Glasgow extends middle finger to southern fairies as London ranks bottom in mobile signal top 10

England's capital ranks last among the 10 largest cities in the UK for mobile network quality, according to crowdsourced mobile data researcher Tutela.

London's mobile networks met Tutela's thresholds for "excellent" consistent quality 74.4 per cent of the time. Meanwhile, Glasgow, which topped the league table, provided its mobile network users with an "excellent" experience 78.4 per cent of the time.

The "excellent" standard is determined by a set of thresholds, such as whether the network can handle HD video streaming, group video calling and online multiplayer mobile gaming.

That is despite both cities having similar median download speeds – 13Mbps in London compared to 12.9Mbps in Glasgow. The company noted that the results reinforce how different mobile network components contribute to user experience.

Tutela veep Tom Luke commented: "It's a surprise to see London at the bottom of the list... but no doubt reflective of the challenges of ensuring mobile quality in such a densely populated, data-hungry city."

He added that coverage in London is comparable to Wales in Tutela's recent State of Mobile Networks Report on the UK.

"The challenge for operators going forward will be finding the right balance between ensuring adequate capacity in busy urban areas, expanding rural coverage and making the most of the potential of 5G. This will be critical for success in enabling better mobile experiences and succeeding in an ever more competitive mobile marketplace going forward."

Its findings were based on crowdsourced anonymous data and network tests over 3,000 consumer applications on iOS and Android devices. The report is based on 16 million speed tests and 258 million latency tests from 1 March to 31 August 2019.

The report also found that Leicester has the fastest download speeds in the UK, with a median of 14.5Mbps (based on measurements across all networks and all times of day).

EE delivered the best mobile quality in eight out of the 10 cities tested, while Vodafone was the best provider for excellent consistent quality in both Glasgow and Liverpool.

BT's mobile arm also proved to be the fastest network in all cities on average, with the highest median download throughput out of any of the "big four" operators. ®