Phone signal on trains not good enough most of the time, research says

The phone signal on trains in Britain is not strong enough to scroll on social media or stream videos most of the time, the media regulator has said.

Ofcom said Vodafone met its standards for "good performance" only 17% of the time. EE was the best-performing network, but still only met those standards 42% of the time.

Mobile UK, which represents the major phone providers, said there were "unique structural and capacity challenges" to keeping good train signal.

Ofcom said mobile networks and local authorities needed to "step up" to provide more reliable services across the country.

It found some local authorities had rejected more than nine in 10 applications for new or upgraded infrastructure in the last five years.

Mobile UK, which represents EE, Virgin Media O2 and VodafoneThree, urged the government to "act now" with planning reform and investment.

It said taxpayers should fund some of the infrastructure needed for black spots, "as commercial rollout alone cannot bridge the gap on the rail network".

Ofcom's threshold of "good performance" was far lower than average 4G speeds - but mobile networks still failed to achieve them most of the time.