Mini trip report about terrible cell service in London

I think we determined that EE possibly throttle T-Mobile customers in the UK because it's a depreciated brand here and there may be some bad blood. I'm not what you would call a heavy data user, but I've never had any problems and I've been on EE for maybe close to 10 years . IT folks at work told me Vodafone is the best network in central London because they have so many corporate customers to satisfy. That was a few years ago and may have changed.

I was in London last May and also have T-mobile. I had a terrible time too. I had fallen off a bike and wanted to get it xrayed and had a hard time getting through to a private clinic and then when I did the call dropped.

I have been on Greek islands and had no trouble. So it is London.

I used T-Mobile seamlessly in London last year. I think sometimes you have to go into your network options and take the 'automatically select network' option off.

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/tutorials/device/t-mobile/revvlry-plus/topic/connections-amp-network/manual-network-selection

Did you get the T-Mobile International Pass to use? The last two times I was in the UK - first in London two years ago with dd, then in Orkney and Mull, in Scotland, last year with dh - we got it and it worked great.

Each time, I wasn’t sure how regular TMobile would work for speed, etc, because even though we have never had a problem in the past with getting good data/connections, the last time we used it prior to those two trips was pre-2020. That’s why we opted to get it the last two years.

For those two trips, we each had a cell phone, but only got the international plan loaded onto one phone (10-day, 5gb high speed international data and unlimited free calling) and just used that phone for almost everything data related. The other phone we just had the regular TMobile service and really only used it for Wi-Fi and taking pix.

If you had the International Pass, and still had trouble, I might have to look at other options for our upcoming trip. 😬

I’ve also have T-Mobile and have had sporadic problems in London. In 2023, I had numerous issues but in 2024 it worked pretty well. What was interesting about 2023 was that I was in London at the beginning and end of my trip. It worked fine during my first week in the UK but several weeks later when I returned I had issues..

I have one of the older plans which only provides the slower speed data internationally. I pay the $50 to upgrade to high-speed data for 30 days because it is still less expensive than changing to one of the newer , more expensive plans

If you don't have an international pass, TMO is 256Kbps in England. It's the same in Italy, where my brother said it is unbearably slow for his lightweight use. He said that loading directions on Google Maps took 90+ seconds. (He hadn't downloaded the map for offline.)

In Greece, one of the 11 countries where TMO plans include high speed coverage, performance was great. Not so much in Albania, which is also 256Kbps.

When I go to England in June (or any country that isn't one of the 11 with high speed) I'll buy the international pass. After a few of those, I'll have to decide whether to switch back to Google Fi.

T-Mobile doesn't have any network infrastructure in the UK. Your T-Mobile account will drop you on one of the local networks (EE, Vodafone, Three and O2).

It was me who mentioned it.

The folks at T-Mobile told me that EE is their best partner in the UK for speed. But, they only promise speeds up to 256k in the UK for the included international plan. That's slow.

I've also had slow speeds with two different esims. One was so bad in Scotland (Airalo) that their tech people couldn't figure out the problem and refunded my money.

I was in London in November and I have TMobile too. I didn't have any issues. We have an old plan they don't even offer anymore. I actually still have the "welcome to United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland!" text they sent me. I have unlimited data with speeds up to 256 kbps plus unlimited texts.

I spent most of my time in the area around and east of Millenium Bridge. I don't know if the part of town would have made a difference, but I used my data and GPS pretty much the entire time with no issues.

The best bet in the UK is always going to be getting a SIM or eSim locally. Even the ultra cheapies like Lebara, Lyca or Smarty. I'd avoid plans from US operators or these travel eSIMS like Airolo personally.

It won’t help you now, but they have international support: +1-505-998-3793. They may have been able to help troubleshoot.

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/international-roaming-checklist#:~:text=what%20to%20expect.-,Contact%20T%2DMobile%20while%20abroad,no%20matter%20where%20you%20are.

256 kbps is an insult and an absolute scam to make people pay for. I just ran a speed test on EE here at home in my basement flat and the three times I ran it I was getting between 30mb/s and 40mb/s on 4G on an 8 year old phone.

I’m on Vodaphone have terrible signal in London. The phone signal is just bad there in any network. It can’t cope with the number of people all trying to access it simultaneously. I mentioned on your other thread that’s it’s partly because the government stripped out any infrastructure supplied by Huawei for security reasons.

I do what CWsocial does, well, what my wife does. I just use the Tmobile slow speed data. At least in Ireland, it wasn't too bad, I could send text pictures and see a few websites. On our next trip, I'll bring a backup phone with a Roamless Esim, and use that for data if I need higher speed.

Yes, definitely been a lack of investment in infrastructure the last few years that has had a detrimental effect. Still, get on a local provider if you can. Data here must be some of the cheapest globally, or at least in the west.

The best bet in the UK is always going to be getting a SIM or eSim
locally.

I’ve never had any issues with Verizon in England or Scotland. My sister, brother-in-law and I were in London as recently as last Oct. We all have Verizon, and our phones worked just as they do at home. No issues with connecting when out and about using the maps app or city mapper app on our phones.

I’ve never had any issues with Verizon in England or Scotland.

Did you notice which network(s) that connected you to? Did you pay a lot of money for it?

[edit: Reddit tells me it uses Vodafone, Three and O2]

Well, I know it was London related because as soon as I got to Paris, the problem went away.

I might try the suggestion above of turning off the automatic selection of the network next time and see if that works. If not, and if EE pops up again, I'm just getting a SIM. I was in London last year and didn't have any problem that I remember, so I don't know what the matter was this year.

And quite frankly, I would have killed for 256mb, but I wasn't even getting that. I was getting zilch.

Mardee, I arrived in London on Tuesday. As I normally do upon landing, I turned off Airplane mode and waited for the phone to connect to the local network. But it didn't.

So, I restarted the phone as T-mobile told me to try if I had that problem. It worked. The data speed wasn't great, but at least it connected.

Frank, that's brilliant and definitely what I should have done. When in doubt, restart. I will definitely try that next time.

And you know, now that I think about it, I did not get a welcome message when we got into London. I did when we hit Paris, but not when we first arrived. That's very interesting. Thanks!

I switched back to T-Mobile in 2023 after a trip to London in late 2022 equipped with my phone on Verizon. I had a terrible time with Verizon even with paying for their $10/day travel plan. My two return trips to London on T-Mobile’s plan faired only slightly better. Now, I don’t holiday in the UK without adding a data ESIM, which allows my iPhone to toggle between each eSIM. That set up works fine. I suppose my point is don’t think this is solely a T-Mobile issue. So many people in London with their smartphones and only so much high speed data to go around.

I'm so glad my HOA provides us with Spectrum cable TV and internet service, because it allows us to use Spectrum mobile service. It uses Verizon network in the US, and whatever Verizon connects to overseas. Texts overseas are free (both incoming and outgoing), and calls are cheap, usually 5 cents/minute or less). Anyone who has Spectrum cable and/or internet should consider using their cell service. We've never had a problem with cell service in Europe.

jphbucks, I'm glad that works for you! I don't have access to Spectrum where I live, but honestly I love T-Mobile and don't want to change. I've never had a problem with it before in any other city (or even in the rest of the UK) so if the only problem is a glitch in London, I will happy buy a $5 data eSIM for the usually short amount of time I am there, and use my free international plan the rest of the trip. :-)

I watch some people live streaming marches and whatever from central London sometimes and there's definitely dead spots. It's a tough environment because of the density of architecture and the sheer numbers of people on each tower and network segment.

The picture can be really bad on the livestream sometimes. The best live streamers carry a router and antenna in a backpack and bond three or four SIMS to make one connection that's on three or four different networks. That's how pros get high data rates in central London, or any big city for that matter.

I was quite impressed by the speed when I did a test on EE yesterday, considering signal in the basement of this old building isn't perfect. I have a cell mast almost within line of sight from my backyard 200 or 300 yards away.

I think someone's tip of trying to force it to look for other networks if you're a T-Mobile customer is good. I'm not sure which networks have roaming arrangements with T-Mobile in the UK.

force it to look for other networks

That's a valuable thing to try. I have a Tmobile sim and can't get any coverage at a remote cabin in the woods. I tried scanning and I found AT&T, and Verizon had signals, but my Tmobile sim would not allow my phone to register on either of them. It means Tmobile did not have an agreement with whoever had those transponders on that tower. Years earlier, my AT&T sim connected and worked fine. Online later, I found that all three networks were on the same tower, but the Tmoble signal was probably a higher frequency band, and I couldn't receive it.

So bottom line, it's very informative to scan for signals, but if your carrier won't roam to another, it won't help. If you look into a particular Esim, pay attention to what carriers it says it will use. If it just says it will use O2, then scanning won't let you use another, stronger signal. And in a big city (or anywhere) one signal will be better than another. Carriers use quite a few "bands", and the higher frequency bands won't go as far, and won't penetrate walls and trees as well. Important if you are in a basement.

So it's much better to get an Esim that specifies three networks it works with, rather than one.

Sorry you had so much trouble, Mardee!
My phone doesn’t support e-sims.
Every time I go to the UK I get a giff-gaff SIM card in advance by mail.
Put it in the phone on the plane, and it connects instantly upon touchdown.
For a two to three week trip, it costs about CAN $18. and works really well with no problems and more data , calls and texts than I could use in months!
It also roams in the EU with no extra charges.

https://www.giffgaff.com/

I’ve also used LeBara simcards , bought on arrival, with great results.

Doesn’t help you now, but maybe for next time.

Every time I go to the UK I get a giff-gaff SIM card in advance by mail.

Thanks, S J, but my iPhone 14 does not have a physical slot for a SIM card. I can only use eSIMs with it. It's unlocked so it's not a problem for me to get one.

I had issues in London this February with my iphone. I called them and got transferred to their tech group. They had to call my husbands phone since my service was so bad. They verified that I was supposed to be 5G (I paid for a week international plan). After trouble shooting a few things, T Mobile re-pushed the service. After that, the speed got a lot better. It's not the first time I've had to call. Had issues once in Lisbon too and T Mobile had to trouble shoot that too. I find their tech team pretty good with working thru these issues. The phone call is free if you call from a phone that has T Mobile. I believe the number is 611 from your phone.

You can get 10GB of mobile data for £2.38 GBP on Lebara at the moment (on Vodafone).

Unlimited data for £15.00 GBP on iD Mobile (on Three). Unlimited data is £9.98 GBP on Lebara.

An eSIM or physical SIM can be chosen when you're purchasing I think. All include EU roaming and some international calls I believe.

You'll find deals on UK SIMs and eSIMs from resellers on eBay and Amazon too.

https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/compare/sim_only_deals/

Giffgaff also does eSIMs - highly recommended.

Relative to the GiffGaff conversation, they use the O2 network. I use O2 and have for years and never have any significant trouble with getting O2 5G in London. Works well in my car and in my hand.

There have been a few times in Milton Keynes, an hour north of London where I get plenty of 5G bars but the data drops. Usually around Costco.... hmmmm.

All this to say that GiffGaff is a good idea.

I have T-mobile and purchase the international pass. My service was great in London in 2022 and 2023. Last June when I was in London, it was dismal at best which made navigating difficult.

This year I am going to download a map of London on Google Maps. Apparently, downloading a map will maintain your route (if it’s within the boundaries of the map) if service is lost.

I hope this works since navigation is one of my biggest needs for service.

Lynn, In hindsight, I probably should have tried calling T-Mobile, but I get easily distracted especially with two kids along. But if it happens next time, I will definitely try that. Thanks!

S J, Gerry, Simon and Nigel, thanks for the information on Giff-Gaff—very good information to have and I will keep that in mind!

Stacie, unfortunately, while downloading Google Maps works for driving routes, it does not work for walking, which is mostly what I used it for on this trip. Otherwise I would have done that.

That is unfortunate. I will probably download it anyway. Even if it doesn’t give walking directions offline, I can hopefully still use it to navigate on my own if I find myself without service.

I just went and looked back at my messages from T-Mobile, and I did get a welcome message from them when I entered the UK. But it also said that I get 5GB of high-speed data, not 256Mb.

So I'm not sure why you are saying I would only get 256Mb. I know I haven't had that in the past, and certainly didn't have that problem in Scotland in 2023, nor did I have the problem last year.

Anyway, I'm probably beating a dead horse by this point, but I might call T-Mobile and talk to someone about why/how this happened. Thanks for everyone's thoughts!

Leaving aside the factor of restrictions put on roaming SIMs there are several reasons why 5G is not as good as it should be in the UK. Planning restrictions for new masts, spectrum allocation not optimal for existing sites, removal of already installed Huawei equipment all come into it. However, the main issue really has been slow capital investment as 5G doesn't give a big enough return.

UK 3G coverage was pretty rubbish (closed down now although 2G is still around for legacy reasons) and 4G was much better but still not the best. Maybe the even numbers will always be ahead so hopes for 6G maybe whenever.

So I'm not sure why you are saying I would only get 256Mb

I think you might be mixing up data rates (kilobits per second, megabits per second) with download data allocations (GB, gigabytes).

T-Mobile drops to the excruciatingly slow 256 kilobits per second after you've used up your high speed data. If you had 5GB high speed, you maybe burned through it faster than expected and ended up at 256kb/s sooner than you'd like.

edit: Didn't you blaze through your data really quickly on a previous trip too, now I'm thinking about it? I thought I remembered that discussion coming up in previous trip report.

T-Mobile drops to the excruciatingly slow 256 kilobits per second after you've used up your high speed data. If you had 5GB high speed, you maybe burned through it faster than expected and ended up at 256kb/s sooner than you'd like.

edit: Didn't you blaze through your data really quickly on a previous trip too, now I'm thinking about it? I thought I remembered that discussion coming up in previous trip report.

Gerry, yeah, I'm aware of that, and I did go through my data on my previous trip, although I wouldn't say I "blazed" through it. :-). And keep in mind, I was gone almost 6 weeks. In fact, I got a lot more data out of that trip than I thought I would. The notice from T-Mobile didn't come till the last 10 days or so of my trip, and I paid a very small amount to tack on more time.

This trip I had data left until the day before I left in Paris, and I know that because T-Mobile sent me a message, which they always do., warning me that I was close to running out. I opted not to buy the additional data since we were leaving the next morning, and the taxi was picking us up, so there was no further need for data for the limited time I wouldn't have wifi available.

Hehe... yeah well that all sounds pretty reasonable actually.

I suppose I've just got a bit of a bee in my bonnet about how much American consumers have to pay for their cell service altogether. From what I know of it, there's been a bit of a duopoly, or at least not a competitive market for a long time, and that has pushed prices up.

It's a bit of a hassle, but going over as much as you can to a UK cell service while you're here means you generally get much better value for money.

I used T-Mobile seamlessly in London last year. I think sometimes you have to go into your network options and take the 'automatically select network' option off.

My experience is the same as what Mary posted further up thread.

I don't use cell service that much when I'm in Europe, partly because we have Verizon. I do quite well with downloading maps from Maps.me and Google maps so that I can use it offline. With each trip, I feel like I'm getting closer to having to get something beyond having the ability to pay day by day with Verizon.

I do quite well with downloading maps from Maps.me and Google maps so that I can use it offline.

Jules, I don't know about Maps.me, but with Google maps, downloading them won't work if you are walking (which is often the case in London). Just an FYI... See note upthread.

Mardee, interesting. I think I have used google downloads for walking, but I typically have used Maps.me, for walking directions. I have for years. But that is good information for me to have.