Great Western Coffee Shop

This is one of those non-scientific 'is it me?' questions...

I often catch the 17:42 from Paddington. Other frequent users will know that its normal location is Platform 1. I'm usually on the train and seated (in a forward coach) as soon as it is available so generally have 10 minutes or so on-board before departure. During this time I never seem to be able to get anything in the way of a 4G service to check e-mail, listen to iplayer etc. I'm on Vodafone and the phone screen usually shows three or four bars of signal but there's never a network connection. The on-train wi-fi seems little better (presumably that also uses 4G?). Elsewhere on the concourse all seems OK and once we set off and get past Royal Oak it all springs into life and is (these days) pretty rock-solid until Swindon, with only a few known drop-out areas.

So my question - as above - is 'is it me?'. Or is my phone kaput? Or is there really a Platform 1 Vodafone black-spot? (Maybe that's why the Heathrow Express wraps no longer shout about how wonderful Vodafone 4G is?  ;) ) I'd be interested to hear how others fare.

It's not you....I think there's a black-spot in that area.

I think you'll find the on-train wifi is only 3G? But GWR fitment might have been late enough that they use 4G....but of course, only if the mobile networks in the area are transmitting 4G.

I used to have the same issue at Waterloo with Vodafone on Plats 1 - 4. In fact I may still do, I don't tend to check any more.

I used to be with EE and leaving Paddington there was always a drop out zone in the Ladbroke Grove area. I remember a friend on another network telling me he had the same issue there.

If you look on Opensignal (https://opensignal.com/) that gap shows up clearly - Golborne Road is a mass of red. At Paddington, the only red patch is for 3 (3G and 4G) centred just outside the station at the "front" end. The other networks look fine. In this user-rich environment Opensignal should be pretty reliable, too.

But that's about signal levels (I don't think they even collect speed data), and the OP said that wasn't his issue. If you get signal but no traffic, that must be down to the balance of base station channels and backhaul capacity versus user load - so who knows?

Good call, thanks - I hadn't thought of Opensignal. As you note, my curiosity is that the phone display (which I accept can be pretty suspect at times) seems to imply that there is reasonable signal but it appears not to be able to pass any traffic. And always in that same general location...

My company phone was recently moved from O2 to Vodafone and I've given up trying to get a decent signal at Paddington with VF. I'm normally stood at the H&C end of platform 8.

From the fount of all knowledge (and the debunking of many myths), see this clip from QI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8fssZ4Q6Ts).  ;)