A campaign to improve Britain's phone signal.
London
Joined November 2025
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Ofcom's speed map claims 96% of the country has 4G coverage. We're pretty sure that's wrong. Download the Buffering Britain App so we can crowdsource real-world data to hold them to account.
Buffering Britain retweeted
Britain’s mobile phone network is really unfit for purpose. Particularly when doing what a MOBILE network is supposed to do — moving!
I’m on @EE which is supposed to have the best coverage in U.K. - it’s awful!
This isn’t an inherent problem with 5G. Other countries have deployed the same technology far more successfully. Opensignal ranks Britain LAST among 29 European markets for mobile network performance. Denmark achieves 226 Mbps average download speeds against Britain’s 84 Mbps.
So what went wrong?
5G typically uses higher frequencies than legacy networks, with shorter effective range and poorer penetration into buildings and vehicles. Reliable coverage therefore requires sufficient mast density, capacity and overlapping cells to maintain connectivity during handovers.
Britain hasn’t invested adequately in that infrastructure. Much of our 5G still depends on 4G architecture, while the closure of 3G has removed a legacy fallback. Add network congestion, patchy rural coverage and unreliable handovers, and the result is familiar: phones displaying 5G but unable to transfer data, connections disappearing on motorways and trains, and calls dropping mid-conversation.
And where is @Ofcom?
It proudly reports 99%+ outdoor 4G premises coverage. But that figure is based on predicted signal strength, NOT independently verified, continuous connectivity. Indeed, Ofcom’s own figures show that only 84% of UK landmass has predicted good 4G coverage from all operators.
A signal at a stationary address is not the same as a usable connection travelling at 70 mph.
Ofcom has overseen the transition to 5G and the retirement of 3G without ensuring that network resilience, capacity and reliable handovers meet the needs of mobile users.
Why aren’t operators required to demonstrate real-world connectivity along roads and railways, with published measurements of dropped calls, failed handovers and data interruptions?
We have confused the availability of a technology with the delivery of a service.
A mobile network that cannot reliably maintain a connection while mobile is fundamentally failing its purpose.
Ofcom should be held accountable.
Buffering Britain retweeted
Mad & maddening to spend every train journey in UK failing to get on/stay on WiFi and struggling for phone signal, yet in 3rd class on pretty basic Indian trains this summer the phone signal was phenomenal and could even watch videos…all for £4 per month for calls and data….🤷♀️😡
While candidates resorted to divisive gesture politics during the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, they ignored a real issue: phone signal in the constituency is awful.
Data from our app shows that 35% of the constituency has poor connectivity and 17% is a complete black spot.
It’s disappointing that such an important issue to the residents, and all those who visit the constituency every day, has been ignored during the campaign.
Buffering Britain retweeted
Good piece in The Times today on why arcane planning rules are holding back London’s connectivity, which I was delighted to provide a quote for. Buffering Britain’s app, developed by @Jack_Nostalgic, also features. The momentum continues!
Join us and @lfg_uk next Saturday for a massive game of hide and seek in central London to find out just how bad phone signal is!
We're teaming up with @lfg_uk and Chicken Rush for a massive game of hide and seek around London, showing just how bad mobile signal is in the capital. Join us on 19 September!
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London has the worst mobile phone signal out of any major European city.
The good news? We are doing something about it.
@LFG_Westminster, @BufferingBrit, and Chicken Rush are running a game of hide and seek in London on the 19th of September.
Contestants will be chasing a giant chicken across London whilst testing the phone signal.
Amazingly, this game is still not as ridiculous as London's phone signal.
Are you joining us? ⬇️
Buffering Britain retweeted
Celebrating having absolutely no phone signal at the top of one of Wales’s highest mountains!
@BufferingBrit
Buffering Britain retweeted
Love this app. I struggle for signal in my village, despite numerous attempts to tell my network provider (EE) this will hopefully go some way to prove it. Keep up the cracking work @BufferingBrit
Buffering Britain retweeted
Finding @BufferingBrit app fascinating: solid LHR T4; #blackspot Street, Somerset; and St Albans, Herts - Usable
Buffering Britain retweeted
Join and let's show finally how bad signal actually is!
It's pathetic that we don't build new masts, and even worse that so many officials and politicians pretend that it's fine!
Come to our event on 19 September in London! luma.com/lfg-qegm
When we launched our app last month, Ofcom said we were wrong about their data, and doubled down on their claim that 96% of Brits have 4G good coverage.
Since then, thousands of you have downloaded the app, running over 25,000 signal tests. These tests show that real world connectivity is much worse than Ofcom suggests, with 1-in-5 struggling to make calls, and 2-in-5 struggle to stream content.
That data features in today’s Mail on Sunday, with a useful interactive map. You can see that map in more detail in our app or on our website.
Keep submitting tests in the app - we’re building an evidence base the government can’t ignore!
'Overloaded' UK mobile network is so poor one in five struggle to make calls trib.al/24hjhJc
Come to our event on 19 September in London! luma.com/lfg-qegm
Buffering Britain retweeted
I always known my phone signal was bad in a lot of places.
It's only since starting to log this in the @BufferingBrit app that I've realised had consistently poor it is almost everywhere in the country.
The data clearly shows significant infrastructure upgrades are needed.
When we launched our app last month, Ofcom said we were wrong about their data, and doubled down on their claim that 96% of Brits have 4G good coverage.
Since then, thousands of you have downloaded the app, running over 25,000 signal tests. These tests show that real world connectivity is much worse than Ofcom suggests, with 1-in-5 struggling to make calls, and 2-in-5 struggle to stream content.
That data features in today’s Mail on Sunday, with a useful interactive map. You can see that map in more detail in our app or on our website.
Keep submitting tests in the app - we’re building an evidence base the government can’t ignore!
Buffering Britain retweeted
Another problem is that regulators are obsessed with reducing prices, not increasing quality. The net effect is that a few people on the margins can afford something they don't really need, while everyone else has to put up with second-rate services. – at Deal, England
When we launched our app last month, Ofcom said we were wrong about their data, and doubled down on their claim that 96% of Brits have 4G good coverage.
Since then, thousands of you have downloaded the app, running over 25,000 signal tests. These tests show that real world connectivity is much worse than Ofcom suggests, with 1-in-5 struggling to make calls, and 2-in-5 struggle to stream content.
That data features in today’s Mail on Sunday, with a useful interactive map. You can see that map in more detail in our app or on our website.
Keep submitting tests in the app - we’re building an evidence base the government can’t ignore!