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Do UK Trains Have the Slowest Wi-Fi Speeds in Europe?

It has been found that trains in the United Kingdom deliver some of the slowest internet speeds across Europe. 

Ookla, the network testing company, analysed the Wi-Fi performance onboard train services across Europe and some Asian rail networks using their favoured service Speedtest.net by collecting data via consumers themselves. Results suggested that the UK does indeed deliver some of the slowest Wi-Fi speeds available on trains in Europe.  

If you’ve ever tried to work on your train commute or while away the time by streaming a show using train Wi-Fi then you will likely already know that Wi-Fi quality across UK rail operators and networks is not particularly strong, consistent or reliable. 

What Are the UK Government’s Plans for Rail Network Connectivity Improvements?

Back in 2017 the government at the time pledged to improve connectivity on mainline train routes by this year, with the aim to provide Wi-Fi and mobile speeds (5G) of up to 1 Gbps. While this may be true of a few rail operators, for most this outcome has not been reached. 

This issue has recently been revisited by the current government as part of their Infrastructure Strategy for the next 10 years, which was published back in June. This strategy includes a commitment of £41m to “introduce low-earth-orbit satellite connectivity on all mainline trains, significantly improving both the availability and internet data connection speeds for Wi-Fi connected passengers“. However, there doesn’t seem to be a clear date as to when this will be delivered.

Which Country in Europe Has the Best Onboard Wi-Fi When Travelling by Train?

According to the data collected by Ookla, there seems to be quite a gap between the best European train operators for onboard Wi-Fi performance and the worst. 

From data taken during the second quarter of 2025, the countries with the top 3 fastest onboard train Wi-Fi were Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland in terms of the median average download speed (64.58 Mbps, 29.79 Mbps and 26.33 Mbps respectively. 

At the other end of the scale, with the slowest on board speeds were Spain, the UK and last of all the Netherlands with median average download speeds of 1.45 Mbps, 1.09 Mbps and 0.41 Mbps respectively. 

So while the UK doesn’t have the absolute slowest onboard train Wi-Fi in Europe, it wasn’t far off. 

The countries with the best upload speeds were similar. You can see how other European countries fared in the graph imagery below for both download and upload speeds, with thanks from Speedest Intelligence. 

Will the UK Rail Network Catch Up With Current Wi-Fi Standards?

If you’re a regular reader of our Geekabit blog, you’ll have seen us talking about Wi-Fi 8 and the advancements this new Wi-Fi standard will be making when it arrives.  

Unfortunately, many rail operators aren’t up to date with Wi-Fi standards and are still using Wi-Fi 4 based connectivity which could be a big part of the problem. Not only this, but 38% are also still using the 2.4 GHz band which is the slowest and most congested. 

Interestingly however, even countries who are embracing more modern Wi-Fi options like using the 5 GHz band are also still underperforming on speed (this can be seen in the likes of Spain and Italy’s speed scores). This could be due to poor satellite or trackside infrastructure causing a lack of pace in backhaul capacity. This is a key factor for onboard performance. 

What Are The Key Factors Affecting Onboard Rail Wi-Fi Speeds?

There seem to be many contributing factors to what causes issues with Wi-Fi speeds across European and Asian rail networks. These include:

  • Construction materials used in train carries
  • Onboard network design
  • Political leadership and policy
  • Adoption of satellite broadband connectivity from LEO satellites

Whilst it’s great that the UK has listed Low Earth Orbit satellites in their Infrastructure Strategy as part of improving connectivity on rail networks, it’s still not going to improve Wi-Fi in tunnels!

You can read the full report from Ookla in much more detail here.

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International Broadband Scorecard Comparison Scrapped by Ofcom UK

Do you wonder how the UK fares against other European countries in regards to broadband and mobile connectivity? Well, you might have to wonder a bit more. 

Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, carries out various reports on performance, looking at things like UK broadband and mobile connectivity compared with other major EU economies like France, Germany, Spain, Italy etc. 

However, it seems that Ofcom have covertly scrapped their annual international comparison despite having been publishing it since back in 2013 when they began the International Broadband Scorecard. 

The report examined various connectivity benchmarks within fixed and mobile broadband performances across different countries, such as:

  • Network availability
  • Take-up
  • Use 
  • Prices  

This then enabled them to measure and compare them with the relative performance of the UK. 

Where did the data come from?

Ofcom normally relied on Omdia-Informa Tech, a third party provider, to supply the data for the non-UK countries included in the report. 

However, as this data is available from Omdia-Informa Tech (as well as other similar telecoms research companies) to anyone who is prepared to pay a fee, Ofcom decided that them stopping their publication of the data would not hinder stakeholders and the like from being able to benchmark the UK broadband offering against the international market themselves.

Scrapping of International Broadband Scorecard a Cost-Cutting Measure?

It would seem to us that this move to scrap the report is likely a cost-cutting measure. This is unfortunate as the reporting was a useful point of comparison to see how the UK was doing in regards to broadband and mobile connectivity on an annual basis when compared without our European counterparts. 

Despite the fact that Ofcom rarely promotes their reports which meant the information they provided was often missed, they have provided some handy and relevant information in past years. 

Can I get the Broadband and Mobile Connectivity Data Somewhere Else?

Thankfully, yes! There is an annual report published from the European Commission that goes some way to compare the UK with EU countries on Broadband and Mobile connectivity (you can find the latest one here). 

If you want to check out the latest summary from the final Scorecard from Ofcom for 2023 (with data from the latter part of 2022) the interactive report is online here. 

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Fixed Broadband Speeds: Europe vs UK 

Opensignal, the leading global provider of independent insight and data into network experience and market performance, have recently released a new study looking at fixed broadband speeds across Europe (28 countries).

The data published in this research finds that the UK has placed quite poorly when judged against its peers. For downloads, the UK is around the middle of the table, but closer to the bottom for uploads. 

How do they collect the data?

The results collected are based on crowdsourced data (data collected from a large number of sources direct from customers), in this case from consumer speedtests. 

For this reason, they don’t necessarily paint an accurate picture of network capability or availability. However, as the data has been collected in the same way across all the countries looked at, the results can offer some insights into the speed of fixed broadband across Europe. 

The data set in this study was collected between the 1st April and 27th September 2023. 

How does the UK compare to Europe when it comes to fixed broadband speed? 

Download Speeds

Coming out on top with the best broadband speeds from the data collected, both France and Spain scored a median average download speed of 121 Mbps and 114.4 Mbps respectively. 

The UK sits in the middle of the table with a download speed of 66.1 Mbps.

Coming slowest was Greece with a slow download speed of 36.5 Mbps. 

Upload Speeds

Spain again topped the table for upload speeds with an average of 91.4 Mbps. They were closely followed by France with an average upload speed of 88.5 Mbps. 

UK were found towards the bottom of the table with an average upload speed of just 20.6 Mbps. 

Again right at the bottom of the table was Greece, with an average upload speed of 7.3 Mbps. 

Opensignal-UK-vs-EU-Broadband-Speeds-Q3-2023

With thanks to Opensignal for the imagery.

Why are UK download speeds slower than almost half of Europe? 

When looking at the results found, we need to consider that much of Europe is already using full fibre FTTP coverage. The UK is behind these European countries, which goes some way to explaining the results of this data set. 

Don’t fret though – There is good news! The UK are on the path to rapidly catching up with their European peers, but these things take time. 

Although Opensignal is one of the better organisations for collecting and analysing this type of data, remember that performance testing of this nature doesn’t always tell the entire story.

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