Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
EE is the winner of the 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed awards for the second report in a row. The operator scored 131.9 Mbps for 5G Download Speed — 21 Mbps ahead of second-placed O2’s 110.9 Mbps. EE also commanded a comfortable lead of 1.5 Mbps (12.3%) on 5G Upload Speed — EE scored 13.8 Mbps versus Vodafone’s 12.3 Mbps.
While 3 won the 5G Availability award outright in our last report, this time around it has had to share the glory with Vodafone as the two operators’ scores are statistically tied. 5G Availability measures the amount of time users spent with an active 5G connection. In our first look at 5G Reach in the U.K. — Opensignal’s measure of how 5G users experience the geographical extent of an operator’s network — 3 and Vodafone are joint winners of the award.
In our inaugural look at the multiplayer mobile gaming experience on 5G connections in the U.K., our users on O2 and Vodafone observed the fewest connectivity-related issues with their gameplay. The two operators placed in the Good (75-85) category, while 3 and EE ended up in the Fair (65-75) category. A Good 5G Games Experience means that most users deemed the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience was generally controllable and the user received immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users did not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
EE and O2 again share the 5G Video Experience award as their scores have remained statistically tied, while being significantly higher than those of 3 and Vodafone. The two winners, as well as 3, placed in the Excellent (75 or above) category for 5G Video Experience. But Vodafone was the only operator on which our users saw a Very Good (65-75) experience instead.
Our users perceived no statistically significant difference between EE, O2 and Vodafone’s 5G networks when using over-the-top voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger. 3 placed in the Acceptable (74-80) category, while its rivals placed one category higher with a Good (80-87) rating.
Our latest report on the UK’s 5G experience shows that the country’s 5G networks are still relatively nascent, as our users with both 5G smartphones and 5G plans are still spending less than 10% of their time connected to 5G. In addition, they saw 5G in less than a quarter of the locations they visit on average. However, on three of the operators, our users spent more time connected to 5G, compared to our last report.
While EE has the same score as Vodafone for 5G Reach, its confidence intervals do not overlap with those of the highest scoring operator, 3, and therefore it is not tied with 3 as a joint winner.
3 said in August that its 5G outdoor population coverage had reached 30%. Meanwhile, EE is seeking to hit the 50% mark by early 2023 and achieve more than 90% landmass coverage by 2028. In August, Vodafone’s 5G service was live in was live in 123 towns and cities. The operator is also pushing ahead with 5G standalone access (SA) technology. Vodafone launched a commercial SA pilot in June, which includes a dedicated slice for Coventry University that will provide it with low-latency services to enable virtual reality distance learning. In Opensignal's first analysis of SA where it has already been deployed — on T-Mobile’s network in the USA — we saw early signs of an enhanced 5G experience.
5G appears to be helping EE’s competitors close the gap on download speeds. While EE is the winner of both the 5G Download Speed and Download Speed Experience awards (the latter in our companion report), EE’s 5G Download Speed score shows the least improvement — when compared with those of the other operators — over Download Speed Experience in percentage terms. EE’s 5G Download Speed score is 2.6 times faster than its Download Speed Experience score, while O2, 3 and Vodafone’s 5G Download Speed scores are 6.4, 5 and 3.9 times faster than their Download Speed Experience scores, respectively. However, as seen in our companion report, 5G users on EE’s network observed the fastest speeds on average when weighted by the proportion of time they spent on each generation of mobile technology (Download Speed Experience – 5G Users).
In comparison to our companion report — which looks at the overall experience of all our users across all generations of mobile technology — the awards are spread much more evenly, with every operator taking home at least two joint wins. EE is the only operator to win awards outright — the 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed awards. It is also a joint winner for 5G Voice App Experience — as part of the three-way statistical tie alongside O2 and Vodafone — and shares the 5G Video Experience award alongside O2. Vodafone has the second largest haul with four joint wins to its name — including the 5G Games Experience award, which was also won by O2.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of our 5G users when connected to 5G on the four main mobile network operators in the U.K.: 3, EE, O2 and Vodafone, over a period of 90 days starting June 1, 2021 and ending August 29, 2021, to see how they fared. We have also published a companion report — United Kingdom Mobile Network Experience — which analyzes the overall experience of all our mobile users in the U.K.
| 5G Mobile Experience Awards United Kingdom | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
September 2021,
United Kingdom Report
|
3
3
|
E
EE
|
O
O2
|
V
Vodafone
|
5G Availability
| ||||
5G Reach
| ||||
5G Video Experience
| ||||
5G Games Experience
| ||||
5G Voice App Experience
| ||||
5G Download Speed
| ||||
5G Upload Speed
| ||||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
September 2021,
United Kingdom
|
|---|---|
|
5G Download Speed
|
E
EE
|
|
5G Upload Speed
|
E
EE
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
September 2021, United Kingdom
|
|---|---|
|
5G Availability
|
3
3
V
Vodafone
|
|
5G Reach
|
3
3
V
Vodafone
|
|
5G Video Experience
|
E
EE
O
O2
|
|
5G Games Experience
|
O
O2
V
Vodafone
|
|
5G Voice App Experience
|
E
EE
O
O2
V
Vodafone
|
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the mobile analytics company committed to improving mobile connectivity across the globe. We are the independent authority for understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Get in touch for more information on our analytics solutions and industry reports.
Opensignal Limited retains ownership of this report including all intellectual property rights, data, content, graphs & analysis. Reports produced by Opensignal Limited may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, published for any commercial purpose (including use in advertisements or other promotional content) without prior written consent. Journalists are encouraged to quote information included in Opensignal reports provided they include clear source attribution. For more information, contact [email protected].
