News
Data coverage in Winchester – The Full Investigation
“Anyone else in SO22/SO23 Winchester experiencing extremely poor 4G speeds? I’ve been struggling for months with poor 4G speeds in Winchester (in the city centre mainly).”
This was the beginning of a thread on the Vodafone community network which spans years.
User highpriest first complained about the issue back in 2018, and it has yet to resolve itself almost seven years later.
The data connection in Winchester is patchy at best and non-existent at worst.
I investigated three main areas: The University of Winchester (King Alfred Campus), Winchester Cathedral, and the High Street.
I downloaded a speed tester app on my phone, turned on my data, and saw where it took me.
For reference, a slow internet speed (download speed) is usually considered anything under 10 or 15 megabytes per second (Mbps), but a good speed for most activities is over 20Mbps.
The average speed for EE mobile broadband, according to OpenSignal, is 47.7Mbps download, and 9.8Mbps upload. How does Winchester compare?
THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER.
This is where I began. I, along with quite a chunk of the city population, have been annoyed with the poor data connection for quite a while now, but it was when I actually tested how bad it was that I realised how big of an issue it was.
In our campus newsroom, the app failed to work on mobile data.
The wi-fi connection wasn’t much better.
The download speed didn’t even get above 1Mbps – the 20-second average according to my app was just 0.06Mbps, and the upload speed couldn’t even register.
I then ventured outside – perhaps it was just the fault of being in the building.
But outside the campus chapel, braving the baltic February winds, my mobile connection froze once more.
The average download speed was a measly 4.67Mbps, and the average upload was 0.12Mbps – despite my phone claiming it was connected to 5G.
Here, I also talked to second year student Izzy, who said the poor connection gave customers at her part-time job one more thing to complain about:
“So many people complain because they can’t get on the wi-fi because the signal is so bad…You can never get it anywhere. They try to get a discount, and when they can’t get it, then they’re angry at me. Do something about it, Winchester!”
WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL.
Out of the three places I investigated, this had the better data connection.
It’s a lot less busy than the other two locations on a Monday afternoon, but it still isn’t up to scratch.
At most, it reaches a download speed of 17 Mbps – before swiftly dropping to an overall average of 11 Mbps.
When I talk to two French tourists, they’re really not impressed.
They tell me they thought it was just because they were in the Cathedral, but after leaving, it became evident that the mobile coverage was simply just bad.
Another Winchester student comes by, and I ask him how he finds the data connectivity in the city centre.
“I think it’s pretty rubbish,” he says.
I managed to get a good enough connection to stream a YouTube video here – but it was low quality and took a while to load.
WINCHESTER HIGH STREET.
“When you go into the town more, it doesn’t really connect with anything,” another Vodafone customer tells me.
While the original poster at the beginning of my investigation has since changed provider, this young woman hasn’t.
“I struggle when I need to text people, or meet up with others,” she says – so she usually tries to connect to various public wi-fi networks, though she explains these usually don’t work either.
When I test the data strength – it doesn’t work.
The app doesn’t think I have any internet access at all.
I move around a bit to find a spot where it works, and try again.
This time, I get a download average of 8.44Mbps and an upload average of 3.60Mbps.
Far below where it should be. While it could be understandable that such a busy area would be a bit overwhelmed, that doesn’t negate the inconvenience for vendors in the street, people trying to send texts, or even those who live nearby, as one older woman points out;
“I live in the centre… I find that, in the evenings, it gets a lot slower, when everyone is home, and everybody starts using it.”
User strowger on the original Vodafone thread also commented in 2019 that they had performed their own speed tests living in the centre – 07:30am resulted in 4.25Mbps download speed, and 5.07Mbps for upload speed.
They then repeated it at 7 at night, and got results of 1.65Mbps down, and 1.26Mbps up.
This was compared to their best results in Newbury – at 108Mbps down and 40.9Mbps up.
The original poster highpriest responded with a test at Badger Farm, calling the download speed “practically useless”.
Many Vodafone employees have offered many possible causes or solutions in the thread over the years – a community manager under the username TJ suggested in 2019 that due to a local mast “undergoing some work at the moment”, which they said may be the cause of “a little extra disruption”.
User sappercaptain shared a message they had received from customer support in 2019, stating that there was maintenance work scheduled for November of the same year which should have helped, and it also linked to a status checker – which currently claims that Winchester has a near complete “good” coverage.
highpriest also claimed a few months ago that they had written to the previous MP Steve Brine “numerous times” about the issue, as well as both Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council, but “of course nothing happened”.
Overall, one thing is for certain: the data connection in Winchester is weak and in serious need of improvement, regardless of the data provider.
And unfortunately for us, this almost seven years long thread suggests it won’t be solved any time soon.
Ivan Juric has left his role as Southampton first team manager following the club’s relegation on Sunday.
The Croatian joined the Saints on an 18-month deal in December following Russell Martin’s dismissal but lasted just 107 days in charge.
Juric oversaw just two victories in his 16 matches in charge with Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to Tottenham confirming Southampton’s relegation to the Championship.
With seven matches still to play, Saints’ relegation is the earliest in Premier League history, breaking the joint-record set by Derby County and Huddersfield Town in 2007-08 and 2018-19 respectively, who both went down after 32 games.
The club confirmed the process of searching for a new manager is now under way and said: “With relegation to the Championship now confirmed, we believe it is important to give fans, players and staff some clarity on the future as we head into a very important summer.”
First team coach Simon Rusk is set to take charge of the team for the remainder of the season with player Adam Lallana to act as his assistant.
Southampton currently sit on 10 points at the bottom of the league and require a further two points to avoid breaking the record-low set by Derby County, who finished the 2007-08 season with 11 points.
A new foodhall is set to open later this year in place of Vodka, Winchester’s former nightclub.
The venue, which shut down in May 2023, is set to be converted to foodhall called Helch Market.
The market is planned to open until 3am and will have a number of food vendors which will rotate over time as well as events space in the basement.
Helch Market Winchester will be the second of its kind after David Jamal Benamor, of Benamor LTD, opened a similar business in Bournemouth in 2022.
Mr Benamor aims to open the new venue in the autumn.
Mr Benamor said: “There’s quite a low diversity in independent businesses, so there’s a lot of chains and very few independent, especially with new concepts, which are a lot harder.
“It’s quite stale, the diversity on the high street, like everywhere in the UK.
“This offers smaller businesses a chance to try a concept or to start their own chain of stores, whatever they’d like to do, so I’d say just a diversity within small businesses.”
Mr Benamor’s application for a licence which allows the sale of alcohol, the serving of hot food and drinks between 11pm and 5am and live and recorded music and entertainment was approved on 25 March.
The plans to take over the Vodka site have been controversial and the initial licence application was met with criticism, with a number of written objections being made to Winchester City Council.
Residents have also been concerned with the potential rise in crime levels after there were 18 crimes reported on or near the Vodka property in the first half of 2022, a year before its closure.
‘As long as there’s a facility for the youngsters, which is much needed.’
One man said: “In principle, I am happy with the idea.
Despite the complaints, the members of the Winchester public WINOL spoke to were mostly supportive of the venue.
“I wouldn’t like it if it was open until 3am, but in normal hours it’s fine.
“No problem at all, I think we need to encourage young people here.”
Another resident said: “As long as there’s a facility for the youngsters, which is much needed in town because we haven’t got a lot like clubs as such.
“Not everybody wants them, but I just think the youngsters need something rather than have to go elsewhere. It’s good.”
A security team in Winchester has hit a major milestone by recovered more than £100,000 worth of stolen goods in the city centre.
The Winchester Business Crime Reduction Partnership (WBCRP) and Winchester Business Improvement District (BID) Rangers were formed in 2018 with the aim of reducing business crime, antisocial behaviour and low level crime.
The group has now retrieved over £100,000 worth of goods and returned them to businesses in Winchester.
The Rangers work closely with local businesses, Hampshire Constabulary, Winchester City Council and BID to help their efforts of combatting theft.
They are highly trained security professionals that are accredited under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) and certified by the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
BID lists the Rangers’ key functions as being crime prevention and recovery, supporting the local Shopwatch and Pubwatch schemes, real-time assistance and customer engagement and public safety.
Hannah Hitchon, Shopwatch chair, said: “It is with the greatest pride that the BID Rangers have surpassed the stolen property recovery figure of £100,000.
“This figure has been recovered over a challenging time, including the pandemic, which naturally impacted the vital role that they played in protecting our local area.
“As such they should be commended for their hard work and resilience over the last six years.
“My heartfelt thanks go out to the Rangers for the continuing hard work and dedication that they offer both the public and local businesses and here’s to many more years of the same!”
The group have been recognised for their efforts by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).
BID Ranger Brett Jones received an OPCC award in 2023 for his commitment to public safety.
Winchester BID Business Crime Reduction Manager Jane Bastock has been honoured with a 2025 OPCC award nomination for her leadership in business crime reduction over the past decade.
On the efforts by the Rangers, Ms Bastock said: “I am very proud of this achievement. This demonstrates not only the success of the BID Rangers scheme but that of the Radio Link and Shopwatch schemes, which businesses in Winchester utilise to alert suspicious or offending behaviour in their store or in the city.
“I would also like to thank the local police and Winchester City Council CCTV Control Room for their continued support with these schemes.”
Following the milestone, the WBCRP and Winchester BID remain committed to strengthening security initiatives and supporting businesses in tackling crime.
Cheif Inspector Korine Bishop, Winchester district commander, said: “This milestone demonstrates the importance of the BID Rangers to the partnership effort needed to keep the city centre a safer environment for all.
“Our officers, including those from our dedicated city centre Neighbourhood Policing Team, will continue to work with the BID Rangers and all our partners to reduce and prevent crime.”
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