Britain's onboard train wi-fi is one of Europe's worst. This is how people manage

A 09:00 London to Norwich journey shows largely stable onboard Wi‑Fi, enabling email, instant messaging, and clear audio calls. Rebecca Kendall, who commutes about six times monthly for a charity operations role, reports that Wi‑Fi is sometimes unusable and can reduce her completed tasks to about half of what she does at her desk. She warns colleagues about possible call drops and avoids important video calls. UK onboard Wi‑Fi speeds ranked 16th of 18 in a 2025 Ookla report, averaging 1.09 Mbps versus 64.58 Mbps in Sweden and 29.79 Mbps in Switzerland. Ofcom reports average maximum download speeds of 285 Mbps for UK households and small businesses. The government has announced plans to boost train Wi‑Fi speed and reliability over the next five years.

"“I just wouldn't risk having an important video call,” Rebecca says, citing how unstable the connection often is. “I would never plan one.”"

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