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.
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.
Our Vodafone users saw the fastest average overall speeds in New Zealand — 41.8 Mbps — making Vodafone the sole winner of the Download Speed Experience award. The operator wins with a lead of 5.2 Mbps over second placed Spark’s score of 36.7 Mbps. 2degrees is further behind with a score of 33.9 Mbps. Vodafone also had the edge in terms of the average overall speeds seen by our 5G users (Download Speed Experience – 5G Users), clocking up a score of 64.5 Mbps, which was comfortably ahead of Spark’s 53.2 Mbps. However, Vodafone and Spark are statistically tied in terms of the download speeds seen by our users when they were connected to 5G, with scores of 228.6-253.8 Mbps.
Our users on 2degrees saw the fastest average overall upload speeds — 11.4 Mbps. The operator wins by a lead of 1.7 Mbps over second-placed Vodafone’s score of 9.7 Mbps. There was no statistically significant difference between the upload speeds seen by our Spark and Vodafone users when connected to 5G, which were in the 18.8-19.5 Mbps range.
Our users had their best experience when streaming video, playing multiplayer mobile games and using voice apps when connected to 5G on Vodafone’s network. As a result, Vodafone is the sole winner of the 5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience awards.
The winner of both the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards is 2degrees. The operator wins the former with a score of 79.2% and a lead of 2.8 percentage points over second placed Spark. 2degrees’ Core Consistent Quality score of 90.2% beat Spark’s score of 86.5% by 3.6 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.
Spark is the outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award, with a score of 9.4 points on a 10 point scale. This means that in more than nine out of 10 locations visited by our users, those on Spark’s network were able to find a 4G signal. Spark wins with a lead of 0.4 points over second-placed Vodafone.
For the first time, we have directly compared the mobile network experience and the 5G experience of our Kiwi users in the same report. Plus, in another first we have also analyzed the consistency of our users’ experience.
In this report, we’ve analyzed the national mobile network experience provided by New Zealand’s three operators — Vodafone, Spark and 2degrees — in the 90 days starting on January 1 and ending on March 31, 2022. As 2degrees only launched its 5G network in late February — in the central areas of Auckland and Wellington, together with limited areas of Christchurch (according to a company press release) — this time we have only reported on the 5G experience for Spark and Vodafone. We will include 2degrees users’ 5G experience in future reports. However, 5G measurements for 2degrees’ and the other two operators contributed to the scores for the overall experience metrics in this report.
Vodafone is the leading operator in award terms, as it wins four awards outright — Download Speed Experience and all three of the 5G experiential awards: 5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience. It also shares the Video Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience awards with 2degrees, while featuring as a joint winner alongside Spark for 5G Download Speed, 5G Upload Speed, 5G Availability and 5G Reach.
However, our users had the most consistent experience on 2degrees’ network as the operator is the winner of both the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards. 2degrees also wins the Upload Speed Experience award outright. Spark’s only outright win is for 4G Coverage Experience, but it is a joint winner in five categories — four with Vodafone and the Availability award alongside 2degrees.
2degrees and Vodafone are joint winners of the Video Experience award with statistically tied scores of 57-57.5 points on a 100 point scale. Spark is in last place with a score of 53.5 points, 3.5-4 points behind the two front-runners.
Looking at the average overall video experience of our 5G users (Video Experience – 5G Users), they did not observe any statistically significant difference between their experience on Spark and Vodafone’s networks — the two operators’ scores were in the 56.2-63.7 point range.
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:
Our users had the best experience when playing multiplayer games over cellular connections on 2degrees and Vodafone’s networks, given their statistically tied scores of 69.1-69.8 points on a 100 point scale, making the two operators joint winners of the Games Experience award. Spark is in last place with a score of 63.6 points — around six points behind the two front-runners.
Shifting to the overall games experience of our 5G users — Games Experience – 5G Users — Vodafone is in first place with a score of 72 points, giving it a lead of 7.6 points over Spark’s score of 64.5 points.
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:
2degrees and Vodafone are joint winners of the Voice App Experience award, as our users did not observe a statistically significant difference in the experience when using over-the-top voice apps on these two operators’ networks. The two winners have scores in the 79.2-79.3 range, ahead of Spark’s score of 77.4 points by around 1.8 points.
All three operators placed in the Acceptable (74-80) category, which means that some users were satisfied. Perceptible call quality impairments were experienced by some users. Clicking sounds of short duration or distortion were heard, and/or the volume may not have been sufficiently loud. Listeners were generally able to comprehend without repetition.
On the other hand, Spark and Vodafone tie for Voice App Experience – 5G Users, which measures the average overall voice experience of our 5G users across all mobile network technologies. The two operators’ statistically tied scores are in the 78-80.1 point range.
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:
Our Vodafone users saw the fastest average download speeds – 41.8 Mbps. This is 5.2 Mbps (14.1%) faster than second placed Spark’s score of 36.7 Mbps and 7.9 Mbps (23.3%) faster than 2degrees’ score of 33.9 Mbps.
Vodafone also has the edge in terms of the average overall download speeds observed by our 5G users, as it comes first for Download Speed Experience – 5G users with a score of 64.5 Mbps, 11.3 Mbps (21.3%) faster than Spark’s score of 53.2 Mbps.
While these overall 5G user download speeds are faster compared to Download Speed Experience, our users saw far faster average speeds when we analyzed their experience when connected to 5G — 5G Download Speed. Spark and Vodafone’s 5G Download Speed scores were 6.2 and 6.1 times faster than those for Download Speed Experience, respectively. This gives an indication of how much download speeds could improve once users spend the majority of their time connected to 5G.
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:
2degrees is the outright winner of the Upload Speed Experience award, due to its score of 11.4 Mbps. This gives it a lead of 1.7 Mbps (17.3%) over second-placed Vodafone’s score of 9.7 Mbps. Spark is behind its rivals with a score of 8.6 Mbps. Upload speeds are becoming increasingly important, as social media encourages users to create and upload their own content, rather than just consuming that produced by others.
Looking at the average overall upload speeds reported by our 5G users (Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users), Vodafone is in first place with a score of 10.8 Mbps – 1.7 Mbps (19%) higher than Spark’s score of 9.1 Mbps. While Vodafone’s score is 1.1 Mbps higher than that for Upload Speed Experience, there is no statistically significant difference between Spark’s scores in these two categories.
The same cannot be said when we switch to 5G Upload Speed — our Spark and Vodafone users reported average upload speeds when connected to 5G that were 2.2 and two times faster than their average upload speeds across all generations of mobile technology, respectively.
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:
Just as there is no single winner nationally for the three overall experiential metrics (Video Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience), so too is there no outright winner in any of the five regions where we’ve analyzed the mobile experience of our Kiwi users. In all five regions, our users did not observe any statistical difference in their experience when streaming video over mobile connections between the three operators, making 2degrees, Spark and Vodafone joint winners of all the regional awards for Video Experience. Similarly, for Games Experience and Voice App Experience there were two and three three-way ties, respectively, with 2degrees and Vodafone sharing the victory in the remaining regions.
The contest was more decisive in terms of the average overall download and upload speeds observed by our users at the regional level — as might be expected given that there are outright winners at the national level for both categories. Looking first at Download Speed Experience, Vodafone wins three awards outright — in the Bay of Plenty, Canterbury and Waikato — and shares victories with Spark in Auckland and Wellington.
Turning to Upload Speed Experience, 2degrees — which is the winner of the national award for this category — wins outright in Auckland, Canterbury and Waikato, ties with Vodafone in the Bay of Plenty and is part of a three-way tie in Wellington.
Our Vodafone users had the best experience when streaming video over a 5G network, making Vodafone the winner of the 5G Video Experience award. It wins with a score of 79.5 points on a 100 point scale and a lead of 6.3 points over Spark’s score of 73.1 points.
Vodafone placed in the Excellent (75 or above) category, which indicates a very consistent experience across all users, video streaming providers and resolutions tested, with fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling. Spark on the other hand, placed in the Very Good (65-75) category, which means generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling but the experience might have been somewhat inconsistent across users and/or video providers/resolutions.
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.
Vodafone wins the 5G Games Experience award with a score of 81.1 points on a 100 point scale. It beats Spark by a margin of 6.3 points, given Spark’s score of 74.8 points.
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.
Our Vodafone users had the best experience when using over-the-top voice apps over a 5G network. This makes Vodafone the winner of the 5G Voice App Experience award. It wins with a score of 83.6 points, giving it a lead of 2.4 points over Spark.
Both operators placed in the Good (80-87) category, which means that many users were satisfied, but minor quality impairments were experienced by some users. Sometimes the background was not quite clear, it could have been either hazy or not loud enough. Clicking sounds or distortion were very rarely present.
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.
Spark and Vodafone are joint winners of the 5G Download Speed award, as our users did not observe a statistically significant difference in their average speeds on the two operators’ 5G networks. The two operators have 5G Download Speed scores in the 228.6-253.8 Mbps range, which were over six times higher than their scores for Download Speed Experience – the average download speeds observed by our users across all generations of mobile technology. This highlights the extent to which download speeds could improve once users spend most of their time connected to 5G.
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).
As there is no statistical difference between the average 5G upload speeds — 18.8-19.5 Mbps — observed by our users on Spark and Vodafone’s networks, the two operators are joint winners of the 5G Upload Speed award. These speeds were 2-2.2 times faster than the average upload speeds reported across all generations of mobile technology (Upload Speed Experience) — highlighting the improvements in upload speed that users will see as they begin to spend more time connected to 5G, due to ongoing 5G network rollouts.
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).
Spark and 2degrees are joint winners of the Availability award as our users on their networks spent the most time connected to 3G, 4G or 5G. The two operators win with statistically tied scores of 98.6-98.7%, giving them a lead of around 0.6 percentage points over Vodafone’s score of 98.1%. The higher an operator’s Availability score the less time our users on its network spent either with no signal or connected to 2G.
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.
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.
As our users did not observe a statistically significant difference in the proportion of time they spent connected to 5G between Spark and Vodafone, the two operators are joint winners of the 5G Availability award with scores in the 2.8-3.9% range.
5G Availability is an important measure as users can only experience the improvement in their experience that 5G can provide when they have an active 5G connection. As New Zealand’s operators continue to build out their 5G networks, 5G Availability will likely rise — which together with increasing 5G adoption will work to reduce the difference between the overall experience and the 5G experience.
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.
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.
Spark and Vodafone are joint winners of the 5G Reach award with scores of 1.6-1.7 points on a 10 point scale. There is no clear winner as there was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of locations where our Vodafone users connected to 5G out of all the locations they visited compared to those seen by Spark users.
These figures highlight that it is still early days for 5G in New Zealand, given that users on these national operators’ networks found a 5G signal in less than one in five locations they visited.
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.
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.
Spark wins the 4G Coverage Experience award outright with a score of 9.4 points on a 10 point scale. The operator commands a lead of 0.4 points over second placed Vodafone and its score is 0.8 points higher than 2degrees’ score of 8.5 points. This means that our Spark users connected to 4G in the most locations out of all those visited by our users.
4G Coverage Experience measures 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.
In simple terms, 4G Coverage Experience measures the mobile coverage experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users — i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. It considers all the areas that Opensignal users visit, the portion of locations that 4G is available to them, and locations that more users visit have higher importance to them.
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.
Looking at Availability — the average proportion of time that our users spent with either a 3G, 4G, or 5G connection — at the regional level, as is the case with the National award, there is no clear winner in five out of five regions. Users reported three-way statistical ties in Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and Wellington, while 2degrees and Spark share regional awards in Canterbury and Waikato.
2degrees wins the Excellent Consistent Quality award outright with a score of 79.2% and a lead of 2.8 percentage points over second placed Spark, given Spark’s score of 76.3%. Vodafone is slightly further behind with 74.3%. 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.
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.
2degrees is the operator on which the largest proportion of our users’ tests met the minimum recommended thresholds for lower performance applications including SD video, voice calls and web browsing, making it the sole winner of the Core Consistent Quality award. The operator wins with a score of 90.2%, beating second placed Spark by 3.6 percentage points and Vodafone by 5.7 percentage points.
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.
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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