BT 4G Coverage and Network Review

BT uses EE's 4G network (which it now also owns), so you can look at that to see its level of coverage. EE currently has 4G available in hundreds of towns and cities and thousands of smaller towns and villages and is the market leader.

EE – and by extension BT - also has over 99% UK population coverage, so there's almost nowhere you won't get 4G. The network also has over 86% of the UK geographically covered.

Summary

Pros	Cons
High speeds	No Pay As You Go plans
Allows tethering	No inclusive roaming beyond the EU
Good 4G coverage	No unlimited data plans

Our Rating

Coverage

BT Mobile uses the same core network as EE giving them excellent coverage across the UK with 99, 98 and 99 per cent 4G, 3G and 2G coverage respectively. That puts them in joint first place with EE when it comes to coverage, but you also benefit from access to BT's WiFi hotspots across the UK.

Use BT’s coverage checker below to find out more about BT coverage in your area, including signal strengths and details on both indoor and outdoor coverage.

BT Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
4G	99%
3G	98%
2G	99%

Locations with 4G coverage include but are not limited to the following cities:

Aberdeen, Armagh, Bangor, Bath, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Derry, Dundee, Durham, Edinburgh, Ely, Exeter,  Glasgow, Gloucester, Hereford, Inverness, Kingston upon Hull, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Lisburn, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Newport, Newry, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Peterlee, Perth, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Ripon, Sheffield, Southampton, St Albans, St Asaph, St David’s, Salford, Salisbury, Stirling, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, Truro, Wakefield, Wells, City of Westminster, Winchester, Wolverhampton Worcester and York.

Recent locations to benefit from EE (and by extension BT) 4G include parts of Galloway and West Dumfries, plus Sidmouth, Ilfracombe, Midsomer Norton and Wymondham.

BT through EE is also working to improve its 4G in more than 600 sites across London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff, among other places. EE also plans to double the maximum speed at 900 4G sites, bringing them to 100Mbps, which could potentially benefit BT.

Network Speeds and Frequencies

BT mostly uses standard 4G, which is roughly 5 times faster than a standard 3G network. However, it also has an Extra Speed service as an optional extra, which reaches speeds of up to 60Mbit/sec.

BT’s standard 4G service sports average download speeds of 33.83Mbit/sec and average upload speeds of 13.81Mbits/sec. That’s powered by the EE network and is faster than most rivals.

• Average Download Speed: 33.83 Mbit/sec
• Average Upload Speed: 13.81 Mbit/sec

BT Mobile uses the 800MHz band, 1800MHz band and 2600MHz band for 4G. The 800MHz band is long range, making it a great fit for countryside locations, but it can also penetrate walls, for good indoor coverage.

The 2600MHz band on the other hand is shorter range but higher capacity, which means it can deal well with congested areas like inner cities. The 1800MHz band is somewhere in the middle.

For more in depth information, check out our 4G frequencies guide.

• 800MHz used for 4G
• 1800MHz used for 2G/4G
• 2100 MHz used for 3G
• 2600 MHz used for 4G

Plans

BT Mobile offers a range of Pay Monthly and SIM Only Plans, which are detailed below. Note that they all include free use of BT’s Wi-Fi hotspots, and many of them support Family SIM, which lets you add additional SIM cards to the contract at a reduced price, each with its own data, and each additional one only being tied into a 30-day contract.

All of BT’s plans come with 4G at no extra cost.

Pay Monthly Phone Plans

Tethering	✔
Max Data Allowance	15GB
Contract Length	24 Months
Compare BT Phone Deals and Save

BT Mobile’s Pay Monthly plans are all 24 months long and all allow you to use your data allowance towards tethering. You can get up to 15GB of monthly data with Pay Monthly plans.

SIM Only Plans

Tethering	✔
Max Data Allowance	20GB
Contract Length	12 Months
Compare BT SIM Only deals

BT’s SIM Only plans are all 12 months long and come with up to 20GB of monthly data. As with Pay Monthly, you can use any or all of that data for tethering.

Data Only Plans – For Tablets and Dongles

BT doesn’t offer any Data Only plans currently, but your normal BT SIM card should work in tablets.

Pay As You Go

BT Mobile doesn’t currently offer any Pay As You Go plans.

BT Extra Speed

BT's Extra Speed service is available as an optional add-on, doubling 4G speeds to up to 60Mbps. It's available in many of the same places as standard 4G.

Roaming Destinations

BT Mobile lets you use your full allowance of minutes, texts and data at no extra cost in 47 European destinations. These are as follows:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal (Incl. Azores & Madeira), Reunion, Romania, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Vatican City.

Conclusion

By leveraging the power of EE’s infrastructure BT has one of the fastest 4G networks around – especially if you opt for its Extra Speed service. But it’s also got benefits of its own, such as free access to BT’s extensive network of Wi-Fi hotspots.

Its offerings feel slightly limited, as there’s no Pay As You Go and no data SIMs. BT also isn’t as competitive for roaming as some rivals, but if you’re happy to have a contract and will mostly be using your phone in the UK it’s a strong option.