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Our Vodafone users had the fastest average download speeds. In the last report Vodafone and Spark tied in this category but now Vodafone is the outright winner. Vodafone’s clear win is due to consistent progress over a long period — in our October 2020 report Vodafone more than halved Spark’s lead, then in our last report, Vodafone statistically tied with Spark for first place. Since the last report Vodafone’s score increased by 3.3 Mbps (8.7%), while Spark’s fell by 1.1 Mbps (2.8%). As a result, Vodafone now leads by a margin of 5 Mbps over second-placed Spark. Vodafone is also the only operator on which our users observed average download speeds of more than 40 Mbps with its score of 41.4 Mbps.
For the fourth report in a row, our 2degrees users saw the highest average upload speeds. The operator has gained a lot of ground since our last report, with its score rising by 1.9 Mbps (18.9%) to 11.8 Mbps. Meanwhile, Vodafone and Spark’s scores rose by 0.8-0.9 Mbps to reach 10.2 Mbps and 9.4 Mbps, respectively. As a result, 2degrees’ lead over second-placed Vodafone has more than doubled, rising from the 0.6 Mbps in our last report to around 1.7 Mbps.
In our last report, 2degrees was the outright winner of the 4G Availability award. This time around, due to our Spark users seeing a bigger increase in the proportion of time they spent connected to 4G or better compared with our 2degrees users — 0.9 versus 0.4 percentage point rise respectively — Spark and 2degrees statistically tie and jointly win the 4G Availability award. While our Spark and 2degrees users spent the highest proportion of their time connected to 4G or better, Spark is still the outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award. This analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by users of all network operators.
With a score of 70.8 on a 100-point scale, our 2degrees users enjoyed the best mobile video streaming experience. Spark and Vodafone lagged behind with scores of 68.5 and 66.8 respectively. Using all three operators the overall Video Experience rated as Very Good (65-75) meaning users generally had fast loading times and saw only occasional stalling, but the experience might have been somewhat inconsistent across different users and/or video providers or resolutions.
It has now been two reports in a row since our Games Experience award has been won outright. In both this report and the previous one, Vodafone and 2degrees — the sole winner back in our October 2020 report — have been locked in a statistical tie for first place. All three operators’ Games Experience scores were statistically unchanged from our last report and 2degrees, Spark and Vodafone remain in the Fair (65-75) category. Games Experience measures our users’ experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how the multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
2degrees remains the operator with the largest haul of awards — this time winning two awards outright (Video Experience and Upload Speed Experience) and being a joint winner in three categories (Games Experience, Voice App Experience and 4G Availability). Spark has traded a joint win in Download Speed Experience for one in 4G Availability, while successfully defending the 4G Coverage Experience award. Vodafone has converted a joint win in Download Speed Experience into an outright win and still ties for first place with 2degrees on Games Experience and Voice App Experience.
Spark and Vodafone are ahead of 2degrees in 5G strategy. While 2degrees signed a deal with Ericsson in April to support a 5G launch in 2021, its parent company, Trilogy International Partners (TIP), had been exploring an initial public offering (IPO) for 2degrees but has paused this initiative to look into a potential merger between 2degrees and a local broadband operator.
In this report, we’ve analyzed the mobile network experience provided by New Zealand’s three national operators — Vodafone, Spark and 2degrees — at the national level in the 90 days starting July 1 and ending on September 28, 2021. We have used 5G measurements in addition to those from previous generations of mobile network technology when determining the overall scores for each award.
To provide a greater understanding of the mobile experience, we also publish additional metrics looking at the experience of 5G users in New Zealand. This differs from the awards because instead of representing the experience for all users, these additional metrics reflect the overall experience of those smartphone users that have both a 5G tariff plan and a 5G smartphone model taking into account the amount of time 5G users spend connected to 4G and 5G.
For the first time, we have also published a 5G Experience companion report, which analyzes the experience of our users when they had an active connection to 5G technology.
| Mobile Experience Awards New Zealand | |||
|---|---|---|---|
October 2021,
New Zealand Report
|
2
2degrees
|
S
Spark
|
V
Vodafone
|
Video Experience
| |||
Games Experience
| |||
Voice App Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
4G Availability
| |||
4G Coverage Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
October 2021,
New Zealand
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
2
2degrees
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
V
Vodafone
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
2
2degrees
|
|
4G Coverage Experience
|
S
Spark
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
October 2021, New Zealand
|
|---|---|
|
Games Experience
|
2
2degrees
V
Vodafone
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
2
2degrees
V
Vodafone
|
|
4G Availability
|
2
2degrees
S
Spark
|
2degrees is once again the outright winner of the Video Experience award, having now done so for three reports in a row. This time it wins by a margin of 2.3 points over second-placed Spark. All three operators placed in the Very Good (65-75) category, which means that our users in New Zealand experienced generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling but the experience might have been somewhat inconsistent across users and/or video providers/resolutions.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
2
2degrees
|
S
Spark
|
V
Vodafone
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Video Experience – 5G Users
| — | 71.3 (± 3.06) | 72.1 (± 2.21) |
| Video Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
2
2degrees
|
— |
|
S
Spark
|
71 (± 3.06) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
72 (± 2.21) |
Our 2degrees and Vodafone users continued to have the best experience when playing mobile multiplayer games over cellular connections. The statistical tie between them in our previous report remains unbroken. The last time that the Games Experience award was won outright was back in our October 2020 report when 2degrees was the sole victor.
All three operators’ Games Experience scores were statistically unchanged from our last report and 2degrees, Spark and Vodafone remain in the Fair (65-75) category. This means that our New Zealand users found their experience ‘average’. In most cases the game was responsive to the actions of the player with most users reporting that they felt like they had control over the game. The majority of players reported that they noticed a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
|
Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
2
2degrees
|
S
Spark
|
V
Vodafone
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Games Experience – 5G Users
| — | 67.9 (± 5.22) | 71.3 (± 3.18) |
| Games Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
2
2degrees
|
— |
|
S
Spark
|
68 (± 5.22) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
71 (± 3.18) |
Once again, there is no clear victor for Voice App Experience. For the fourth time in a row two operators have been statistically tied for first place. 2degrees and Vodafone are again the joint winners this time around, as was the case in our last report. The two operators won with scores of 79.9-80.9 points on a 100 point scale, but Spark wasn’t far behind with a score of 79.3 points. All three operators’ scores are statistically unchanged from our previous report.
Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger etc. — using a model derived from an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality.
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
2
2degrees
|
S
Spark
|
V
Vodafone
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
Voice App Experience – 5G Users
| — | 80.2 (± 2.25) | 80.1 (± 1.52) |
| Voice App Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
|
2
2degrees
|
— |
|
S
Spark
|
80 (± 2.25) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
80 (± 1.52) |
Vodafone is the outright winner of the Download Speed Experience award and is the only operator on which our users observed average download speeds of more than 40 Mbps with its score of 41.4 Mbps. The operator commands a lead of 5 Mbps over second-placed Spark. In our previous report, the two operators were statistically tied for first-place, but Vodafone’s score has risen by 3.3 Mbps (8.7%), while Spark’s fell by 1.1 Mbps (2.8%).
Vodafone’s mobile experience in our earlier reports has been building up to this change in award ownership; in our October 2020 report it more than halved Spark’s lead, then in our last report, the two operators were joint winners of the award.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
2
2degrees
|
S
Spark
|
V
Vodafone
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
Download Speed Experience – 5G Users
| — | 91.3 (± 9.98) | 146.9 (± 12.73) |
| Download Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
|
2
2degrees
|
— |
|
S
Spark
|
91 (± 9.98) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
147 (± 12.73) |
Download Speed Experience – 5G Users measures the overall average download speeds seen by our 5G users across all mobile technology generations, weighted by the proportion of time that they spent on each technology, Our Vodafone 5G users observed the fastest overall speeds — 146.9 Mbps, while our Spark 5G users reported speeds of 91.3 Mbps.
For the fourth report in a row, our 2degrees users saw the highest average upload speeds. The operator has gained a lot of ground since our last report, with its score rising by 1.9 Mbps (18.9%) to 11.8 Mbps. Meanwhile, Vodafone and Spark’s scores rose by 0.8-0.9 Mbps to reach 10.2 Mbps and 9.4 Mbps, respectively. As a result, 2degrees’ lead over second-placed Vodafone has more than doubled, rising from the 0.6 Mbps seen last time around to 1.7 Mbps.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
2
2degrees
|
S
Spark
|
V
Vodafone
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users
| — | 13.2 (± 1.15) | 15.0 (± 1.28) |
| Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
|
2
2degrees
|
— |
|
S
Spark
|
13 (± 1.15) |
|
V
Vodafone
|
15 (± 1.28) |
Turning to Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users, our Spark and Vodafone 5G users reported statistically tied overall average speeds of around 14 Mbps. Again, this reflects the overall speed seen by our 5G users alone across all mobile technology generations, weighted by the proportion of time they spent connected to each generation.
2degrees and Spark are joint winners of the 4G Availability award. This means that our users on the two operators spent the highest proportion of their time connected to 4G or better. This is in contrast to our last report, in which 2degrees was the outright winner of the 4G Availability award. 2degrees and Spark’s scores are statistically tied due to a 0.9 percentage increase in the proportion of time that our Spark users spent connected to 4G or better — which outweighed the 0.4 percentage point improvement seen by our 2degrees users.
Spark is once again the outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award, extending its winning streak to four reports in a row. Little has changed since our previous report, with Vodafone in second-place, followed by 2degrees. All operators’ scores are statistically unchanged from last time around.
Opensignal’s 4G Coverage Experience metric is a measure of how mobile subscribers experience 4G coverage on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-10, it analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by users of all network operators.
Looking at the mobile experience across six regions (Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Otago, Waikato and Wellington), outright wins are relatively rare, indicating fierce competition for our regional awards. Out of a total of 36 region-level awards up for the taking, only eight were won outright — five by 2degrees and three by Vodafone. In addition to having the most sole victories, 2degrees is the operator with the largest haul of joint wins — 27 versus Spark’s 23 and Vodafone’s 21.
2degrees is the outright winner of Video Experience regional awards in Waikato and Otago. Our users did not observe any statistically significant difference in their experience when streaming mobile video between the three operators in Canterbury and the Bay of Plenty. 2degrees and Spark are joint winners in Auckland and Wellington.
No operators succeeded in winning any regional Games Experience awards outright. Reflecting the experience at the national level, 2degrees and Vodafone racked up the majority of joint wins, claiming six and five respectively, while Spark picked up three — two of which were due to three-way ties in the Bay of Plenty and Otago.
Turning to Voice App Experience, our users did not see any statistical difference in their experience between the three operators when using over-the-top voice apps across all six regions. Operators’ scores placed in either the Good (80-87) or Acceptable (74-80) categories. Our users in Auckland and Wellington had a Good Voice App Experience across all three operators.
Vodafone picks up three outright wins for Download Speed Experience — in Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and Canterbury — along with three joint wins in the remaining regions, with three-way ties in Waikato and Otago and a statistical tie alongside Spark in Wellington. Our Vodafone users’ regional average download speeds ranged from 50.8 Mbps in the Bay of Plenty to 32.8 Mbps in Otago. The average download speeds seen at the regional level by our Spark users ranged between 41.7 Mbps in Wellington and 33.7 Mbps in Waikato, while 2degrees’ scores varied between 35.6 Mbps in Auckland and 29.6 Mbps in the Bay of Plenty,
2degrees wins two regional awards outright for Upload Speed Experience — in Auckland and Waikato. All three operators statistically tied for first place in Wellington and Otago, while 2degrees and Vodafone tied with each other in the Bay of Plenty and Canterbury.
Moving finally to 4G Availability, 2degrees was the only operator to achieve a solo victory — doing so in Waikato with a score of 88.8%. All three operators share the regional award in Wellington while in the remaining four regions 2degrees and Spark are statistically tied for first place. Regardless of their choice of operator, our users in Wellington spent more than 90% of their time connected to 4G or better.
Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown
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.
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