Uswitch has warned London Marathon runners and spectators to expect mobile signal disruption at key points along the route, particularly in crowded areas such as Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and The Mall.

When large numbers of people try to get online at once, pressure on local mobile infrastructure can lead to delayed live-tracking updates, patchy calls and slow data speeds. The issue is more likely to be network capacity than a lack of coverage.

More than 59,000 runners are expected at the start line, with large spectator crowds gathering across central and east London. Areas expected to be especially busy include Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, Embankment, Westminster and the finish area on The Mall.

Archie Burkinshaw, Mobiles Expert at Uswitch, said the problem often arises even when phones appear to have a strong connection. “On marathon day, some of London’s busiest spots can put mobile networks under pressure as thousands of runners and spectators try to get online at once.”

“It’s often not a coverage problem but a capacity issue, as local masts can become overloaded by the number of devices trying to connect at the same time. This can create digital gridlock, leading to slower data, delayed live-tracking updates, patchy calls, and difficulty uploading photos or messages.”

“In some cases, people may still see full signal bars, but performance can lag because the network is congested.

“If you’re worried about losing connection, one option is to have a backup eSIM ready on another network. Most newer phones let you keep your usual number active while using the second network for data, although busy areas can affect multiple networks.

“A few quick checks before you leave can make all the difference: download maps, save tickets or travel information, agree on a meeting point, and pack a portable charger.”

Practical steps

Suggested measures include downloading offline maps and transport information before travelling, taking screenshots of QR codes and tracking links, and agreeing meeting points away from the finish line. The advice also includes carrying a portable charger and using low-power settings to reduce battery drain.

In especially crowded areas, switching from 5G to 4G may help, as 4G can sometimes provide a more stable connection when networks are under strain. Users are also advised to send SMS or other low-data messages rather than trying to upload video from the busiest sections of the course.

Another option is to install a secondary eSIM on a different network before race day. Some one-month eSIM plans are available from £2.50 for 100GB, according to the guidance, although service problems can still affect more than one operator in the same location.

Route pressure

The warning reflects the dense spectator crowds that build at marathon viewing hotspots, where sudden demand can put nearby mobile masts under strain. Moving 100 to 200 metres away from the busiest part of a crowd may improve service.

Runners are advised to prepare for periods of limited connectivity by downloading playlists and maps in advance and avoiding live uploads during the race. Participants using GPS sports watches may also want to put their phones into aeroplane mode to preserve battery life until the finish.

Guest Wi-Fi in pubs, cafés and restaurants along the route may provide an alternative if mobile data becomes unreliable. Users can also try manually selecting a network before returning to automatic settings if their phones remain attached to a weak connection.

The London Marathon is one of the UK’s largest mass-participation sporting events and draws substantial crowds across multiple boroughs, making it a recurring test for mobile networks in the capital. With tens of thousands of runners and spectators relying on live updates, messages and navigation throughout the day, the key advice is to prepare for congestion before leaving home.

The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT) has been recognised as one of the Top 20 Care Home Groups in the UK at the 2026 carehome.co.uk Top 20 Care Home Awards.

The achievement is based on independent reviews from residents and their loved ones.

Dan Hayes OBE, chief executive of OSJCT, said: “We are incredibly proud to be recognised once again among the Top 20 Care Home Groups by carehome.co.uk.

“As this award is based entirely on independent reviews from residents and their families, it highlights the trust placed in us and provides meaningful recognition of our teams’ unwavering commitment to delivering compassionate, loving care every day.”

Carehome.co.uk is the UK’s leading care search website.

The awards are based on more than 127,000 reviews submitted between February 1, 2024 and January 1, 2026.

Amanda Hopkins, reviews manager at carehome.co.uk, said: “Being named as a Top 20 care home group is a significant achievement, as the award is based on feedback from residents and their families who have first-hand experience of the care provided.

“We are delighted to congratulate The Orders of St John Care Trust on this huge achievement.”

Review scores are calculated from multiple categories, including care and support, staff, facilities, dignity, and value for money.

To qualify, more than 75 per cent of a care group’s homes must have a review score.

Braze has released new artificial intelligence tools for marketers, including BrazeAI Operator, BrazeAI Agent Console and Braze Creative Studio. BrazeAI Decisioning Studio can also now be hosted in Europe on Google Cloud.

The additions expand Braze’s customer engagement software with tools for campaign creation, content generation, asset management and automated decisioning. BrazeAI Operator and BrazeAI Agent Console are now generally available, while Creative Studio is being introduced as a new workflow for design and campaign execution.

BrazeAI Operator is an in-dashboard assistant for marketers that helps teams create campaigns, build custom agents, generate content and troubleshoot workflows inside the platform.

BrazeAI Agent Console is a central workspace for building and managing AI agents that generate content, interpret data and adjust campaigns in real time. The European hosting option for Decisioning Studio is intended for brands that want data to remain in the region while using automated decisioning tools.

Customer results

Braze tied the launch to customer case studies including Dayuse, Cleo and the American Diabetes Association, showing how the products are being used for customer messaging and campaign redesign.

Dayuse, a platform for booking daytime hotel rooms, used BrazeAI Agent Console to generate messages at send time using customer context such as booking history, preferences and language. The company reported a 90% increase in booking conversion rate, doubled incremental revenue for a key campaign and a 23% uplift in repeat engagement after adopting the tool.

According to Braze, Dayuse also uses data such as abandoned hotel bookings, previously booked property type, booking history and location to tailor campaign content.

“Personalization at this level across marketers used to require significant manual workload. With BrazeAI Agent Console, we were able to scale individualized messaging across languages and regions in a way that feels relevant to each customer. That shift has had a clear impact on how customers engage and return to our platform,” said Martin Juglair, CRM Manager at Dayuse.

Cleo, a family care platform, used BrazeAI Operator to rebuild its welcome experience around individual member needs. Braze said this led to an 81% reduction in unsubscribes, a 97% drop in opt-outs on the first email, a 284% increase in app opens and a 124% lift in push notification engagement.

“The Operator literally thought of ways of using customer data I hadn’t even considered and incorporated it into advanced Liquid code. It prevented issues I wouldn’t have caught until QA, and I wouldn’t have known where to start troubleshooting,” said Holly Jacobson, Sr Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Cleo.

The American Diabetes Association used the same product to redesign its eCommerce journey from a single-message approach into a multi-step sequence, according to Braze.

“I felt like I was talking to someone who worked for Braze. It’s my thought partner. I’m kind of addicted to it. I’m doing things that would have been completely impossible without the Operator,” said Elaine Armbruster, Director of Digital Experience at the American Diabetes Association.

Creative workflow

The new Creative Studio brings design assets and campaign execution into one part of the Braze platform. It includes integrations with Figma and Canva, a central media library, templates and brand guidelines.

The move reflects a broader effort by software suppliers to reduce the number of separate tools marketing teams use for design, approval and deployment. By connecting asset creation more closely to messaging systems, vendors aim to make it easier for marketers to update campaigns across multiple channels without switching between products.

Canva and Figma users quoted by Braze described the integrations as a way to simplify daily work. One example came from Mercari US, where a CRM manager said the Figma plugin reduced the friction of moving images into campaigns.

“The new Figma plugin is a great workflow hack for marketers like me building asset-heavy campaigns or landing pages on tight deadlines. We all know the headache of juggling multiple tabs just to get one task done, and this tool eliminates that friction by uploading images in a single click. It’s simple, but I rely on it daily to save several minutes on each project,” said Ashley Auger, CRM Technical Manager, Growth, at Mercari US.

Canva also linked the integration to the use of AI-generated visuals in marketing workflows.

“The most exciting thing about agentic AI isn’t what any single tool can do on its own, it’s what opens up when the right tools work together. Canva AI gives agents the ability to generate and iterate on visuals at scale, and Braze gets that creative in front of the right audience at the right moment. Closing the loop from visual creation to customer activation is what marketing teams need to keep up, and this integration enables users to seamlessly publish their on-brand Canva assets to Braze while maintaining design integrity,” said Anwar Haneef, Head of Ecosystem at Canva.

Bill Magnuson, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Braze, said the company is seeing demand from large brands that want AI tools embedded directly in marketing systems rather than offered as stand-alone features.

“The world’s largest and most sophisticated brands are choosing Braze to drive their AI transformation during this period of rapidly evolving disruption and opportunity. But for AI to matter, it has to be more than a promise. It has to work, at scale, and be enterprise-ready,” said Magnuson.