The First Tube Line To Get 4G Coverage Has Been Revealed...

By Victoria Smith-Graterol Last edited 51 months ago

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The First Tube Line To Get 4G Coverage Has Been Revealed...
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The Jubilee will be the first line across the London Underground network to receive 4G phone coverage.

An eastern section of the line — Westminster to Canning Town — will be the first to have 4G rolled out, from March 2020. The provider will be O2 — fitting because one of the stops on the route (North Greenwich) is where you'll find The O2. Passengers are promised to opportunity to "read, download, and stream content on the move".

Unfortunately, Waterloo and London Bridge stations will have to wait along with the rest of the Underground network until late 2020 to get complete 4G reception.

TfL already provides WiFi to commuters across 260 tube stations, but the network lags behind in terms of providing full mobile coverage to its passengers; many foreign cities such as Moscow, Berlin, Tokyo, Paris already benefit from phone signal underground.  

The narrow tunnels and the cost of the projects have made it challenging for TfL to bring 4G  to the Underground.

Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at TfL said

The London Underground network is an incredibly challenging environment in which to deliver technological improvements, but we are now well on the path to delivering mobile connectivity within our stations and tunnels.

This move follow Mayor Sadiq Khan's pledge to improve digital connectivity across London.

Last Updated 20 December 2019