EE stays on track to boost railway phone coverage, coming top on key routes and busy London stations

EE has announced a series of site upgrades that has resulted in it coming out top of almost all comparison tests in a recent RootMetrics survey.

A number of stations will now see a big capacity boost, which comes at just the right time as we see passengers returning to the railway (in particular leisure travel).

Better coverage and higher data speeds gives an opportunity to download films or albums to consume on a journey, although with improved coverage on key railway routes too, it is just as likely going to be possible to stream directly instead.

Almost 70 new 4G sites have been enabled, with hundreds more planned.

Last year, EE also added coverage on the SouthEastern high-speed line in the tunnels between St Pancras International and Stratford International (see right).

EE is also still number one for 5G availability in London.

• This follows recent news on the planned rollout of contiguous 5G coverage from London to Brighton as part of a deal between Network Rail and Cellnex UK.

Press Release

EE has today announced significant upgrades to its mobile network across key commuter routes in and out of London. In the past year, EE has built nearly 70 new 4G sites and upgraded dozens more across multiple lines in London to provide an unrivalled mobile experience to workers and visitors returning to the city.

EE has improved connectivity on seven sections of the route between London Euston and Birmingham New Street and six between London Victoria and Brighton. Other lines to see upgrades include London Paddington to Reading, and London Liverpool Street to Chelmsford. The improvements across all lines build on EE’s existing performance leadership across all eight commuter routes tested by RootMetrics last year*.

EE has also boosted performance on key lines used by travellers to and from the UK ahead of any easing of restrictions on international travel this summer. This includes the first in-tunnel 4G coverage on the HS1 line between St Pancras International and Ashford International, which will be extended to deliver coverage throughout all tunnels later this summer. Improvements have also been made on key sections of rail lines to London’s Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick airports.

In addition to boosting connectivity on commuter routes, EE has upgraded its mobile network in some of London’s busiest rail stations during the pandemic. EE has more than doubled its network capacity at London Euston, London Liverpool Street and City Thameslink stations, as well as enhancing its mobile network at London Victoria, London Kings Cross and Charing Cross. The upgrades will provide travellers with extra capacity to seamlessly stream, game or work whilst on the move.

David Salam, Director of Mobile Networks, EE said: “We’ve made huge improvements to key routes in and out of London to keep our customers connected as restrictions begin to ease and the number of workers and visitors returning to the city increases. Whether listening to music or podcasts, streaming the latest movies, or gaming with friends, our network has been built and upgraded to ensure seamless connectivity on commutes and at London’s busiest rail hubs.”

EE customers will continue to benefit from a recent contract renewal to provide connectivity on the London Underground platforms. BT & Plusnet customers will also be able to access the free WIFI coverage which includes many underground station halls.

Work on the lines into the heart of London consist of 69 new sites and over 35 upgraded sites to date, and form part of wider efforts to improve mobile coverage across large parts of the UK’s railway estate. Station upgrades have been largely delivered over in-building DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems) technology and in some cases reconfigured to work over 2 x 2 MIMO (multiple input multiple output) antenna which enhance performance.