Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Network testing firm Ookla (i.e. Speedtest.net, Downdetector.co.uk) has today published a new study that examines the performance of 5G mobile (mobile broadband) networks across the major UK cities of Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield. But the UK’s capital city was found to be lagging behind.
The new study uses crowdsourced data collected during the first quarter of 2025 via Ookla’s various Speedtest.net linked websites and apps. But it’s worth reminding readers that mobile data performance remains notoriously difficult to pin down because end-users are always moving through different areas (indoor, outdoor, underground etc.), using different devices with different capabilities and the surrounding environment is ever changeable (weather, trees, buildings etc.).
All the above can impact your signal and service quality, and that’s before we even consider other issues like network (backhaul) capacity at different cell sites or differing spectrum ownership between operators and masts. Suffice to say that benchmarking mobile networks can be a bit of a challenge, although Ookla are usually able to collect enough data to produce some meaningful results.
Overall, the new study found that London “lags behind the UK’s largest cities across key 5G performance indicators“, and the gap to top-performing Glasgow seems to be widening. The UK’s capital city was found to be trailing behind other cities for 5G network consistency, median downloads and upload speeds (e.g. London delivered a median 5G download of 115Mbps, which compares poorly with Glasgow’s 184.99Mbps).
On the flip side, median (average) 5G download speeds also fell by more than 7% on average across major UK cities between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025. This is speculated to be reflecting the impact of shifting network load from older technologies onto 5G (e.g. the withdrawal of 3G), which contributed to broader improvements in overall mobile network performance in most UK cities during the same period.
Average (Median) 5G Download Speed by Major UK Cities
Glasgow 184.99Mbps
Birmingham 145.09Mbps
Liverpool 142.61Mbps
Manchester 142.24Mbps
Leeds 134.23Mbps
Bristol 130.42Mbps
Cardiff 123.19Mbps
Edinburgh 123.05Mbps
Sheffield 120.98Mbps
London 115.08Mbps
Belfast 114.38Mbps
Mobile users in London were also found to be spending more time in signal not-spots with no service than residents of other UK cities, reflecting “lingering coverage gaps indoors and across key transport routes“. The proportion of Londoners spending the majority of their time in locations with no service has, however, improved significantly due to operators investing in network densification through small cells and upgrades to transport links (e.g. London Underground).
Time spent on 2G networks increased across several UK cities over the last year, including Birmingham and Manchester, as the advancement of the 3G sunset in the UK contributed to greater propensity for 2G fallback.
However, the gap in 5G availability between the UK’s major cities and the national average has significantly narrowed over the past year. For example, Leeds led UK cities in 5G availability, with a 21 percentage point gap above the national average. By Q1 2025, London had taken the lead in 5G availability among major UK cities, and that gap above the national average had narrowed to 13 percentage points.
This trend reflects progress in 5G network expansion in smaller UK towns and rural areas in recent months, which has moved at a faster pace than coverage improvements in larger cities. But sadly we don’t get a more detailed summary of 5G availability across the listed cities, which would have been helpful.