In this Opensignal analysis, we segment our U.K. users based on the quality of their mobile experience on three measures: Download Speed, Time with no signal and Video Experience. This highlights the significant minority of smartphone users that have a much worse experience than the average. Opensignal’s analysis reveals that over 14% of smartphone users in the U.K. experience average download speeds below 10Mbps, 10.8% typically have a Poor Video Experience, and 4.7% of users spend over 5% of their time with no mobile signal.
National figures can hide the areas where users have a suboptimal experience. We’ve previously highlighted the U.K. urban/rural 5G mobile experience divide. Now we examine the proportion of U.K. mobile users that are disadvantaged because they have a much worse mobile experience than the average. We’ve seen that even in a metropolis as densely populated as New York City there can be pockets where people struggle with their mobile service.
Average overall download speeds in the UK are 32.6Mbps which is above the 30Mbps threshold that Ofcom and the EU use to define superfast home broadband. However, when we segment smartphone users it’s clear that a large percentage of people experience far slower average mobile speeds. In fact, 53.3% of users see average download speeds below the 30Mbps threshold. This highlights the challenges with using mobile technology to fill in gaps in fixed broadband services and offer a “superfast” experience.
While on average users spend 1% of their time with no mobile signal a significant minority of users have a much worse experience: 4.7% of users spend more than 5% of their time without a signal. In total, 13.8% of users spend less time connected than the U.K. average.
Turning to Video Experience — on average U.K. users have a Good (58-68) experience with a score of 63.3 when streaming mobile video. However, 19.2% of users’ Video Experience places at least one category lower, with 10.8% observing a Poor (below 48) experience and an additional 8.4% of users having only a Fair (48-58) experience. These users encounter higher loading times and/or higher levels of stalling than the average or were only able to stream video at lower resolutions.
There are large differences in the proportion of users with poor download speeds across the U.K. Out of the 12 cities we’ve analyzed, there are five where the proportion of our users that experience average mobile speeds below 10Mbps is above the national average of 14.3% of users — Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Hull. Looking at the other end of the scale, where proportionally less users experience these slow speeds than the national average, only 6.3% of users in Sheffield have these very slow speeds and it is followed by Nottingham (8.8%) and Birmingham (8.8%). London is mid-table with 12.1%.
7.1% of our users in Edinburgh spend more than 5% of their time without a mobile signal — the highest proportion across the 12 cities analyzed here. Most of them have a smaller proportion of users with poor no signal time than the national average — rural areas are where users are more likely to struggle with mobile coverage. A contributing factor is the need to strike the difficult balance between ensuring a good cellular service, keeping views of historical sites such as Edinburgh Castle free of modern distractions and addressing the concerns of local residents. Bristol (5.7%), London (4.6%) and Glasgow (4.6%) have the next highest proportions of users in this category. London’s position is likely to change over the next few years given the work to expand mobile connectivity across the London Underground. According to Transport for London (TfL), by the end of 2024 there will be a 5G service within every London Underground station and tunnel, including the Elizabeth line.
Turning to the percentage of users with a Poor Video Experience, five cities underperform compared to the national average of 10.8% — Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol, Liverpool & Birkenhead and Birmingham. London is mid-table with 8.5%, while Edinburgh does a bit better with 7.9%. Sheffield and Hull have the lowest proportion of users in this category — 3.6% and 3.7%, respectively.
Keep an eye out for future analysis on the U.K.’s mobile network experience as part of Opensignal’s ongoing mission to advance connectivity for all by providing operators, mobile users, network vendors, regulators and policymakers with the information they need on users’ real-world mobile experience.
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