Switzerland
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.
Switzerland
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
Swisscom stays top for speed
Swisscom stays ahead of the competition for every speed award, winning all four outright for the second time in a row. Its lightning-fast Download Speed Experience score of 72.7Mbps is 17.5Mbps (31.6%) faster than second-placed Salt's score — while it beats runner-up Salt by a more modest 2.8Mbps (17.2%) for Upload Speed Experience. Looking at the 5G awards, Swisscom takes 5G Download Speed with an impressive score of 218.6Mbps, with Sunrise taking second place — 50Mbps below Swisscom. The race is much closer for 5G Upload Speed; Swisscom still wins outright, but there is only around a 6Mbps difference between first and last place.
Our Swiss users have an Excellent gaming experience when connected to 5G, no matter the network
Once again all three Swiss national operators statistically tie for 5G Games Experience — scoring 87.7-88.3 points on 100-point scale. All three operators place in the Excellent (85 or above) category, meaning that the vast majority of users deem this network experience acceptable. Nearly all respondents feel like they have control over the game, and they receive immediate feedback on their actions. There is not a noticeable delay in almost all cases.
Swisscom remains unbeatable for both overall and 5G Video Experience
Swisscom keeps the overall Video Experience award to itself. Its score of 72.5 points on a 100-point scale secures its eighth consecutive outright win in this category. Salt and Sunrise follow in second and third, respectively. Swisscom's winning streak also continues for 5G Video Experience — the operator wins the award outright for a third time in a row with a score of 78.3 points. Salt and Sunrise score slightly lower, with statistically tied scores of 77.3-77.5 points — meaning that they share second place.
Salt catches up with Swisscom for Core Consistent Quality
Salt shares the Core Consistent Quality award after drawing level with Swisscom, the previous outright winner — the two operators win with statistically similar scores of 93.1-93.2%. Swisscom wins Excellent Consistent Quality for the third consecutive time in Opensignal mobile network experience reports — this time with a score of 88.3% and a lead of 1.4 percentage points over next closest operator Salt. Sunrise comes in third with a score of 85.6%.
For the second consecutive report Swisscom places first in all but two awards
Swisscom continues its very impressive showing in Opensignal reports on the Swiss mobile network experience. This time the operator wins 12 of the 14 awards — nine outright and three shared victories — only missing out on 5G Voice App Experience and 5G Availability, which Sunrise and Salt share. The same two awards eluded Swisscom last time around, but it either won or jointly won in all the other categories.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Swisscom once again dominates the awards table in Opensignal's analysis of mobile network experience in Switzerland. The operator wins nine awards outright and shares a further three first place finishes. Swisscom wins all four speed awards outright and places at least joint first in every experiential metric apart from 5G Voice App Experience. The only shake up since the previous report is that Swisscom now shares Core Consistent Quality with Salt, although it retains Excellent Consistent Quality to itself.
Salt and Sunrise continue to vie for which operator has the second largest award haul. Salt manages to come out on top with five joint wins to Sunrise's three — however, neither operator wins an award outright this time as they now share 5G Voice App Experience and 5G Availability among themselves.
Starlink has signed a deal with Swiss operator Salt to provide continuous coverage to Salt's mobile users. The operator claims this is the first deal of its kind in Europe and will support connectivity in remote locations, along with providing backup to existing coverage in the case of emergencies. The operator plans on using satellite connectivity to overcome the challenge of Switzerland's more difficult terrain and topography. Salt says that it will enable direct connectivity while roaming via participating carriers, meaning that customers abroad can use the service with no need to change their equipment or software. Salt has stated that text messaging will be available through the service from 2024 onwards — expanding to voice and data coverage in 2025.
Sunrise has partnered with Nokia to launch a 5G Mobile Private Network (MPN) solution — aimed at business customers. A MPN is a dedicated business network that can function as an alternative to Wi-Fi and keeps data within a company’s own communication networks. Businesses' local networks will be able to benefit from the upgrades that a 5G network provides, such as high speeds and low latency — enabling an Internet-Of-Things capacity of 1 million devices per square kilometre. Sunrise states that is has already begun implementing MPNs for multiple companies.
In this report, we've analyzed real-world data on the three major mobile network operators in Switzerland — Salt, Sunrise and Swisscom — over a period of 90 days starting on February 1, 2023 and ending on May 1, 2023, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Swisscom steps onto the winners' podium once more for Video Experience, an award that it has always come at least joint first for. Swisscom leads second-placed Salt by 1.8 points — scoring 72.5 points to Salt's 70.8. Sunrise takes third with a score of 69.4 points on a 100-point scale.
All three operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category for Video Experience. This means that our users on all three networks are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
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
Swisscom takes the Games Experience award again, narrowly beating Salt. Only 1.3 points separate Swisscom's score (79.5) from Salt's (78.3). Sunrise has a larger gap to make up with its score of 72.8 being 6.7 points below the lead, leaving it in third place.
Salt and Swisscom place in the Good (75-85) category for Games Experience — most users deem the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience is generally controllable, and the user receives immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game. Sunrise's score narrowly places it in the Fair (65-75) category. This means that users find the experience to be 'average', with more cases of the game feeling less responsive/controllable and the majority of users noticing a delay between their actions and the outcomes in 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
The Voice App Experience award goes to both Salt and Swisscom — the pair have shared the award since its introduction to Swiss mobile network experience reports in December 2019. Salt and Swisscom have statistically tied scores of 79-79.4 points on a 100-point scale — around 1.4 points higher than Sunrise, which comes in last place.
All three operators place in the Acceptable (74-80) category. This means that some users are satisfied. Perceptible call quality impairments are experienced by some users. Clicking sounds of short duration or distortion are heard, and/or the volume may not be sufficiently loud. Listeners are generally able to comprehend without repetition.
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
Swisscom keeps a tight grip on its award for Download Speed Experience. Swisscom's outright win makes this the eleventh consecutive time that the operator has won this award, and it does so this time with an impressive score of 72.7Mbps — well ahead of second-placed Salt's 55.3Mbps and third-placed Sunrise's 48.5Mbps. All three operators have seen their scores increase since the previous report, with Swisscom seeing the largest increase of 4.4Mbps, while Salt and Sunrise follow with 2.4Mbps and 1.9Mbps, respectively.
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
Swisscom takes home the gold yet again for Upload Speed Experience, marking the eighth time in a row it has won the award by itself. Swisscom's score of 19.2Mbps is 2.8Mbps above Salt, which comes in second place — Sunrise brings up the rear with a score of 13.8Mbps. Only users on Swisscom's network saw a significant increase between reports, with their average overall upload speeds increasing by 0.7Mbps since the previous report.
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
Swisscom claims its third consecutive outright win for 5G Video Experience with a score of 78.3 points on a 100-point scale — Salt and Sunrise are around 0.9 points behind the winner; they tie for second place with statistically level scores of 77.3-77.5 points. Swisscom's score places it in the Excellent (78 or above) category, while Salt and Sunrise place one category lower in Very Good (68-78).
An Excellent rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with fast loading times and no stalling. While a Very Good rating means that our users experience little stalling and satisfactory load times at the same quality.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
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
All three Swiss national operators statistically tie for 5G Games Experience for the second time in a row — scoring 87.7-88.3 points on a 100-point scale. All three operators place in the Excellent (85 or above) category.
An Excellent rating means that the vast majority of users deem this network experience acceptable. Nearly all respondents feel like they have control over the game, and they receive immediate feedback on their actions. There is not a noticeable delay in almost all cases.
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
Sunrise steps onto the winners' podium for 5G Voice App Experience, sharing the award with Salt. The pair score 83.4-83.9 points on a 100-point scale, around 1.6 points above third-placed Swisscom. All three operators place in the Good (80-87) category.
A Good rating means that many users are satisfied. Minor quality impairments are experienced by some users. Sometimes the background is not quite clear, it could be either hazy or not loud enough. Clicking sounds or distortion are 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
Swisscom is the sole victor of the 5G Download Speed award for a second time in a row. The operator scores an impressive 218.6Mbps, with Sunrise and Salt scoring 168.6Mbps and 137.6Mbps, respectively, to place in second and third.
Compared to Download Speed Experience, all three operators' users see large 5G to overall uplift in average download speeds — with Sunrise's relative increase being 3.5 times while Swisscom and Salt users seeing more modest increases of three times and 2.5 times, respectively.
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
Swisscom retains 5G Upload Speed with a score of 39.3Mbps — 3.2Mbps ahead of Salt and 6.1Mbps ahead of Sunrise. Our Sunrise users see the largest 5G to overall uplifts in average upload speeds — 2.4 times, compared to Salt's 2.2 times and Swisscom's two times.
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
Salt
Sunrise
Swisscom
National Analysis
Swisscom comes first for Availability, an award it has won outright since its introduction in Swiss network reports. The operator wins the award outright with a score of 99.1%, although Sunrise is close behind with its score of 98.5% and Salt is in third with 98.1%.
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
Sunrise now shares the 5G Availability award with Salt. The pair tie with statistically similar scores of 17.2-18.6% due to a decrease in Sunrise's score of 2.3 percentage points, while Salt's and Swisscom's scores remain statistically unchanged. Swisscom scores 16.4%, around 1.6 percentage points below the winners.
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.
Consistency
National Analysis
Swisscom wins Excellent Consistent Quality for the third consecutive time in Opensignal mobile network experience reports — this time with a score of 88.3% and a lead of 1.4 percentage points over next closest operator Salt. Sunrise comes in third with a score of 85.6%.
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
Salt shares the Core Consistent Quality award with Swisscom, which won the award outright last time around. Salt and Swisscom win with statistically similar scores of 93.1-93.2%. Sunrise is in last place, its score of 92.5% only around 0.7 percentage points below first place.
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