In this new analysis, Opensignal has compared the experience of our smartphone users in Vienna to the rest of Austria. Opensignal data shows that Vienna inhabitants enjoy faster overall download speeds (47.3Mbps vs 43.2Mbps) and connect to 5G services more often (19.1% of the time vs 14%) compared with the rest of Austria. However, both Vienna and the rest of the country see identical 3.7 times faster average download speeds with 5G over 4G. The 5G experience is also more consistent across hours of the day than is the experience using 4G.
Opensignal users in Vienna enjoy average overall download speeds clocking in at 47.3Mbps — which is 9.7% faster than the experience of users outside of Vienna. Looking at 4G and 5G download speeds both groups observe identical yet substantial uplifts on 5G networks, with 5G Download Speed being 3.7 times faster than 4G Download Speed. While Vienna users see slightly faster 4G Download Speed than their peers in the rest of the country (4.3%) we observe no statistically significant difference for 5G Download Speed.
Turning to our 5G users alone, we observe a much wider difference between Vienna and the rest of Austria. Our 5G users in the capital city see an average overall download speed of 80.1Mbps — 19.2% faster than their 5G users outside of Vienna, whose average overall speeds clock in at 67.2Mbps. Here, the 5G user scores represent the overall experience across all generations of mobile technology for users that have accessed 5G at least once.
We can link the higher uplift in the overall Download Speed Experience for 5G users in Vienna to the more time they spend connected to 5G networks than 5G users in the rest of Austria. This is 5G Availability. 5G users connect to 5G services 19.1% of the time in the capital — more than a third more than 5G users in the rest of Austria. With more time spent on 5G, mobile users access faster and more reliable 5G services, which enhances their overall mobile network experience and boosts their overall download speeds.
Opensignal analyzed the fluctuations in 4G Download Speed and 5G Download Speed that our users in Vienna and outside of the capital see throughout different times of the day. We observe generally faster average 4G and 5G download speeds at night between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. — when most people are asleep and fewer devices connect to operators’ networks. Also, we see faster speeds in the mornings, between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., than in the afternoon or the evening.
Our users in Vienna see slower average download speeds in the evenings when most users connect to mobile networks, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., of 22.5% for 4G and 16.5% for 5G, compared to the mornings. 5G speeds are more consistent across the hours of the day than 4G download speeds.
For the rest of Austria, the relative drops in average download speeds due to the load on the network are slightly different — 26.1% for 4G Download Speed (9 p.m. to 12 a.m) and 13.1% for 5G Download Speed (6 p.m. to 9 p.m), both against the peak values recorded in the mornings (between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.). A lower relative drop for 4G Download Speed and a higher one for 5G Download Speed in Vienna, makes sense as the higher 5G Availability in the capital indicates that 5G networks in Vienna handle a greater proportion of mobile traffic than those in the rest of the country. More time spent on 5G networks by users offloads traffic from 4G networks, which consequently observe a lower level of congestion in Vienna, as opposed to the rest of Austria.
Opensignal’s analysis demonstrates that users in Vienna generally enjoy faster average download speeds than those outside of the capital. The difference is partly driven by more time spent on 5G services than in the rest of Austria. Vienna is one of the most advanced cities in the world in terms of implementing smart city strategies and smart city transportation — and further 5G deployments, especially using 5G standalone access architecture, will foster Vienna’s evolution to a smart city.
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