4G

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else have issues in being able to get a good 4G signal on a train. I have a great/perfect signal through my EEcwork phone, but O2 can’t seem to keep up?

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

Yes, very common unfortunately.

[jonsie]

EE seem to have far better coverage overall than O2 so I would expect this. I've never really had a strong signal on trains with O2 though my experience is limited to the Manchester area. 

[jezza1234]

This is not uncommon im affraid. It is mainly due to the frequncies that the different networks use for 4G.

O2 uses 800mghz 4G which is very good for distance but unfortunately suiffers with capacity. If you are travelling on a train which is invariably a crowded environment the liklelyhood is that there are a large number of people accessing 4G and unfortunately when capacity is reached on a site everything else is pushed to 3G.

EE uses 1800mghz 4G which has poorer distance but greater capacity which is why your EE phone often will get 4G coverage on the train.

Hope this helps to explain the why anyway

[Skyhawk1010]

Sadly any phone coverage in my considerable commuting and mobile phone usage experience is notoriously patchy and unpredictable.

In the words of ‘What Mobile?’ Magazine a few years back they are all equally bad.

An example.

I would travel regularly between Leicester and Nottingham just as 4G wavs launched. I took two Samsung Galaxy Note 4 handsets, one with an EE SIM the other with a Vodafone SIM. Despite all the claims, both networks were poor with frequent droppped signals not just in tunnels either . This didn’t change much from leaving Syston in Leicester to getting to Beeston in Nottingham. Now for the weird bit. Going to Nottingham coverage wise was patchy but I noticed on the return it was worse still. The position the train on the track could determine whether I got a signal or not.

O2 tend to work mostly on the 800mHz frequency for 4G and will tend to be better for use on trains, everything else being equal. However O2 have less masts and bandwidth allocation than EE although they’re refarming a fair old chunk of their 3G allocation to partially overcome this,  

Marc Allera the chief bod at EE has recognised theres an issue here hinting that EE will be concentrating on alleviating this obvious hole in their network. And everyone else needs to do likewise ASAP.