Manchester Is The UK’s Top Mobile Spot

British citizens looking for the fastest and most reliable mobile performance in the country are better off leaving the capital and heading to the north, new figures have found.

Manchester has been found to have the strongest phone signal reception in the UK, coming in ahead of London and many of the country’s other largest metropolitan areas, according to the latest survey from RootMetrics.

The home of Old Trafford and the Stone Roses came out on top in terms of the speed and reliability of phone calls, texts and mobile internet in the city, scoring 95.4 out of a possible 100, ahead of Birmingham (94.6) and last year’s winner Liverpool (94.5).

Out of the 16 biggest urban areas in the UK, London could only manage 13th place with a score of 90.1, meaning it came in ahead of only Bristol, Cardiff and Hull.

Nationwide

Overall, Manchester was ranked the best location in terms of data performance and network reliability, whilst Liverpool took top spot for its network speed, and Coventry came in first regarding call performance.

“There’s just no getting away from the Manchester-Liverpool rivalry, and throughout 2015 the two cities have been tussling for the mobile top spot. While Manchester scored the most points in the second half of the year, people using their phones in Liverpool, and Birmingham too, can expect a strong overall mobile performance whatever network they are on,” said Scott Stonham, RootMetrics general manager of Europe.

Stonham added that London needed major investment in terms of infrastructure if it wanted its performance to improve as the city continues to grow exponentially. The capital was ranked ninth in RootMetrics’ last nation-wide survey back in June, meaning its standing has actually fallen in recent months.

“Providing good mobile coverage in London is always going to be difficult due to the density of the population, the architecture and changes in demand on capacity,” said Stonham.

“Our data shows there is still some room for improvement in some of the UK’s most populous areas, and more needs to be done to ensure a good mobile service – a vital part of a city’s basic infrastructure.”

Last month, RootMetrics named EE as the UK’s best and fastest mobile operator, as it came out on top in terms of a similar number of tests against its rivals.

The company hailed EE as best overall and the fastest in all four home nations, while Three was rated most reliable in each country.

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