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Vodafone wins the multiplayer mobile gaming experience award in Germany after coming behind Telekom in our past two reports. While all three German operators saw their Games Experience scores decrease compared to our previous report, Vodafone experienced the smallest change, which resulted in Vodafone coming ahead of Telekom and winning the award. While all three operators previously earned a Good rating (75-85), now Vodafone is the only operator scoring in that category, while Telekom and O2 have moved to the Fair category (65-75).
Telekom wins Video Experience by scoring 72.7 points compared with 71.3 points for Vodafone and 69 points for O2. However, as all three operators saw their scores diminish compared to the last report, Telekom’s lead on second-placed Vodafone has fallen from 2.1 points to 1.5 points. Telekom, Vodafone and O2 have all achieved a Very Good (65-75) rating in Video Experience, while in the previous report Telekom was the only operator with an Excellent score (75 or above).
In Opensignal’s previous report O2 and Telekom shared the 4G Availability award with statistically tied scores of 92% and 92.2%, respectively. However, Telekom was the only one of the two operators to see its score improve since our last report, allowing it to reach 93.8% which earned it an outright win. In fact, O2’s score is statistically unchanged at 91.9%, while Vodafone shows an improvement of 0.4 percentage points reaching 92%.
Vodafone wins the Voice App Experience award with a score of 80.7, ahead of Telekom with 79.6 and O2 on 78.4. Vodafone is now the only operator in Germany achieving a Good rating (80-87) in Voice App Experience. However, all three operators exceeded the 80-point mark in our previous report. Since then, we have observed decreases in the scores of the three operators for Opensignal's measure of voice communications using over-the-top apps like Facetime or WhatsApp.
Telekom once again wins the Download Speed Experience award, this time users’ average download speeds have risen beyond the 50 Mbps threshold and hit 54.2 Mbps. However, despite this impressive achievement, Telekom cannot rest comfortably. In fact, our Vodafone users saw the largest improvement of 7.4 Mbps compared to the previous report and reached 44.8 Mbps, meaning that Telekom’s lead has reduced from 12.1 Mbps to 9.4 Mbps. O2 follows at some distance, having scored 30.8 Mbps, up from 29.3 Mbps last time.
Telekom wins the lion’s share of our awards but we have also observed two changes in our awards table since our previous report: Telekom edges out O2 in 4G Availability to become the outright winner in that category, while Vodafone wins the Games Experience award, previously claimed by Telekom. Besides, Telekom’s lead in Video Experience and Download Speed Experience has decreased further since our previous report, in Vodafone’s favor.
Download and upload speeds have generally improved in the past six months, as well as both our measures of a network’s extent — 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience However, all three operators have seen their scores in Video Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience diminish slightly to Vodafone’s advantage, as it sustained the smallest declines. It is not uncommon to see such falls in mobile experience scores. Often, we see a seasonal effect on the mobile experience in Germany and other countries as mobile users spend more time outdoors in different, more rural, parts of the country during the warmer months.
German operators are busy expanding their 5G deployments. In September, Telekom claimed it covered 85% of the German population with its 5G network and that it was on track to exceed 90% by the end of the year. Telekom also stated that it was testing 5G standalone access (SA) technology in four cities. In May, Vodafone announced that its 5G network covered around 25 million Germans and that it was aiming for 30 million people by the end of the year. O2 recently confirmed that it was on track to reach 30% of the population by the end of the year, and that it was rolling out 5G in the 700 MHz frequency band to expand its coverage and lay the basis of a 5G SA network.
While 5G nowadays claims the spotlight of people’s attention, recent months have seen some topical events involving an older mobile technology — Vodafone and Telekom completed their 3G network switch-offs while O2 is currently accelerating its own 3G network shutdown. This allows German operators to repurpose old 3G spectrum for their 4G and 5G networks, thus increasing capacity and improving the overall experience of mobile users.
In this report, we've analyzed the mobile network experience for all three of Germany’s national operators — O2, Telekom and Vodafone — over a period of 90 days beginning July 1 and ending September 28, 2021, to see how they fared. Alongside the national analysis, we've also measured our users' experience in 24 cities.
This report includes the overall experience for all smartphone users, but we also publish supporting metrics for 5G users' experience. The difference is that these 5G users results reflect the overall experience across all mobile technologies — 3G, 4G and 5G — of 5G users alone, while the overall results are the average scores across all smartphone users, whether or not they have 5G.
| Mobile Experience Awards Germany | |||
|---|---|---|---|
November 2021,
Germany Report
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O
O2
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T
Telekom
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V
Vodafone
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Video Experience
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Games Experience
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Voice App Experience
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Download Speed Experience
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Upload Speed Experience
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4G Availability
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4G Coverage Experience
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Mobile Experience Awards Winners
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November 2021,
Germany
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|---|---|
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Video Experience
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T
Telekom
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Games Experience
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V
Vodafone
|
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Voice App Experience
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V
Vodafone
|
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Download Speed Experience
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T
Telekom
|
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Upload Speed Experience
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T
Telekom
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4G Availability
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T
Telekom
|
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4G Coverage Experience
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T
Telekom
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This is the sixth report in a row that Telekom has won our Video Experience category. No other operator has ever won Opensignal’s mobile Video Experience award in Germany. Telekom’s score this time is 72.7 points on a 100-point scale, which is 4.1 points lower than we observed in the previous report, but it is still 1.5 points above second-placed Vodafone. Our users on O2 and Vodafone saw lower scores of 69 points and 71.3 points, having decreased slightly from 73.3 and 74.8 points, respectively, from last time. All three operators placed in the Very Good (65-75) category.
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Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
O
O2
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T
Telekom
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V
Vodafone
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|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
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Video Experience – 5G Users
| 74.0 (± 0.55) | 76.6 (± 0.28) | 74.6 (± 0.36) |
| Video Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
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O
O2
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74 (± 0.55) |
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T
Telekom
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77 (± 0.28) |
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V
Vodafone
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75 (± 0.36) |
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using an ITU-based approach to quantify users’ overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
Vodafone wins the Games Experience award with a score of 75.3 points, ahead of Telekom and O2 scores of 74.4 points and 68.6 points, respectively. All three operators saw their scores decrease compared to our previous report. O2’s score dropped by 7.9 points, Telekom’s decreased by 3.2 points while Vodafone sustained the smallest decrease of 1.6 points, which allowed it to remain in the Good category (75-85) while both O2 and Telekom obtained Fair ratings (65-75).
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Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
O
O2
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T
Telekom
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V
Vodafone
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|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
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Games Experience – 5G Users
| 72.2 (± 0.92) | 81.1 (± 0.44) | 77.0 (± 0.61) |
| Games Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
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O
O2
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72 (± 0.92) |
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T
Telekom
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81 (± 0.44) |
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V
Vodafone
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77 (± 0.61) |
Opensignal’s Games Experience is a measure of how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. 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.
Vodafone wins the Voice App Experience award with a score of 80.7 points, followed by Telekom and O2 at 79.6 points and 78.4 points, respectively. In the last report all three operators exceeded the 80-point mark and achieved a Good rating (80-87). However, Vodafone is now the only operator placing in the Good Category, while O2 and Telekom moved to the Acceptable category (74-80).
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Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
O
O2
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T
Telekom
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V
Vodafone
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|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
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Voice App Experience – 5G Users
| 80.5 (± 0.35) | 82.1 (± 0.19) | 81.7 (± 0.22) |
| Voice App Experience – 5G Users | in 0-100 points |
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O
O2
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81 (± 0.35) |
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T
Telekom
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82 (± 0.19) |
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V
Vodafone
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82 (± 0.22) |
Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — for example using apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality based on a range of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between real-world technical measurements and users’ perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
Once again, Telekom wins the Download Speed Experience award having scored 54.2 Mbps — a 4.7 Mbps increase compared to our last report. However, this time it was on Vodafone that we observed the largest improvement across our users’ average download speeds. In fact, Vodafone’s score clocked a 7.4 Mbps rise (19.9%) reaching 44.8 Mbps and reducing Telekom’s lead from 12.1 Mbps to 9.4 Mbps. Our users’ Download Speed Experience on O2’s network improved by a lesser degree in comparison — 1.5 Mbps — as the operator’s score reached 30.8 Mbps, up from 29.3 Mbps in our previous report.
Looking at the overall speeds as experienced by our 5G users, we saw a similar story with our Telekom 5G users observing the fastest average speeds — 98.3 Mbps — while O2 and Vodafone have statistically tied scores of 76.8 Mbps and 76.2 Mbps, placing them together behind Telekom. These 5G user overall download speeds represent the average speed across all generations of mobile technology and the amount of time 5G users spend connected to each generation. The 5G users analyzed here have both a 5G smartphone model and a 5G tariff plan.
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Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
O
O2
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T
Telekom
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V
Vodafone
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|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
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Download Speed Experience – 5G Users
| 76.8 (± 2.47) | 98.3 (± 1.32) | 76.2 (± 1.27) |
| Download Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
|
O
O2
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77 (± 2.47) |
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T
Telekom
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98 (± 1.32) |
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V
Vodafone
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76 (± 1.27) |
Telekom maintains a clear victory in Upload Speed Experience, with our users enjoying a speed of 13.7 Mbps — 3 Mbps (28.1%) faster than our users connecting with second placed Vodafone. Telekom’s lead in this category has increased since our previous report, when our Telekom users enjoyed average upload speeds of 13.1 Mbps, or 2.7 Mbps (25.9%) faster than the speeds seen by our users on then second-placed O2.
In this report, Vodafone and O2 scored 10.7 Mbps and 10.3 Mbps, respectively. While Vodafone’s score increased by 1.1 Mbps compared to our previous report, our O2 users saw their average upload speeds decrease by 0.2 Mbps.
When we focus on just our 5G users’ overall upload speeds on the three operators, we see a larger gap between Telekom and its competitors. In fact, our 5G users on Telekom on average experienced overall upload speeds of 22.5 Mbps across all mobile network technology generations. This experience was 7.2 Mbps (46.9%) and 9.7 Mbps (76.3%) faster than our 5G users experienced using Vodafone and O2, respectively.
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Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
O
O2
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T
Telekom
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V
Vodafone
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|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
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Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users
| 12.8 (± 0.36) | 22.5 (± 0.34) | 15.3 (± 0.33) |
| Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users | in Mbps |
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O
O2
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13 (± 0.36) |
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T
Telekom
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22 (± 0.34) |
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V
Vodafone
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15 (± 0.33) |
Telekom edges out O2 and is the sole winner of the 4G Availability award with a score of 93.8%. Telekom had shared the 4G Availability award with O2 in our previous report when the two operators scored 92.2% and 92%, respectively. Before then, Telekom had won outright all previous Opensignal 4G Availability awards. Now Telekom has secured a 1.8-1.9 percentage point lead over Vodafone and O2 which scored 92% and 91.9%, respectively — and are statistically tied for second place.
Telekom wins the 4G Coverage Experience award with a near-perfect score of 9.8 on a 10 point scale. However, Vodafone and O2 are just a breath away as they scored 9.7 points and 9.6 points, respectively.
Opensignal's 4G Coverage Experience is a measure of how Opensignal's 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 Opensignal users of all network operators.
Turning to our analysis of the mobile experience in 24 of Germany’s cities, Telekom wins 50 awards outright out of a possible 144 and is a joint winner for another 88 awards. Telekom’s outright city wins include 19 for Download Speed Experience and 20 for Upload Speed Experience. In contrast, O2 does not win any city awards outright this time but O2 is a joint winner for 30 awards. Vodafone wins six awards outright and shares the win in 88 city-level awards. Across the 24 cities and six metrics, our users saw three-way statistical ties for 30 city-level awards.
We observed the highest competition in our 4G Availability city awards as the three operators share first place with a three-way statistical tie in 17 out of 24 awards. Only four cities saw an outright winner in this category: Telekom wins 4G Availability in Augsburg, Cologne and Duisburg, while Vodafone is the outright winner in Dresden. Our users on O2, Telekom and Vodafone had a 4G Availability between 92% and 95% in most of the cities. However, Telekom scored 95% and above in nine cities, while both O2 and Vodafone did so in two cities each.
Telekom wins Video Experience outright in six cities. We observe a three-way tie in Augsburg, Bochum, Essen, Hannover, Mannheim and Munster, while Telekom and Vodafone share the award in the remaining 12 cities. This time, Telekom and Vodafone are the only two operators to secure any Excellent ratings (75 and above), as they scored above 75 in 14 and four cities, respectively. In all cities O2 achieves a Very Good rating (65-75).
Telekom is the outright winner of Games Experience in Aachen and Hamburg, while Vodafone secured the award in Frankfurt am Main and Munchen. The two operators share the first prize for multiplayer mobile gaming in 19 cities, while Hannover was the only place where we observed a three-way tie including O2. Only our Vodafone users in Frankfurt am Main experienced an Excellent (85 or above) Games Experience. While in the remaining cities Vodafone had a Good (75-85) Games Experience, save for Aachen, where the rating was Fair (65-75). Our Telekom users had a Good Games Experience in 23 cities, while the operator achieved a Fair rating in Freiburg. O2 placed in the Fair category in all but Munchen, Nuremberg, Leipzig and Hannover, where it achieved a Good score, and Freiburg where it obtained a Poor score (40-65).
Vodafone is the sole winner of the Voice App Experience award in Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig and Munchen, while sharing the award in the remaining cities. The three German operators share victory in Aachen, Augsburg, Bochum, Bonn, Essen and Munster.
Telekom dominates our city-level Download Speed Experience award table as it wins outright in 19 of the 24 cities analyzed, while sharing the award with Vodafone in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Karlsruhe, Leipzig and Munster. Our users observed the fastest download speeds on Telekom’s network as the highest scores in its top five cities ranged between 78.1 Mbps seen in Dresden and 90.4 Mbps seen in Bonn. By contrast, Vodafone exceeded the 70 Mbps mark in Download Speed Experience in three cities — Dusseldorf (72 Mbps), Leipzig (71.3 Mbps) and Frankfurt am Main (70.2 Mbps). On the other hand, O2’s highest score was 52.9 Mbps, observed in Nuremberg.
We saw a similar story in Upload Speed Experience, where Telekom wins 20 city-level awards outright, while being a joint winner with Vodafone in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Munster and Saarbrucken. All of Telekom’s city-level Upload Speed Experience scores ranged between 14.5 Mbps in Saarbrucken and 19.6 Mbps in Bonn, with all but the former score exceeding the 15 Mbps mark. Our Vodafone users exceeded the 15 Mbps mark in upload speeds in Frankfurt am Main (17.3 Mbps) and Dusseldorf (15.8 Mbps), while O2’s highest scores were 14.5 Mbps in Nuremberg and 13.1 Mbps in Augsburg.
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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.
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