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After battling it out with FarEasTone (FET) in Opensignal's last report, Taiwan Mobile claimed sole ownership of our 4G Availability award in our most recent test period. Our users on Taiwan Mobile's networks connected to a 4G signal 95.8% of the time, putting the operator more than a percentage point ahead of FET.
If there's one thing that every Taiwanese operator does well, it's delivering a high quality Video Experience to their customers. Four of Taiwan's operators earned Very Good ratings in our Video Experience metric, meaning video streamed to their users exhibited short load times and few interruptions during playback. The fifth operator, GT, scored highly as well, garnering a Good rating.
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) maintained its dominant position in our Download Speed Experience metric. Its users' average overall download speed of 34.1 Mbps was more than 8 Mbps faster than its nearest rival. In Upload Speed Experience, though, CHT faced a challenger in FET as both operators tied for our award in this category.
The level of 4G access in Taiwan is already quite high and it keeps rising. In the last six months we saw improvements in our 4G Availability scores for all five operators. Four of those operators have passed the 90% mark in 4G Availability, and one, Taiwan Mobile, has crossed the 95% barrier, according to our measurements.
Only a handful of countries can match Taiwan when it comes to 4G signal reach. Most of Taiwan's operators are delivering 4G connections to Opensignal users more than 90% of the time, and they are quickly pushing beyond that boundary to 95%. But 4G access isn't the only area the island excels in. Our results show Taiwanese consumers enjoy a high level of quality when streaming video to their mobile phones. If there is one area where Taiwan isn't playing a leading role, it's in our download speed metrics. Many of Taiwan's peers in East Asia are averaging Download Speed Experience scores in excess of 30 Mbps — in some cases more than 40 Mbps. The users of only one operator in Taiwan have enjoyed over 30 Mbps in Download Speed Experience, while two operators had scores below 20 Mbps. Taiwan, however, is preparing for the launch of its next generation network, so the next big jump in speed we record on the island could very well coincide with the large-scale launch of 5G services. (For a Chinese language version of this report, click here.)
| Mobile Experience Awards Taiwan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 2019,
Taiwan Report
|
G
GT
|
F
FarEasTone
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
T
T Star
|
4G Availability
| |||||
Video Experience
| |||||
Download Speed Experience
| |||||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||||
Latency Experience
| |||||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
June 2019,
Taiwan
|
|---|---|
|
4G Availability
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
|
Video Experience
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
June 2019, Taiwan
|
|---|---|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
F
FarEasTone
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
|
Latency Experience
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
T
T Star
|
Taiwan Mobile has jumped into the lead in our 4G Availability metric. In this most recent test period, its 4G Availability score grew by 1 percentage point to 95.8%, allowing it to surpass FarEasTone (FET) and become the first Taiwanese operator to achieve a score of 95% in our results. FET, however, is about to reach the same milestone with a 4G Availability score of 94.6%.
All of Taiwan's operators turned in exceptional results in this metric. Users of four of Taiwan's five operators experienced 4G Availability scores over 90%, and the lone holdout, GT, was only 1 percentage point shy of 90% in our analysis. Finding a 4G connection in Taiwan is rarely a problem.
In Opensignal's Video Experience metric, achieving a Very Good rating (65-75 in our 100-point scale) is a difficult proposition. Taiwan, however, managed to pull off that feat four times over. Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), FET, Taiwan Mobile and T Star all landed in the Very Good range, meaning video streamed to users' devices experienced short load times and suffered from minimal stalling during playback, except at the highest resolutions. GT missed out on a Very Good rating, but its score of 62.1 still earned it a Good rating.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
G
GT
|
F
FarEasTone
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
T
T Star
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||||
|
4G Video Experience
| 62.1 (± 0.80) | 72.9 (± 0.41) | 75.1 (± 0.33) | 72.3 (± 0.47) | 67.6 (± 0.58) |
|
3G Video Experience
| — | 50.5 (± 2.30) | 50.7 (± 1.60) | 45.4 (± 2.54) | 44.3 (± 2.92) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
G
GT
|
62 (± 0.80) |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
73 (± 0.41) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
75 (± 0.33) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
72 (± 0.47) |
|
T
T Star
|
68 (± 0.58) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
G
GT
|
— |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
51 (± 2.30) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
51 (± 1.60) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
45 (± 2.54) |
|
T
T Star
|
44 (± 2.92) |
We did have one standout in our Video Experience rankings. With a score of 72.6, CHT won our Video Experience award. Also, when we looked at 4G Video Experience only, CHT was the only operator to elevate itself into the Excellent range of ratings (75-100), with a score of 75.1.
Even though CHT emerged as the winner in Video Experience, it's a telling sign that all five operators were relatively close to one another in this metric, considering how far apart they were in our Download Speed Experience metric. Only 10.5 points separated the best and worst Video Experience scores, and only a meager 2 points separated the scores of the top 3 operators. Yet in our Download Speed Experience metric, we found huge gaps between the winner of our award, CHT, and the rest of the field. CHT users' download speeds may be twice as fast as T Star's in our results, but the Video Experience experienced on CHT is by no means twice as good as T Star's, as both earned essentially the same Video Experience rating. Clearly other factors beyond raw speed are determining Video Experience, such as latency, consistency of connections and possibly even individual operators' video streaming policies.
CHT stood head and shoulders above its rivals in Download Speed Experience. The overall download speed experienced by users of 34.1 Mbps was more than 7 Mbps faster than its closest rivals, FET and Taiwan Mobile, in our measurements. GT and T Star landed even further behind in Download Speed Experience, with averages below 17 Mbps.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
G
GT
|
F
FarEasTone
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
T
T Star
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||||
|
4G Download Speed
| 15.5 (± 0.35) | 28.2 (± 0.43) | 37.1 (± 0.43) | 27.0 (± 0.40) | 18.0 (± 0.26) |
|
3G Download Speed
| — | 7.2 (± 0.30) | 7.4 (± 0.21) | 4.7 (± 0.20) | 4.4 (± 0.16) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
G
GT
|
15 (± 0.35) |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
28 (± 0.43) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
37 (± 0.43) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
27 (± 0.40) |
|
T
T Star
|
18 (± 0.26) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
G
GT
|
— |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
7 (± 0.30) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
7 (± 0.21) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
5 (± 0.20) |
|
T
T Star
|
4 (± 0.16) |
When we break down Download Speed Experience by technology type, we see CHT maintain its considerable advantage in 4G Download Speed with a score of 37.1 Mbps. Interestingly, we recorded some notably fast 3G Download Speeds on CHT's and FET's networks, with users on both averaging HSPA download speeds faster than 7 Mbps. Taiwan is in the process of shutting down its HSPA networks as it migrates all remaining 3G-only customers to 4G service plans and devices. Those few 3G subscribers that remain, however, still have access to some decent speeds, according to our results.
While no one came close to CHT in Download Speed Experience, the same didn't apply in Upload Speed Experience. FET and CHT were tied in this metric, with users connecting to both averaging upload speeds just over 10 Mbps. Taiwan Mobile's Upload Speed Experience score of 9.9 Mbps came within a hair's breadth of forcing a three-way tie.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
G
GT
|
F
FarEasTone
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
T
T Star
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 4.6 (± 0.11) | 10.9 (± 0.16) | 11.3 (± 0.14) | 10.5 (± 0.15) | 6.3 (± 0.10) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| — | 1.3 (± 0.07) | 1.1 (± 0.04) | 1.2 (± 0.07) | 0.5 (± 0.03) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
G
GT
|
5 (± 0.11) |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
11 (± 0.16) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
11 (± 0.14) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
11 (± 0.15) |
|
T
T Star
|
6 (± 0.10) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
G
GT
|
— |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
1 (± 0.07) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
1 (± 0.04) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
1 (± 0.07) |
|
T
T Star
|
0 (± 0.03) |
Upload speed is becoming increasingly important in the mobile broadband experience as social media sharing and live streaming services put much more emphasis on the uplink portion of the network connection. CHT, FET and Taiwan Mobile appear to be well prepared to manage this transition with ease, though.
Four operators in Taiwan had Latency Experience scores under 40 milliseconds, which, while not exceptional scores, speak to the nimbleness of their networks. Latency measures the end-to-end response time of a network connection and is key for a number of applications including real-time communications and multiplayer gaming apps.
|
Latency Experience
Additional Metrics |
G
GT
|
F
FarEasTone
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
T
T Star
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in ms | |||||
|
4G Latency
| 47.4 (± 0.68) | 35.0 (± 0.18) | 33.7 (± 0.18) | 36.3 (± 0.26) | 30.9 (± 0.32) |
|
3G Latency
| — | 52.6 (± 1.85) | 51.8 (± 1.14) | 46.4 (± 1.67) | 80.4 (± 2.55) |
| 4G Latency | in ms |
|
G
GT
|
47 (± 0.68) |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
35 (± 0.18) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
34 (± 0.18) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
36 (± 0.26) |
|
T
T Star
|
31 (± 0.32) |
| 3G Latency | in ms |
|
G
GT
|
— |
|
F
FarEasTone
|
53 (± 1.85) |
|
C
Chunghwa Telecom
|
52 (± 1.14) |
|
T
Taiwan Mobile
|
46 (± 1.67) |
|
T
T Star
|
80 (± 2.55) |
T Star and CHT tied for our Latency Experience award, with scores experienced by their users of just over 35ms. But when we break out connections by technology type, we find T Star's 4G Latency comes in at 30.9ms, nearly 3ms lower and hence better than CHT and indicative of a highly responsive 4G network. T Star, however, had the worst 3G Latency score in our analysis, which caused its users' Latency Experience to suffer and prevented it from laying sole claim to the overall award in this category.
Our four-city regional analysis of Taiwan largely mirrored our national results. While Taiwan Mobile beat out FET for our national 4G Availability award, the battle between the two rages on in the metro areas. We recorded 4G Availability draws between Taiwan Mobile and FET in all four cities. CHT repeated its national Download Speed Experience win in all four cities, but in our regional Video Experience awards the operator faced stiff competition, drawing with either FET or Taiwan Mobile for our awards in Kaohsiung, Taichung and Tainan.
We did see operators shine in particular metrics in individual markets. In Kaohsiung, all five operators had 4G Availability scores above 90%, while Taiwan Mobile exceeded 97% in 4G Availability in Kaohsiung and Tainan in our results. In Taipei, CHT flirted with an Excellent Video Experience rating, coming less than a point shy of a 75-point score. In our Latency Experience measurements, we saw CHT and T Star brush up against the 30ms milestone in Taipei.
Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown
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