After battling through a crowded station and finally finding an empty seat for the long journey ahead, many rail passengers reach for their phones to catch up on emails, browse social media or stream videos.
But for many travellers, this routine quickly ends in frustration.
New research from Ofcom has revealed that onboard WiFi on Britain’s trains rarely works to an acceptable standard – with figures showing it only works properly one per cent of the time.
The study reveals a major connectivity crisis for UK rail passengers, with Britain ranking among the worst-performing countries across Europe and Asia for WiFi reliability.
According to the study, only Austria and the Netherlands performed worse, while Sweden dominated the rankings with a median download speed of 64.6Mbps.
Ofcom found that, in the UK, nearly all train WiFi services failed to provide connections that support basic online activities, such as browsing websites, scrolling social media or making video calls.
The regulator blamed a combination of outdated technology, data caps imposed by train operators and ageing onboard equipment.
It also revealed nearly half of all rail WiFi connections still rely on standards dating back to 2009.
A new study by Ofcom found that onboard WiFi on UK trains rarely works to an acceptable standard, while good-quality mobile data is accessed only around a quarter of the time
As reported by The Telegraph, it said: ‘Across all lines, on-board WiFi met our good performance standard in only 1pc of tests, although on some journeys WiFi was not available or could not be tested.’
The watchdog also found that passengers equally cannot rely on mobile networks.
Across Britain’s railways, travellers were only able to access a good-quality mobile data connection around a quarter of the time on average.
Performance varied significantly between operators, with EE emerging as the strongest network, delivering a good connection on 42 per cent of measured journeys.
Three and O2 followed in second and third place, achieving good performance on 21 per cent and 20 per cent of journeys respectively, while Vodafone fell into fourth place at 17 per cent.
The research, conducted by mobile connectivity mapping company Streetwave between February and March, assessed 24 rail routes across the country.
Among the worst affected was the CrossCountry route between Basingstoke and Coventry, where passengers faced some of the poorest connectivity in the study.
The stretch between Oxford and Banbury was identified as a complete mobile data ‘not-spot’ with virtually no coverage, as reported by The Times.
CrossCountry’s onboard WiFi service also failed every performance test carried out on the route.
At the other end of the scale, the line between London Victoria and East Croydon offered the strongest mobile coverage.
A CrossCountry route between Basingstoke (pictured) and Oxford was found to have the poorest onboard connectivity in Streetwave’s study
Overall, however, Streetwave found that poor mobile performance occurred in between 58 and 83 per cent of tests, depending on the network provider.
According to Ofcom, ‘good performance’ is defined as download speeds of at least 5Mbps, upload speeds of 1.5Mbps or more, and latency of 50 milliseconds or lower – allowing passengers to make video calls, stream and generally browse.
In addition, onboard WiFi services failed the performance test on 22 of the 24 routes selected.
In one example, a Wi-Fi provider removed data restrictions during a journey on a Bournemouth route – and the good performance pass rate jumped from less than one per cent to 83 per cent.
The regulator said improving connectivity would require a national effort involving rail operators, mobile networks, infrastructure providers and local authorities.
The Government has already announced plans aimed at tackling signal blackspots, including the use of satellite technology for onboard connectivity and installing fibre-optic cables in tunnels and other locations that are typically difficult to reach.
But, what are rail operators and mobile networks really doing to actively improve the situation, and why does WiFi work so well on planes while it fails to meet basic standards on railways?
Tech and cybersecurity expert Jacob Kalvo, CEO at Live Proxies, said: ‘The reliability of WiFi on UK trains versus aeroplanes stems from how they connect to WiFi.
‘Most plane WiFi systems use separate satellites which can provide an unbroken connection for most or all of your flight. Trains, however, rely almost exclusively on terrestrial based mobile network systems.
‘As such, as you move rapidly past cell sites (and into tunnels, rural areas and urban centres) the train will repeatedly be changing to different cellular tower signals.
‘Additionally, each train serves as its own signal blocking mechanism due to being made up of metal and having insulated windows which disrupts mobile phone signals. Lastly, thousands of people riding on a single train are competing for bandwidth using a very finite amount of it.’
As for potential resolution, he added: ‘The big three carriers are improving their onboard routers to allow them to combine the multiple mobile networks available and are working with the telecommunications companies to improve the 4G and 5G service along rail lines.
‘In addition to this, there is still much older infrastructure supporting the majority of the UK rail system. There has been some effort to upgrade these sections of the system but there is a need for significant cooperation among train operating companies, telecommunication companies and governmental entities.’