Key findings
- Our SoftBank users experience the most consistent quality of services out of all four national Japanese operators around the Tokaido Shinkansen line.
- SoftBank also claims the top spot for 5G Availability, with a score of 32.4%.
- SoftBank is in outright first place for Games Experience around the Tokaido Shinkansen line.
- Rakuten leads for Upload Speed Experience with a sizable winning margin.
- SoftBank places first for all 5G metrics around the Tokaido Shinkansen line, either outright for 5G Games Experience or jointly for the remaining metrics.
The Shinkansen, commonly known as the "bullet train," is a network of nine high-speed railway lines in Japan. In our analysis, we focus on the mobile network experience of our users around the Tokaido Shinkansen line. This first high-speed train opened in Japan in 1964 and remains the busiest Shinkansen line in the country. We use the data collected around the rail tracks and the main stations — Shin-Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Shin-Yokohama, Shinagawa, and Tokyo.
Rakuten leads for Upload Speed Experience with sizable winning margins, beating second-placed SoftBank by 33.3% and third-placed au by 88.5%. Meanwhile, SoftBank comes outright first for Games Experience, placing in the Good (75-85) category along with au and Rakuten Mobile. Most users deem the multiplayer mobile gaming experience acceptable and do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
Au and SoftBank come jointly first for three overall metrics around the Tokaido Shinkansen line — Download Speed Experience, Video Experience, and Voice App Experience. Both au and SoftBank see faster average overall download speeds around the Tokaido Shinkansen line than the national average seen in the previous Japan Mobile Network Experience report.
SoftBank comes first for all 5G metrics around the Tokaido Shinkansen line, either outright or jointly. The operator triumphs for 5G Games Experience, the only one to garner an Excellent (85 or above). This means nearly all users experienced network performance that made them feel like they had control over the game and received immediate feedback on their actions when connected to 5G.
Similar to the overall metrics, au and SoftBank share the top spots for their 5G counterparts — 5G Download Speed Experience, 5G Video Experience, and 5G Voice App Experience. SoftBank also has jointly the highest score for 5G Upload Speed, along with Rakuten Mobile.
Our SoftBank users experience the most consistent quality of services out of all four national Japanese operators around the Tokaido Shinkansen line. The operator scores 86.3%, which reflects the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality, along with the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted.
SoftBank also claims the top spot for 5G Availability, with a score of 32.4%. This is the percentage of time 5G users on this network spend connected to 5G services. Au is the runner-up, as its 5G subscribers spend nearly a quarter of their time connected to 5G.
There are no statistically significant differences between all four operators regarding their Availability scores. Availability measures the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network have either a 3G, 4G, or 5G connection.
A good quality of mobile services on high-speed trains is essential for passengers. Even though the trip from Osaka to Tokyo on a Shinkansen train lasts for only 2.5 hours, travelers can use this time to catch up on work, plan their travels, or keep themselves entertained with their mobile devices. The seamless connectivity also matters to high-speed train staff members as they perform their duties onboard and need to remain contactable.
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