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A new study from SignalTracker, which operates a popular Android-based mobile app for monitoring and examining mobile phone reception and performance (not available on Apple’s iOS), has named Vodafone as the best mobile operator in Central London for its balance of 4G / 5G coverage and mobile broadband speeds.
The figures quoted below stem from over 11,000 tests carried out by PolicyTracker in February and March 2025. Each network was tested outdoors simultaneously at the same locations. The research is based on real-world user experience using data from the SignalTracker app, developed by PolicyTracker.
Interestingly, the study found that Three UK had the “fastest network” in the area, with an average mobile broadband download speed of 49.79Mbps. But the operator struggled in the overall ranking for Central London because it was found to have “very patchy coverage with too many dead zones“.
By comparison, in terms of raw speed, Vodafone’s average network speed is just behind at 47.57Mbps, with EE (BT) and O2 (Virgin Media) the slowest at 34.53Mbps and 32.27Mbps respectively. A further factor for people to consider is if their Smartphone is actually getting 5G.
The 5G icons don’t necessarily mean that the phone has an active 5G connection, confusingly, it can sometimes mean that 5G equipment is available on the base station the phone is connected to and the actual signal is still 4G (somewhat of a quirk with how modern Smartphones work).
On this front, Vodafone also performed the best: 89% of their test results were actual 5G connections. Three UK was second with 59%, while both EE (7%) and O2 (13%) were far behind. Interestingly, it was noted that some 87% of test results on EE were 4G with a 5G icon showing (all the other operators were in single digit percentage points for this).