Rubbish 4G Speeds

[Anonymous]

Has anyone else noticed ridiculously slow 4G speeds in central London?

This has been ongoing for a few months now, basically since I have been upgraded to a 20GB data p/m plan which raises the question of being throttled by the network.

The first two screenshots were taken in a park 5m between each other, the third was inside my building where I work. Notice how I have FULL 4G SIGNAL and these are the speeds I get on my handset.

[MI5]

Yes, it has been reported by others on the 20gb tariff.
No one on here will be surprised if it's throttled although I doubt O2 would admit it.

[Anonymous]

Great thanks for the reply, it's clearly time to leave

[jonsie]

The excuse will be congestion.... 

[MI5]

Unfortunately, they do seem to like shooting themselves in the foot!

[MI5]

Just as a check, does the needle bounce up higher then drop quickly when you start the test or does it struggle to get going from the start?

[Anonymous]

Good question, with the download it struggles to get anywhere above 1mbps but with the upload I noticed it does start very high (~35mbps) before crashing to 0 and staying there

[MI5]

It's not an exact science, but a high jump at the start can indicate throttling as the restriction kicks in.
Congestion will certainly be an issue in Central London, and I suspect the data speeds are "managed" rather than outright throttled tbh.
I'd try out some other PAYG sim cards and see if you can find one that delivers the speeds you need in the places you go and make a decision based on your findings.

[Anonymous]

That was my thinking regarding the PAYG sim cards.

I have noticed whilst being located anywhere near Waterloo Station there is almost no connectivity on the handset. This is from loading a web page / loading train times on the National Rail app, it could take up to 4-5m to complete.

What are they doing to solve the congestion on their network?

[MI5]

Investing £2 million a day in network improvements, but they don't tell us where until the work is done.