Taiwan
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.
Taiwan
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
Chunghwa users have the fastest experience in Taiwan
Chunghwa wins all four speed awards outright — Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed. Of the four, it retains three from the last report and has replaced FarEasTone as the sole winner for Upload Speed Experience. This change was driven by a 1.8 Mbps (14.7%) increase in the overall upload speeds observed by our Chunghwa users together with a 0.9 Mbps (6.9%) drop in those seen by those on FarEasTone’s network.
Taiwan Mobile can’t be beaten for video, gaming or voice app experience
Taiwan Mobile either wins outright or jointly wins all six experiential awards. It is the outright winner of the Games Experience award — having knocked FarEasTone off the winners’ podium, as both operators shared the award in the last report. Taiwan Mobile now ties with Chunghwa for the Video Experience award, which was previously won by Chunghwa alone. Taiwan Mobile continues to be a joint winner of the remaining experiential awards — Voice App Experience, 5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.
FarEasTone 5G users continue to spend the most time connected to 5G
FarEasTone is once again the outright winner of the 5G Availability award, as our 5G users on its network spent the largest proportion of time with an active 5G connection — 33.8%. FarEasTone wins this time by a margin of 3.3 percentage points over second placed Chunghwa’s score of 30.6%. However, FarEasTone’s lead is much reduced from the last report, when it won with a score of 38.7% compared with Chunghwa, T Star and Taiwan Mobile’s statistically tied scores of 21.8-23.3%.
Taiwan Mobile wins on consistency
Taiwan Mobile is now the sole winner of both awards for consistent quality. It retains the Excellent Consistent Quality award from the last report and has broken out of the statistical tie that existed between it and Chunghwa for Core Consistent Quality to win the award outright. Our Taiwan Mobile users had the highest percentage of tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls, play games, and use less demanding applications (such as SD video and web browsing).
Chunghwa wins 5G Download Speed, leading its rivals by more than 100 Mbps
Chunghwa’s 5G Download Speed winning streak continues — the operator wins the award for the third time in a row. This time, Chunghwa wins with a score of 374.1 Mbps, an incredible 102.9 Mbps (37.9%) faster than second placed FarEasTone’s 271.2 Mbps.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
In this report we see the awards divided between Chunghwa, Taiwan Mobile and FarEasTone, with Chunghwa winning the most categories outright (namely all four speed awards), but Taiwan Mobile has the largest number of awards in total.
In addition to winning Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed outright, Chunghwa is a joint winner in four categories. It ties for first place for Video Experience alongside Taiwan Mobile. In addition, Chunghwa is part of the three-way ties for Voice App Experience, 5G Voice App Experience and 5G Reach alongside FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile.
Taiwan Mobile wins both consistency awards outright (Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistency), along with Games Experience. Taiwan Mobile is also a joint winner in seven categories. It wins alongside Chunghwa for Video Experience, as well as being part of the three-way ties for Voice App Experience, 5G Voice App Experience and 5G Reach. It also wins alongside FarEasTone for the remaining experiential awards and Availability.
FarEasTone is the sole winner of the 5G Availability award and is also a joint winner across six awards, including all three 5G experiential awards (5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience) and 5G Reach, which it shares with Chunghwa and Taiwan Mobile due to a three-way statistical tie.
As of late November 2022, the Taiwanese mobile market was still awaiting the results of the reviews into the two proposed mergers between GT and FarEasTone and between Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star. These mergers will likely alter the competitive position of operators and the balance of power on mobile network experience across Taiwan.
In this report, we have analyzed the mobile network experience of Taiwan’s operators in the 90 day period starting on August 1, 2022 and ending on October 29, 2022, to see how they measure up. We have used 5G measurements in addition to those from previous generations of mobile network technology when determining the scores for the overall experience metrics.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Our Chunghwa and Taiwan Mobile users had the best available overall experience when streaming mobile, with statistically tied scores of 63.9-65.3 points on a 100 point scale. This is a change from the last report, when Chunghwa won outright with a score of 64.5 points. The two operators are on the border between the Good (55-65) and Very Good (65-75) categories. FarEasTone is in third place with a score of 62.6 points and remains in the Good category.
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
Taiwan Mobile has broken the statistical tie that existed between it and FarEasTone in the last report to win the Games Experience award outright. It does so with a score of 78.5 points on a 100 point scale, giving it a lead of around 2.1 points over Chunghwa and FarEasTone — which share second place with statistically tied scores of 76.2-76.7 points.
As in the last report, three Taiwanese operators have placed in the Good (75-85) category for Games Experience: Taiwan Mobile, Chunghwa and FarEasTone.
A Good rating indicates that most users deemed the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience was generally controllable and the user received immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users did not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
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
Chunghwa, FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile continue to share the Voice App Experience due to a three-way statistical tie. This time the three operators share the awards with scores of 80.4-80.7 points on a 100 point scale. The three joint winners remain in the Good (80-87) category.
A Good rating indicates that many users were satisfied. 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.
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
Chunghwa remains the outright winner of the Download Speed Experience award and has dramatically increased its lead over its rivals since the last report. It wins with a score of 84.3 Mbps — 26.5 Mbps (45.7%) faster than second placed FarEasTone’s score of 57.9 Mbps. Last time Chunghwa won by a margin just short of 10 Mbps. The overall download speeds observed by our Chunghwa users increased by 17.5 Mbps (26.3%) since the previous report. Taiwan Mobile’s score rose by a smaller amount (1.7 Mbps to 45.5 Mbps), so Chunghwa’s winning margin increased.
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
Chunghwa is the new outright winner of the Upload Speed Experience award as our users on its network observed the fastest overall upload speeds in Taiwan — 13.6 Mbps. Chunghwa has knocked FarEasTone off the top spot, due to a 1.8 Mbps (14.7%) increase in Chunghwa’s score combined with a 0.9 Mbps (6.9%) drop for FarEasTone. Chunghwa wins by a margin of 0.9 Mbps, given second placed FarEasTone’s score of 12.7 Mbps. Taiwan Mobile is in third place with 10.9 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
While Taiwan Mobile is still a joint winner of the 5G Video Experience award, FarEasTone has taken Chunghwa’s place in the two-way statistical tie for the award, due to a 1.3 point increase in its score from the last report. Taiwan Mobile and FarEasTone share the award with scores of 82.6-83.2 points on a 100 point scale, while Chunghwa has fallen back to third place with 82.5 points.
The winners along with Chunghwa and T Star remain in the Excellent (75 or above) category for 5G Video Experience. This indicates a very consistent experience across all users, video streaming providers and resolutions tested over 5G connections, with fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling.
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
The statistical tie that our users observed between FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile in the last report for 5G Games Experience has persisted. The two operators remain joint winners, this time with scores of 83.8-84.4 points on a 100 point scale. However, all the operators analyzed received Good (75-85) ratings. This means that most users deemed the experience acceptable on 5G connections. The gameplay experience was generally controllable and the user received immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users did not experience a delay between their actions and 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
Three operators share the 5G Voice App Experience award — Chunghwa, FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile — with statistically tied scores of 82.5-83 points on a 100 point scale. This is a change from the previous report, when there was a two-way tie between FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile.
All the operators analyzed have placed again in the Good (80-87) category. This indicates that many users were satisfied with their experience when using over-the-top voice apps over 5G connections. 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.
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 Chunghwa users have once again observed the fastest average 5G download speeds in Taiwan. Chunghwa wins the 5G Download Speed award for the third time in a row, this time with a score of 374.1 Mbps. Chunghwa wins by a remarkable margin — as its score was 102.9 Mbps (37.9%) faster than second placed FarEasTone’s 271.2 Mbps. Taiwan Mobile is in third place with 247.1 Mbps.
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
Chunghwa is the outright winner of the 5G Upload Speed Experience award for the third consecutive time. It wins this time with a score of 50 Mbps and a lead of 11.7 Mbps over second placed FarEasTone’s 38.3 Mbps. Chunghwa’s lead is up from the 3 Mbps it enjoyed in the previous report, as its score has risen by 3.1 Mbps while FarEasTone’s fell by 5.6 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
Chunghwa
FarEasTone
GT
Taiwan Mobile
T Star
National Analysis
Our FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile users spent the largest proportion of their time with a 3G or better connection — with 99.1-99.2% of the time. FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile therefore win the Availability award due to a statistical tie. This is a change from the previous report when Chunghwa was also present on the winners’ podium.
Availability does not represent traditional population or geographic coverage.
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
FarEasTone wins 5G Availability outright as our 5G users on its network spent the largest proportion of time with an active 5G connection — an impressive 33.8%. It wins with a lead of 3.3 percentage points over second placed Chunghwa’s score of 30.6%. Taiwan Mobile and T Star are in joint third place, respectively, with scores of 19.9-21.5%.
FarEasTone’s margin of victory is much reduced compared with that seen in the last report, when it won with a score of 38.7% while Chunghwa, T Star and Taiwan Mobile were statistically tied with scores of 21.8-23.3%.
5G Availability does not represent traditional population or geographic coverage.
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
Chunghwa, FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile are joint winners of the 5G Reach award with statistically tied scores of 5.8-6.3 points on a 10 point scale. T Star is in last place with 4.3 points. This is a change from the previous report when FarEasTone won outright with 6.9 points.
5G Reach does not represent traditional population or geographic coverage.
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
Taiwan Mobile is the outright winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award — the second time in a row it has received this accolade in an Opensignal report. Taiwan Mobile wins with a score of 86.2%, giving it a lead of one percentage point over second placed FarEasTone’s 85.2%. Chunghwa is in third place with 82.3%.
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
Our Taiwan Mobile users had the highest proportion of tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for lower performance applications including SD video, voice calls and web browsing. As a result, Taiwan Mobile is the new outright winner of the Core Consistent Quality award, after statistically tying with Chunghwa in the previous report. Taiwan Mobile wins with a score of 93.7% and a lead of 0.4 percentage points over second placed FarEasTone’s 93.3%.
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