Costa Rica
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Costa Rica
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Key Findings
Kölbi users enjoy the top Download Speed Experience in Costa Rica
Our Kölbi users saw the fastest overall download speeds in the country — 20.7 Mbps on average — making Kölbi the sole winner of Opensignal's Download Speed Experience award. While Kölbi leads over second-placed Claro by 2.8 Mbps, Movistar lags significantly behind with 8.7 Mbps.
Claro leads in Upload Speed Experience
Claro wins the Upload Speed Experience award as our users on its network reported the fastest overall upload speed of 7.5 Mbps — 1.3 Mbps (20.9%) faster than second-placed Kölbi and 2.1 Mbps (37.5%) faster than Movistar.
Kölbi wins the Video Experience award, but Claro has the edge in Games and Voice App Experience
Kölbi users enjoyed the best available quality of experience when streaming videos over the mobile internet. As a result, Kölbi is the winner of Opensignal's Video Experience in Costa Rica. On the other hand, Claro wins the Games and Voice App Experience awards. Our users in Costa Rica saw the best experience when playing multiplayer mobile games and using over-the-top (OTT) voice app services such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger when connected to Claro.
Kölbi and Movistar are top in Availability, but Claro claims the 4G Availability award
Kölbi and Movistar are joint winners of the Availability award in Costa Rica, as our users on both the networks spent the greatest proportion of time connected to mobile services (3G and above) — 97.1%. But in terms of the proportion of time connected to 4G only, Claro leads the pack with 85.7%.
Movistar wins a close run race on 4G Coverage Experience
Movistar is the outright winner of the 4G Coverage Experience award, with a score of 8.2 points on a 10 point scale — just 0.1 points ahead of Kölbi. This means Movistar and Kölbi users were able to find 4G in more than eight out of 10 locations visited by all our users.
Kölbi bags the Excellent Consistent Quality award
Kölbi wins the Excellent Consistent Quality award, as the operator met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for HD video, group video conference calls and gaming for the highest percentage of users' tests. Kölbi's score of 57.8% is around twice as large as Claro and Movistar's. Claro wins the Core Consistent Quality award with 75.4% — a lead of 1.4 percentage points over its closest rival, Kölbi.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
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 on February 1, 2022, and ending on May 1, 2022, to see how they measure up. In addition, we delved deeper into seven different regions of Costa Rica, comparing the experience users had with the three national operators.
A quick look at our results, and it's clear that Claro is ahead in mobile network experience as it wins five out of our 10 awards outright — Games Experience, Voice App Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 4G Availability and Core Consistent Quality. By comparison, Kölbi claims three awards with leading scores in Video Experience, Download Speed Experience and Excellent Consistent Quality. Kölbi also jointly wins the award for Availability alongside Movistar — the top operator for 4G Coverage Experience.
However, our results also reveal that there is much room for improvement across all national operators, especially on experiential metrics — Video Experience, Games Experience and Voice App Experience. These metrics quantify the quality of experience users perceive when while streaming videos, playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular networks or using over-the-top (OTT) voice services.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Our users in Costa Rica enjoyed the best available Video Experience on Kölbi's network. As a result, Kölbi wins the Opensignal award with a score of 39.5 points out of 100 — a lead of 1.8 points over Claro and 4.9 points over Movistar.
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
Looking at multiplayer mobile gaming, Claro comfortably wins our Games Experience award with a score of 52.9 points (out of 100) — a notable lead of 10.1 points over second-placed Kölbi. Meanwhile, Movistar placed last with 36.8 points. These scores indicate that playing multiplayer mobile games over wireless networks remains challenging for our users in Costa Rica and that there is considerable room for improvement in this measure of the mobile experience.
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
Claro leads the Voice App Experience category in Costa Rica and secures the award with 76.1 points (on a 100 point scale), 4.1 points ahead of Kölbi's score of 71.9 points. Claro placed in the Acceptable category (74-80), while Kölbi and Movistar placed one category lower with Poor (66-74) ratings.
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
Kölbi is the outright winner of Opensignal's Download Speed Experience award. Our users on Kölbi's network saw average download speeds of 20.7 Mbps, 2.8 Mbps (15.8%) faster than second-placed Claro and almost 2.4 times faster than Movistar users.
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
Claro claims the Upload Speed Experience award. Our users on this network enjoyed average upload speeds of 7.5 Mbps — 1.3 Mbps (20.9%) faster than our Kölbi users. Meanwhile, Movistar finishes third, with a score of 5.5 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).
Regional Analysis
Looking at the regional Video Experience, the national winner Kölbi is top in all seven regions. The operator wins outright in Alajuela, Cartago, and San Jose and collects joint wins in the remaining four regions, where it shares the top spot with Claro.
Claro dominates the regional results for Games Experience and Voice App Experience, in line with the national results. The operator wins both the award categories across all the regions.
Turning to the speed categories, Kölbi wins all the regional awards for Download Speed Experience, including those shared with Claro in Guanacaste and Puntarenas. Meanwhile, in Upload Speed Experience, Claro is the dominant operator. Claro is top across all seven regions, including two joint wins in Cartago and Limon with Kölbi.
Regional Analysis Summary: Costa Rica, Mobile Network Experience Report, June 2022
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Coverage
Claro
Kölbi
Movistar
National Analysis
Kölbi and Movistar share the top spot for Availability with identical scores of 97.1%. Claro follows closely behind, with a score of 96.2%. These scores mean, on average, our users across all three national networks connected to 3G or better services for at least 96% of the time.
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.
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 Claro users enjoyed the highest 4G Availability in Costa Rica. As a result, the operator wins the award for this measure outright — with 85.7%. This means that our 4G users on Claro's network, on average, spent 85.7% of their time connected to 4G services. Our users on Movistar saw 4G Availability of 82.6%, while Kobi users saw 4G Availability less than one point shy of the 70% mark.
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.
4G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 4G device and a 4G subscription — but have never connected to 5G — had a 4G 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.
National Analysis
We saw a close-run race between Kölbi and Movistar for the 4G Coverage Experience awards. Movistar wins the award in this category by beating second placed Kölbi by just 0.1 points with a score of 8.2 points (out of 10). Kölbi and Movistar's scores mean our users on both networks were able to connect to 4G services in more than eight out of 10 locations visited by all our users.
Definitions
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.
Regional Analysis
In the analysis of regional Availability, our regional results mirrored the national results with Kölbi and Movistar jointly winning the award in all seven regions, including Cartago where all three operators share the top spot.
Regional Analysis Summary: Costa Rica, Mobile Network Experience Report, June 2022
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A-I
- Alajuela
- Cartago
- Guanacaste
- Heredia
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J-R
- Limon
- Puntarenas
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- San Jose
in Alajuela
in Cartago
in Guanacaste
in Heredia
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in Puntarenas
in San Jose
Consistency
National Analysis
Kölbi is the sole winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award with a score of 57.8%. That said, Claro and Movistar have much to catch up on, with scores of 29.3% and 29.8%, respectively. Excellent Consistent Quality measures the percentage of tests where our users' experience on a network met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for high definition (HD) video, group video conference calls and gaming.
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
Claro wins a close-run race for the Core Consistent Quality award, as the operator's leading score of 75.4% is just slightly ahead of Kölbi's score of 73.9%. Core Consistent Quality is the percentage of users' tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for lower performance applications, including standard definition (SD) video, voice calls and web browsing.
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 user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
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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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