United Kingdom
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
United Kingdom
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
3 comes top for 5G Download Speed
3 is the outright winner of the 5G Download Speed award with an impressive score of 204.3 Mbps. This means that the average 5G speeds seen by our 3 users were 75.1 Mbps (58.2%) faster than the speed of 129.2 Mbps seen by EE users. O2 and Vodafone are in third and fourth place, respectively, with scores of 100.6 Mbps and 92 Mbps.
EE wins both Excellent and Core Consistent Quality awards outright
EE wins the Excellent Consistent Quality award by an impressive margin, commanding a lead of 8.2 percentage points over second-placed Vodafone. The contest for the Core Consistent Quality award was harder fought, with EE beating Vodafone by 3.4 percentage points. Our measures of consistent quality quantify how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. Excellent Consistent Quality analyzes the percentage of users' tests that met the minimum recommended thresholds for watching HD video, completing group video conference calls and playing games. Core Consistent Quality uses thresholds for less demanding applications.
3 users found 5G in the most locations
3 is the outright winner of the 5G Reach award, as our 3 users observed the highest proportion of locations with a 5G signal. 3 scores three points on a 10 point scale, while EE, O2 and Vodafone are statistically tied for second place with scores in the 2-2.3 point range.
EE sweeps all of the overall experience awards categories
There is only one winner across all five of Opensignal’s overall experience awards — Video Experience, Games Experience, Voice App Experience, Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience — and it’s EE. These awards recognize operators for the experience of all users across all generations of mobile technology. EE wins by impressive margins in some of these categories, including leads of 16.9 Mbps (60%) in Download Speed Experience and 2.5 Mbps (37%) in Upload Speed Experience. EE was also an impressive 12 points (24.2%) ahead of second-placed 3 for Video Experience.
3 and Vodafone jointly win the 5G Availability award
Our 3 and Vodafone 5G users spent the largest proportion of their time connected to 5G, as the two operators have statistically tied scores of 8.7% and 8.1%, respectively. EE and O2 are in joint third place with scores of 6-6.9%. This means that our 5G users are still spending the vast majority of their time connected to older generations of mobile technology.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
EE again leads across many mobile experience categories in the U.K. based on Opensignal’s awards table. The operator wins all five of our overall experience awards outright, along with those for both our measures of consistent quality (Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality) and 5G Upload Speed. EE’s haul of awards also includes three joint wins for 5G experience of which two are shared with O2 — 5G Video Experience and 5G Voice App Experience. EE shares the 5G Games Experience award with O2 and Vodafone due to a three-way statistical tie.
3 is the only other operator to win any awards outright — claiming the Availability, 5G Download Speed and 5G Reach awards, while also sharing the 5G Availability award with Vodafone.
Vodafone has announced that it will start decommissioning its 3G network next year as part of its work to improve the 4G and 5G experience of its users, reduce its environmental impact and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2027. Other recent developments include EE’s deployment of 200 small cells to boost 4G coverage and speeds in high demand areas. Back in October EE claimed to have activated indoor 5G connectivity across 50 sites, using 700 MHz spectrum. Outdoor 5G signals struggle to penetrate inside buildings due to higher frequency bands used, which makes the use of low-band spectrum key for indoor 5G coverage.
Speaking of high demand areas, the high profile nature of football stadiums combined with the technical challenges involved in supporting such high capacity venues is an attractive combination for operators seeking to showcase their 5G network capabilities — 3, EE, O2 and Vodafone have all deployed 5G in stadiums to improve their users’ experience at sporting venues — as we have observed in other countries, including Italy.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the four main mobile network operators in the U.K.: 3, EE, O2 and Vodafone, over a period of 90 days starting on December 1, 2021 and ending on February 28, 2021, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
EE is the outright winner of the Video Experience award with a score of 61.6 points on a 100 point scale. It wins by a convincing margin — 12 points (24.2%) ahead of second-placed 3 and around 14 points higher than O2 and Vodafone’s statistically tied scores of 47.4-47.9 points.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU 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 — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
- 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.
National Analysis
Our users had their best experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections on EE’s network. The operator scored 70.9 points on a 100 point scale — comfortably ahead of second-placed Vodafone’s score of 67.7 points. O2 places third with a score of 64.1 points, while 3 is slightly further behind with a score of 61.3 points.
Both EE and Vodafone placed in the Fair (65-75) category. This means that our users on their networks found the experience to be ‘average’ and the majority of players reported that they noticed a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game. In contrast, 3 and O2 placed in the Poor (40-65) category. This indicates that most 3 and O2 users found this level of experience unacceptable. The majority of users reported seeing a delay in the gameplay experience and they did not receive immediate feedback on their actions.
Looking at 5G Games Experience, there were limited gains compared to the overall experience measured across all mobile technologies — EE and Vodafone again placed in the Fair category, but 3 and O2 moved up one category, from Poor to Fair.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
EE is the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award, with a score of 79.1 points on a 100 point scale. However, its margin of victory is relatively narrow, given second-placed Vodafone’s score of 78.4 points. 3 and O2 are statistically tied for third place with scores in the 77.4-77.6 point range. All four operators place in the Acceptable (74-80) category. This means that some of our users were satisfied with their experience when using over-the-top voice applications, but some others experienced perceptible call quality impairments.
Definitions
Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the 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 for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:
- 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Our users observed the fastest average overall download speeds on EE’s network — 45 Mbps, which was 16.9 Mbps (60%) faster than second-placed 3’s score of 28.1 Mbps. As a result, EE is the outright winner of the Download Speed Experience award — the operator has held the award ever since our first report on the UK mobile experience back in March 2016. Vodafone is in third place with 22 Mbps, followed by O2 in last place with 17.1 Mbps.
Turning to the overall average download speeds observed by our 5G users (Download Speed Experience – 5G Users), EE scored 60.5 Mbps, while the second fastest overall download speeds seen by our 5G users were recorded on 3’s network — 43.9 Mbps.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
- 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
National Analysis
As our EE users observed the fastest average overall upload speeds — 9.4 Mbps — EE is the sole winner of the Upload Speed Experience award. It wins by a margin of 2.5 Mbps (37%) over second-placed Vodafone given the latter’s score of 6.9 Mbps. 3 and O2 are in third and fourth place, respectively with upload speeds of 5.9 Mbps and 5.4 Mbps.
Looking at the overall average upload speeds observed by our 5G users (Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users), EE scored 10.2 Mbps, while the second fastest overall speeds seen by our 5G users were recorded on Vodafone’s network — 7.6 Mbps.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
5G Experience
National Analysis
EE and O2 are joint winners of the 5G Video Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 74.9-75.3 points on a 100 point scale. 3 is in third place with 73.8, while Vodafone is further behind with 66.2 points. All four operators’ scores for 5G Video Experience are much higher than their overall scores — across all generations of mobile technology — with the improvement ranging from 13.7 points for EE to 27.5 points for O2.
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
EE, O2 and Vodafone are joint winners of the 5G Games Experience award due to a three-way statistical tie. They scored 73.5-74.6 points on a 100 point scale. However, 3 was the only operator not to find a place on the winners’ podium with a score around four points behind the three front-runners.
All four operators placed in the Fair (65-75) category. This means that our users in the U.K. found their 5G Games Experience to be ‘average’ — however future upgrades to 5G such as the introduction of 5G standalone access technology and network slicing mean that this is likely to change over the coming years. 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.
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
Our EE and O2 users had their best experience when using over-the-top voice applications while connected to 5G, given the two operators’ statistically tied scores of 80.4-80.6 points on a 100 point scale. Similarly, 3 and Vodafone are in joint third place with scores of 79.4-79.7 points. The two winners placed in the Good (80-87) category, while those on 3 and Vodafone’s networks had an Acceptable (74-80) 5G Voice App Experience.
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses a model derived from the 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. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
Our 3 users saw the fastest average 5G download speeds — 204.3 Mbps, making 3 the sole winner of the 5G Download Speed award. 3’s score was 75.1 Mbps (58.2%) higher than that of second-placed EE, which scored 129.2 Mbps. O2 and Vodafone are in third and fourth place, respectively, with scores of 100.6 Mbps and 92 Mbps.
Operators’ 5G Download Speed scores were between 2.9-7.3 times faster than their Download Speed Experience scores, highlighting the extent to which average overall download speeds could improve once users spend the majority of their time connected to 5G. The largest increase —176.1 Mbps (7.3 times faster) — was seen by our 3 users. While our EE users saw the smallest increase in percentage terms (2.9 times faster or 84.1 Mbps), our Vodafone users saw the smallest absolute increase in speed — a still impressive 70 Mbps (4.2 times faster).
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
EE is the sole winner of the 5G Upload Speed award, as our users observed the fastest average 5G upload speeds on its network — 14.7 Mbps. However, second-placed 3 wasn’t far behind with 14 Mbps. Vodafone is in third place with 13.3 Mbps, while O2 is in last place with 10.3 Mbps.
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Coverage
3
EE
O2
Vodafone
National Analysis
3 is the outright winner of the Availability award, with a score of 98.9%. This means that our 3 users spent 98.9% of their time connected to either 3G, 4G, or 5G. EE was one percentage point behind 3, with a score of 97.8% while O2 and Vodafone are in joint third place with statistically tied scores of 96.2-96.5%.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
Our 3 and Vodafone users spent the greatest proportion of their time on average with an active 5G connection — 8.1-8.7%. As a result, 3 and Vodafone are joint winners of the 5G Availability award. EE and O2 are in joint third place with statistically tied scores of 6-6.9%. The higher 5G Availability is, the greater the amount of time that users were able to benefit from the improved mobile experience that 5G can provide.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
National Analysis
It was on 3’s network that our users observed 5G in the highest proportion of locations out of all the places they visited, making 3 the sole winner of the 5G Reach award. 3 wins with a score of three points on a 10 point scale, while EE, O2 and Vodafone are statistically tied for second place with scores in the 2-2.3 point range.
Definitions
5G Reach measures how users experience the geographical extent of an operator’s 5G network. It analyzes the average proportion of locations where users were connected to a 5G network out of all the locations those users have visited. In simple terms, 5G Reach measures the 5G mobile experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users – i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. 5G Reach for each operator is measured on a scale from 0 to 10.
Map Definition
The coverage maps show the locations where we received measurements from users connecting with 3G or better mobile service. Each map provides an indication of the areas in which it is possible to obtain mobile service from that mobile operator.
Consistency
National Analysis
EE is the sole winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award as its score of 79.1% is 8.2 percentage points higher than that of second-placed Vodafone’s 71%. O2 and 3 are in third and fourth place, respectively, with scores of 69% and 68.1%.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Excellent Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.
National Analysis
As is the case with Excellent Consistent Quality, EE is the outright winner of the Core Consistent Quality award. The operator wins with a score of 91.7%, 3.4 percentage points ahead of second-placed Vodafone’s score of 88.3%. O2 is in third place with 86.7%, while 3 is in last place with a score of 85.2%.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Core Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for lower performance applications including SD video, voice calls and web browsing.
Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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Confidence Intervals
For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience