Opensignal has released its latest bi-annual Mobile Network Experience Report for the second half of 2023. This report benchmarks 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) services from all four major UK mobile operators (EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three UK) to find out which services offer the best performance. Masu. . Overall, EE and Three UK seem to be the best.
As always, the latest report continues to be based on crowdsourced data collected from users on hundreds of thousands of devices (including smartphones) between June 1, 2023 and August 29, 2023. Masu. The results were then processed to reveal how key mobile devices are being used. Compare network operators (MNOs) across different categories.
The study primarily focuses on the overall performance of 3G, 4G, and 5G networks, but also breaks out some of the results regarding 5G connectivity. Overall, EE won the most awards, taking seven wins and securing three joint awards. This was a slight decrease from the previous report, where he earned eight wins, but in five categories he shared first place.
In second place was Three UK, continuing its recent tradition of winning awards for 5G speed (download and upload) and availability, which is well reflected in other research. This operator is also the co-winner of the 5G Video Experience and his 5G Live Video Experience. All key results are summarized below.
Download Speed Experience – All Mobile Connections
(Results in parentheses are for the first half of 2023)1.EE 40Mbps (47.7Mbps)
2. 3 UK 34.5Mbps (35.4Mbps)
3. Vodafone 27.9Mbps (25.9Mbps)
4.O2 20.9Mbps (19.3Mbps)
Download speed – 5G
1. UK 3 205.5Mbps (237.7Mbps)
2. Vodafone 114.3Mbps (100.6Mbps)
3.EE 99.5Mbps (122.3Mbps)
Four. O2 77Mbps (75Mbps)
Upload Speed Experience – All Mobile Connections
1.EE 9.3Mbps (9.8Mbps)
2. Vodafone 8Mbps (8.2Mbps)
3. 3 UK 6.3Mbps (6.2Mbps)
4.O2 5Mbps (5.1Mbps)
Upload speed – 5G
1. UK 3 17.5Mbps (17.3Mbps)
2.EE 15.9Mbps (16.9Mbps)
3. Vodafone 14.9Mbps (14.9Mbps)
4.O2 10Mbps (9.8Mbps)
UK Availability % – All Mobile Connections
1. UK 3 companies 99.1% (99%)
2.EE 98.5% (98.3%)
3. Vodafone 97.5% (97.3%)
4.O2 97.3% (97%)
UK Availability % – 5G
1.EE 10.6% (9.8%)
2. UK 3 companies 10.3% (10.6%)
3.O2 10.1% (8%)
4. Vodafone 10% (9.7%)
The results highlight some interesting changes since the last update, with frontrunners EE and Three UK both appearing to have lost some of their lead in download speeds. In the case of EE, this meant that he fell from second place in his 5G download performance to third place, but Vodafone’s improvements allowed him to inch forward.
5G availability (percentage of time spent on 5G) performance across all networks also improved almost equally, with O2 (VMO2) providing the largest increase overall. But sadly, O2 is still the lowest rated mobile operator in most categories, a fairly common trend over the past few years, and the Virgin Media merger is still a big plus in this regard. does not show any impact.
However, there are caveats to this type of research. For example, app-based crowdsourced data can be affected by the limitations and location of the device and plan being used, while at the same time losing the ability to adopt common types. Adjusting your hardware and environment to help form a solid baseline. Naturally, some carriers have better 4G or 5G coverage, more spectrum bands, and more advanced networks than others.
Opensignal is usually one of the better organizations at analyzing this kind of data, but suffice it to say that performance tests like this don’t always tell the whole story.
