4G Boosts Mobile Data Speeds in Scotland, Midlands And Northern Ireland

The arrival of EE 4G has resulted in dramatic increases in the average mobile Internet speeds in a number of British cities, according to RootMetrics, with Edinburgh boasting the fastest connection recorded to date.

Tests carried out by the firm showed average download speeds on EE 4G in the Scottish capital were 17.1Mbps and upload speeds were 11Mbps. This is faster than Glasgow, which has download speeds of 12.8Mbps and upload speeds of 7.1Mbps and even quicker than London, which has 13.6Mbps and 8.4Mbps.

Unsurprisingly, EE was quicker than all of its rivals, all of whom will not launch 4G services until later this year. Three held the top spot prior to the roll-out of 4G, but its speeds have doubled in both cities since the last report.

Mobile data speeds

EE was also quicker in Nottingham and Coventry, while average download speeds in Birmingham have soared from 2.3Mbps in October 2012 to 16.2Mbps and upload speeds have jumped froom 1.4Mbps to 10.5Mbps.

There have also been increases in Belfast, but speeds are slower in the city than elsewhere in the UK. RootMetrics recoded average download speeds of 10.8Mbps and upload speeds of 6.2Mbps. However Three has tripled its download speeds to 6.1Mbps, making it comfortably the second fastest.

“The results of our 26,000 independent tests in Belfast have thrown up some interesting findings,” said Bill Moore, CEO and President of RootMetrics. “There are some fast speeds available for Belfast residents ready to move to 4G or Ultrafast plans, but at the same time the fastest accessible speeds aren’t reaching the same levels as rival capitals London and Edinburgh, so there is still room for improvement.”

RootMetrics has previously tested in a number of other 4G cities in the UK, finding that EE 4G speeds and coverage was living up to the operator’s promises in Cardiff, Liverpool and Sheffield.

The network should be even quicker now that EE has doubled speeds in 12 cities, but Three, Vodafone and O2 will close the gap when they finally roll out their own 4G offerings.

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