I know that Brighton used to have massive problems with overloaded 2G/3G masts, especially before & after work hours and during events.

Just wondered if anyone local has found the capacity situation improved since 4G was rolled out, or whether the networks still get hopelessly overloaded?

I looked on planning and the majority of the mast upgrades seem to be EE so I'm guessing things must be better for at least EE subscribers?

I was in Brighton last week:
EE's quite good mostly. They have 2600MHz in most of the busy areas and speeds were always pretty good (10-30mbps).
3 4G was not fast fast, but OK mostly (~4mbps)
Vodafone 4G was between 0.3mbps and 10mbps.
Only had a GG SIM, so can't comment on O2.

I live in Hove and work in Brighton with a Vodafone SIM.

They still have 4G capacity issues in peak times (end of business day, lunchtime) and during events. And every weekend or bank holiday. I agree with the speeds Pedro_C gave. To be more precise, busy areas like Churchill Square or the Laines get around 0.1 to 3 Mbps on busy times. During these times, if you go past Waitrose (their mast is right before Waitrose, moving towards Hove, on top of the building where a Sainsbury's local operates in ground floor), you will notice that speeds improve slightly (3 to 9 Mbps) because you connect to a different panel.

Churchill Square shopping centre does not have micro cells coverage, so you might find yourself with limited or no signal in shops and that affects the speeds even more.

All city is covered with LTE 800, but not from all their masts. This results in limited 4G signal and therefore 4G speeds in certain spots even when you are outdoors.

In terms of 3G, the city is mostly covered with 3G 900 which simply doesn't work during peak times and weekends. When on call, it will promptly put you to 2G because of capacity issues. Internet throughput while on call is limited or non-existent at all times.

Overall, I am not very happy with the service they provide in Brighton. If you are not too fussed about these things you should be alright. But I have to say that people notice it from what I've heard.