83% availability of 4G, compared to only 67.5% in Bournemouth which came last in the study of Britain’s 20 biggest cities.

However, just because you have access to 4G doesn’t mean you are necessarily enjoying super speedy mobile internet browsing.

Middlesbrough may have the most availability but it languishes in 15^th place when it comes to 4G speed. Here Stoke-on-Trent came out on top with the fastest download speed, meanwhile Brighton has the slowest 4G.

“The mobile data experience isn’t the same in every city for UK consumers,” says Brendan Gill, CEO and co-founder of OpenSignal. “Users found LTE signals more often in Middlesbrough than in Manchester and faster 4G connections in Stoke than in London.”

Find out how your area ranked in the tables below.

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Best cities for 4G availability

Ranking	City	4G availability
1	Middlesbrough/Teesside	82.7%
2	Sheffield	79.3%
3	Sunderland	79.0%
4	Leicester	78.6%
5	Leeds/West Yorkshire	78.2%
6	Liverpool	78.1%
7	Newcastle/Tyneside	77.9%
8	Birmingham/West Midlands	77.5%
9	Glasgow	77.5%
10	Edinburgh	77.0%
11	Bristol	75.9%
12	Manchester	75.3%
13	Brighton and Hove	75.2%
14	Coventry	74.8%
15	Stoke-on-Trent	74.3%
16	London	73.6%
17	Nottingham	73.3%
18	Cardiff	71.8%
19	Southampton/Portsmouth	69.6%
20	Bournemouth/Poole	67.5%

Best cities for 4G speed

Ranking	City	4G speed (Mbps)
1	Stoke-on-Trent	26.6
2	Coventry	24.8
3	Leicester	24.4
4	Liverpool	24.4
5	Nottingham	24.2
6	Birmingham/West Midlands	24.1
7	Manchester	23.4
8	Bournemouth/Poole	23.1
9	Sunderland	22.8
10	Southampton/Portsmouth	22.6
11	Newcastle/Tyneside	22.5
12	Leeds/West Yorkshire	22.5
13	Glasgow	21.9
14	Sheffield	21.3
15	Middlesbrough/Teesside	20.8
16	London	20.5
17	Edinburgh	20.4
18	Bristol	18.8
19	Cardiff	17.7
20	Brighton and Hove	17.6

Getting a better service

Which? is now calling on Ofcom to step in and force mobile phone networks to improve the speed of 4G and network coverage.

“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,” says Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services.

“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.”

How to check coverage in your area

If you are thinking of switching providers make sure you check coverage in your area.

You can look at the strength of signal both both indoors and outdoors by using Ofgem’s coverage app which is available on both Apple and Android.

Just make sure to check your workplace as well as home to find a suitable provider.

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