Why is the signal so bad in central London?

[h29039f]

Can someone explain the technical reasons why I got better signal in central London in the 90s, than I do in 2025 on EE? I work near Oxford Street, and the signal is dire. Often it will show that I have good signal, and yet calls will drop, or web page will simply not load. I assume it's a capacity issue, rather than signal strength problem - but if that's the case, why can't they increase it? The other day, the hospital phoned, and it took 5 phone calls back to try and get them to relay the some really important information - despite wandering around outside by several hundred metres trying to find the best place to stand to get signal. No other European city I've travelled to has this problem. 

[h29039f]

It shouldn’t be any different for other cities - but personally haven’t dealt with the same capacity issues in other cities - so can’t comment as to whether it’s an issue or not. 

[bristolian]

Out of interest, is there any specific sections of Oxford Street where you're having problems?

And can you be a bit more specific on the problems you're having? For example... coverage shown, but calls dropping? Coverage displayed but calls fail? Slow data speeds - in which case, what specific speeds? No coverage?

[Rach_H]

Hi @h29039f,

Are you able to use the mobile coverage checker to see if there are any outages in the places you've been having trouble, as opposed to the general coverage in those areas?

Rach

[h29039f]

I work on Harley Street. Not great there. But progressively worse towards Oxford Circus. Cavendish sq for instance very bad 

[bristolian]

There's an extensive micro & pico-cell deployment along Oxford Street, and a particular concentration around Oxford Circus itself.

The north-end of Harley Street seems to get macro coverage from the Regents Park area. Harder to tell the wood from the trees with macro coverage at the southern end.