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Our users in Costa Rica continue to enjoy the fastest overall Download Speed Experience on Kölbi's network, with speeds averaging above 20 Mbps. However, since the last report, Kölbi's lead has shrunk down to less than a third — from 6.1 Mbps (39.9%) to 2 Mbps (10.5%). This change occurred due to a 3.8 Mbps improvement observed by our users on Claro and a slight decline of 0.2 Mbps seen by users on Kölbi. Movistar continues to lag way behind, with users reporting significantly lower download speeds of 8.8 Mbps compared to the speeds seen using the other operators.
In the last report, we saw Claro claim our Upload Speed Experience award. This time, Claro has not just held onto the award but has also increased its winning margin on second-placed Kölbi in this measure of the mobile experience. Claro's lead on Kölbi has grown from 1.1 Mbps (19.1%) to 1.9 Mbps (30.2%) in Upload Speed Experience. Upload speeds are becoming an increasingly important aspect of user experience because smartphone users now engage more on social media apps — creating and sharing high-resolution images and videos — and are moving away from content consumption to content creation.
Claro once again wins the 4G Availability award. The average proportion of time that our Claro users spent connected to 4G has increased by 1.3 percentage points since the last report to reach a score of 84.8%. In contrast, Kölbi's 4G Availability score dropped by 2.4 percentage points to 67.2%, while Movistar's score was little changed at 80.6%. These scores mean that 4G users in Costa Rica were able to connect to a 4G network more than 6.7 to almost 8.5 times out of 10 times, depending on their choice of network.
Users on all three operators saw slight improvements in their 4G Coverage Experience. Claro's score increased by 0.7 on a 10-point scale. While Movistar’s score grew by 0.4 points compared to the 0.2 point upswing seen by our users on Kölbi. After these changes, Movistar and Kölbi now share the top spot for 4G Coverage Experience, with statistically tied scores of 7.8 points.
Claro once again leads in this measure of the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — on mobile apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger. The operator wins the Voice App Experience award with a score of 78.5 points (out of 100) — 5.8 points ahead of its closest rival Kölbi — making Claro the only operator to earn an Acceptable (74<80) Voice App Experience rating. Claro is also top on multiplayer mobile gaming, winning Opensignal's Games Experience award with 57 points, while Kölbi is second-placed with a score of 38.3 which is 18.8 points (49%) lower than the winning operator.
In this report, we've analyzed the mobile network experience of Costa Rica's three national operators — Claro, Kölbi and Movistar— in the 90 days starting August 1, 2021, and ending October 29, 2021 to see how they measure up. In addition, we delved deeper into seven different regions of Costa Rica, comparing the experience users had on the three national operators.
Our latest look at Costa Rica shows that Claro is the operator to beat on mobile network experience as Claro has the largest number of awards in this report. Claro wins all four national award categories that it won last time, with improved scores in 4G Availability and Upload Speed Experience, alongside defending its victory in Games Experience and Voice App Experience. Additionally, the operator has also cut Kölbi's lead in Download Speed Experience to a third, compared to the last report.
Claro also shines in the regional results by scooping away the Voice App Experience and Games Experience outright across all seven regions. Plus, in Upload Speed Experience the operator wins outright in five regions and further collects draws in Cartago and Limon.
| Mobile Experience Awards Costa Rica | |||
|---|---|---|---|
December 2021,
Costa Rica Report
|
C
Claro
|
K
Kölbi
|
M
Movistar
|
Video Experience
| |||
Games Experience
| |||
Voice App Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
4G Availability
| |||
4G Coverage Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
December 2021,
Costa Rica
|
|---|---|
|
Games Experience
|
C
Claro
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
C
Claro
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
K
Kölbi
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
C
Claro
|
|
4G Availability
|
C
Claro
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
December 2021, Costa Rica
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
K
Kölbi
M
Movistar
|
|
4G Coverage Experience
|
K
Kölbi
M
Movistar
|
Kölbi and Movistar are the joint winners of Opensignal's Video Experience award with statistically tied scores of 57.7 and 57.3 (out of 100), which gives both a Good rating (55<65). Meanwhile, Claro was close behind with a score of 54.9 points which places our Claro users' Video Experience in the Fair category (40<55).
Opensignal's Video Experience directly assesses video streams from end-user devices and uses an International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-based approach to quantify the 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.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
C
Claro
|
K
Kölbi
|
M
Movistar
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Video Experience
| 59.1 (± 0.78) | 68.0 (± 0.54) | 64.2 (± 0.51) |
|
3G Video Experience
| 39.0 (± 1.57) | 40.2 (± 1.00) | 35.5 (± 1.42) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
C
Claro
|
59 (± 0.78) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
68 (± 0.54) |
|
M
Movistar
|
64 (± 0.51) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
C
Claro
|
39 (± 1.57) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
40 (± 1.00) |
|
M
Movistar
|
35 (± 1.42) |
A Good rating indicates that users saw a less consistent experience, even from the same video streaming provider and particularly for higher resolutions, with noticeably slower loading times and stalling not being uncommon.
Claro remains the outright winner of Opensignal's Games Experience award, with a score of 57 points (on a 100-point scale) this time, as its competitors, Kölbi and Movistar, continue to lag with significantly lower scores — 38.3 and 36.4 points, respectively. While our Claro and Kölbi users reported slight dips of 0.8 and 1.5 points, respectively, Movistar users saw an upswing of 0.2 points.
|
Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
C
Claro
|
K
Kölbi
|
M
Movistar
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Games Experience
| 63.3 (± 0.70) | 45.8 (± 0.53) | 38.9 (± 0.30) |
|
3G Games Experience
| 38.7 (± 0.62) | 34.0 (± 0.14) | 32.3 (± 0.19) |
| 4G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
C
Claro
|
63 (± 0.70) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
46 (± 0.53) |
|
M
Movistar
|
39 (± 0.30) |
| 3G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
C
Claro
|
39 (± 0.62) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
34 (± 0.14) |
|
M
Movistar
|
32 (± 0.19) |
Opensignal’s Games Experience metric 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 to determine the impact on gameplay and the overall multiplayer gaming experience. Lower scores meant users' experience became less enjoyable, marred with increased delays and a lack of controllability in gameplay.
Claro holds on to our Voice App Experience award with a score of 78.5 points (out of 100). The operator's lead over second-placed Kölbi (72.7) has increased slightly since the last report, rising from 5 points to 5.8 points. This is due to a 0.8 points dip reported by our Claro users and further declines of 1.1 to 1.5 points reported by our users on Kölbi and Movistar. Under these changes, only Claro's score places in the Acceptable category (74<80) for the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger, while Kölbi and Movistar place one rating lower in the Poor (66<74) category.
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
C
Claro
|
K
Kölbi
|
M
Movistar
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Voice App Experience
| 80.2 (± 0.31) | 76.7 (± 0.26) | 73.0 (± 0.29) |
|
3G Voice App Experience
| 72.2 (± 0.79) | 66.0 (± 0.50) | 62.4 (± 0.65) |
| 4G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
C
Claro
|
80 (± 0.31) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
77 (± 0.26) |
|
M
Movistar
|
73 (± 0.29) |
| 3G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
C
Claro
|
72 (± 0.79) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
66 (± 0.50) |
|
M
Movistar
|
62 (± 0.65) |
An Acceptable rating means some users were satisfied with the quality of the call and were generally able to comprehend without repetition, while some may have suffered from perceptible call quality impairments such as clicking sounds or distortion. Likewise, a Poor rating means many users were dissatisfied and likely suffered from increased call quality impairments.
Kölbi retains the top spot on Download Speed Experience with a score of 21 Mbps. However, its lead has shrunk significantly over the last year. Since the report in December 2020, Claro has eroded Kölbi's lead over it from 10.3 Mbps (87.7%) down to 2 Mbps (10.5%). Our users on Claro's network experienced the most significant boost with download speeds averaging 3.8 Mbps (25.1%) faster. Meanwhile, Movistar users saw a 1.1 Mbps increase, but their Download Speed Experience (8.8 Mbps) continues to lag significantly compared to other national operators.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
C
Claro
|
K
Kölbi
|
M
Movistar
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Download Speed
| 22.3 (± 0.56) | 30.7 (± 0.38) | 10.0 (± 0.09) |
|
3G Download Speed
| 6.6 (± 0.29) | 4.4 (± 0.09) | 5.2 (± 0.13) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
C
Claro
|
22 (± 0.56) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
31 (± 0.38) |
|
M
Movistar
|
10 (± 0.09) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
C
Claro
|
7 (± 0.29) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
4 (± 0.09) |
|
M
Movistar
|
5 (± 0.13) |
Looking at Download Speed Experience split out by mobile technology generation, Our Kölbi users continued to see the fastest average 4G download speeds (30.7 Mbps). However, Claro users saw a good increase (3.2 Mbps) to close the gap on the leader with a score of 22.3 Mbps. However, in 3G Download Speed, Claro beat Kölbi with a noteworthy improvement of the speeds users saw from 3.7 Mbps to 6.6 Mbps, followed by Movistar's score of 5.2 Mbps, while Kölbi placed third with 4.4 Mbps.
Our users have experienced slightly improved upload speeds across all three national networks since the last report. Our users on Claro's network saw an improvement of 0.9 Mbps (13.2%) in their Upload Speed Experience, followed by those on Movistar’s who reported a 0.7 Mbps (14.8%) increase with speeds averaging 5.4 Mbps. As a result, Claro once again wins the Upload Speed Experience award, this time with a score of 8.1 Mbps, and it has enhanced its lead over Kölbi's score (6.2 Mbps) from 1.1 Mbps to 1.9 Mbps. Meanwhile, Movistar's score also increased by 0.7 Mbps (14.8%) to 5.4 Mbps.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
C
Claro
|
K
Kölbi
|
M
Movistar
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 9.8 (± 0.23) | 8.9 (± 0.14) | 6.3 (± 0.09) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 1.7 (± 0.09) | 1.5 (± 0.05) | 2.3 (± 0.11) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
C
Claro
|
10 (± 0.23) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
9 (± 0.14) |
|
M
Movistar
|
6 (± 0.09) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
C
Claro
|
2 (± 0.09) |
|
K
Kölbi
|
2 (± 0.05) |
|
M
Movistar
|
2 (± 0.11) |
Upload speeds are becoming increasingly important in mobile services, with changing usage patterns and consumption habits. For example, mobile users now engage more on social media apps — creating and sharing high-resolution images and videos — and are moving away from content consumption to content creation, which gives operators with the fastest upload speeds a distinct advantage.
Claro once again has romped home to victory on 4G Availability and maintains a clear win with our users on its network spending 84.8% of their time with a 4G connection — an increase of 1.3 percentage points since the last report. On the other hand, our users on Kölbi and Movistar users experienced declining or flat 4G Availability. These trends since the last report have helped Claro expand its lead over second-placed Movistar from 2.7 to 4.1 percentage points. Meanwhile, Kölbi users spent the lowest proportion of time connected to 4G, on average, in Costa Rica.
4G Availability shows the proportion of time users with a 4G device and subscription have a 4G connection. High 4G Availability positively affects overall scores in the speed or experiential metrics.
Since the last report, Costa Rica's all three operators have seen their 4G Coverage Experience scores improve. Claro showed the largest improvement of 0.7 points, although it is more than one point behind joint winners Kölbi and Movistar who have a statistically tied score of 7.8 points on a scale of 0-10. In the last report, Kölbi was the outright winner but this time the operator shares the award as our Movistar users reported roughly twice the increase in 4G Coverage Experience score seen by Kölbi users.
Our regional analysis assessed how users’ mobile network experience varies across seven different regions of Costa Rica: Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limon, Puntarenas and San Jose. The results highlight how our users' experience on the three national operators – Claro, Kölbi and Movistar – compares, depending on their locations.
As with the national results, Claro dominates regional results for mobile Games Experience and Voice App Experience. Claro wins all awards outright in both categories in each of the seven regions. While Claro's winning scores in Games Experience ranged from 48.3 points in Limon to 60.7 points in Heredia, those in Voice App Experience ranged between 76.5 points in Limon and 79.8 points in Heredia — all placing in the Acceptable category (74<80).
Turning to Video Experience, in line with our national analysis, most regional awards for this category are shared by Kölbi and Movistar, with a few exceptions: Kölbi is the outright winner in Cartago, while all three operators are joint-winners in Guanacaste and Puntarenas.
The clean sweep across regions that Kölbi had achieved on Download Speed Experience, in our previous report, has ceased to exist as Claro now jointly wins the award alongside Kölbi in four out of seven regions — Alajuela, Guanacaste, Heredia and Puntarenas. Kölbi remains the outright winner in the remaining three regions, with scores soaring up to 24.8 Mbps in Cartago. On the other hand, the download speeds seen by our users on Movistar are yet to surpass the 10 Mbps mark in any of the seven regions.
In regional Upload Speed Experience, Claro wins in five regions and further collects joint wins in the other two regions — in Cartago with Kölbi and in Limon, where all three operators are joint winners.
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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