All of the operators in the Netherlands have been supporting Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for years now, making it the standard mode for the transmission of voice calls in all three networks. VoLTE transmits voice calls as data packets over a 4G connection. This way, the otherwise necessary “­circuit-switched fallback“, which forces smartphones to switch back to 3G or 2G in order to take or place a phone call, can be avoided. Furthermore, VoLTE codecs ­potentially ­support a wider audio bandwidth. ­A­nother advantage of realising voice connections via LTE is that VoLTE typically reduces call setup times.

For the Voice rating, each drive test car and each walk test team carried one Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone per operator. The phones in the cars called a counterpart in one of the other cars. The phones carried by the walk test teams in the cities called a stationary smartphone as a counterpart. In order to simulate normal smartphone usage, additional data transfers took place in the background of the test calls. In addition, we also evaluate the so-called Multirab (Multi Radio Access Bearer) connectivity. This value denominates whether data connectivity is ­available during the ­phone calls. The Voice scores account for 32 per cent of the total result.

CITIES DRIVETEST

NECK AND NECK RACE IN VOICE DRIVETESTS IN THE CITIES:

T-MOBILE AHEAD, KPN AND VODAFONE FOLLOWING AT CLOSE DISTANCE

In the voice measurements conducted during the drivetests in 22 big Dutch cities, all three operators give each other a neck and neck race. T-Mobile leads in this scenario by a very close margin of just one percentage point, offering a call success ratio of 100 per cent and the shortest call setup times. The other two operators follow at close
distance with also very good results. All three operators also achieve a very good speech quality, using predominantly the high-quality EVS codec.

CITIES WALKTEST

T-mobile ALSO AHEAD IN WALKTEST voice results

with KPN AND VODAFONE EACH FOLLOWING AT CLOSE DISTANCE

Basically the same results as in the city drivetests can also be seen in the voice results of the walktests conduc­ted in seven Dutch urban areas. In this scenario, T-Mobile even scores the full amount of possible points, with the two other contenders following at arm‘s length and a gap of only one percentage point each.

TOWNS DRIVETEST

tie in VOICE drivetests conducted in towns:

All three Dutch operators equally strong in this scenario

In the drivetests conducted in 19 smaller Dutch towns, all three operators scored on par, achieving a fulfilment ratio of 99 per cent. They all delivered a 100 per cent call success ratio and a 100 per cent MultiRAB connectivity in this scenario, as well as very short call setup times and a high level of speech quality. Inhabitants of Dutch towns can be very happy about the quality of mobile telephony available in these places.

ROADS DRIVETEST

STRONG RESULTS ON DUTCH ROADS, T-MOBILE AND KPN

ON PAR, VODAFONE FOLLOWING AT CLOSE DISTANCE

The tendencies seen in the ­smaller town are also somewhat ­reflected in the voice measurements performed during the drivetests on 3000 km of connecting roads in the Netherlands. All three operators achieve convincing results in this scenario, with T-Mobile and KPN on par in the sub score determined for this category. Vodafone is also close behind at a gap of only two percentage points. The success ratios of calls are still at 99 per cent or above, also call setup times and speech quality are still very high.

TRAINS WALKTEST

T-mobile ahead in voice tests on trains.

Vodafone achieves second place in this scenario.

Providing voice connectivity for passengers travelling on trains is particularly demanding. Still, even in this scenario, the Dutch operators achieve very high success ­ratios, short setup times and a very good speech quality. T-Mobile is once again ahead in this category, but here Vodafone rises to second place by offering slightly better call success ratios and ­MultiRAB connectivity than an also very strong KPN. In compa­ri­son to other European countries, including Switzerland which scores also very strong in this area, the Dutch operators perform astonishingly well in the difficult railway scenario.

T-MOBILE SHOWS THE BEST VOICE RESULTS, 
KPN RANKS SECOND, AND VODAFONE ZIGGO THIRD – BUT ALL OF THEM QUITE CLOSE TOGETHER.

For a couple of years, the Dutch operators have equipped their 4G networks to offer the combination of four or even five LTE carriers in different ­frequency bands. This “carrier aggregation” is the technical basis for the so-called “4G+” services which theoretically support data rates up to 1 Gbps. Above that, all three operators in the Netherlands are continuing to spend large sums on upgrading and expanding their networks to meet the growing demand – including a considerable speed and momentum in rolling out 5G.

We have honoured these advancements by fully integrating 5G measurements into our methodo­­­logy framework: In each of the test cars four smartphones were used for the data measurements – one per operator. In the first car, Galaxy S10 smart­phones were used, set to 4G preferred mode. This device and setting can make full use of uo to 5 carrier aggregation (5CA). In the second car as well as in the backpacks of the walktest teams, one Galaxy S20+ per operator was used, set to 5G preferred mode and thus enabling 5G connectivity wherever possible.

In order to optimally support these demanding technologies, the operators rather frequently ­update the firmware especially of 5G capable ­smartphones such as the Samsung S20+ used in our testing. In ­order to ensure a stable data gathering during our drivetests and walktests, we set a deadline ­after which such firmware updates can no longer be applied to the test devices. However, given the novelty of 5G and in ­order to support the operators in delivering the best performance their networks are capable of, in this year we accepted also later updates – an option, which was gladly used by KPN and
T-Mobile.

With these up-to-date devices, the test teams then successfully completed their drivetests and walktests, supporting 5G and the implemented network technologies in the best possible way.

CITIES DRIVETEST

KPN LEADS IN LARGE CITY DATA DRIVETESTS,

WITH T-MOBILE FOLLOWING AT NARROW DISTANCE

The results of our data measurements conducted during the drive tests in 22 larger Dutch ­cities (also see section “Results”) determine a narrow lead of KPN in this category. KPN shows the highest share of LTE with 4CA (4 carrier aggregation) as well as with 5G New ­Radio (NR), resulting in the highest average Data rates in the Download and also in the Upload tests. T-Mobile showed a significant share of LTE with 5CA in the 4G device as well as 5G NR with 3CA. Especially in the Upload tests, T-Mobile achieved results on a similar level than category champion KPN. However, KPN and Vodafone show Youtube success ratios of a convincing 100 per cent, with T-Mobile following at a very close distance.

CITIES WALKTEST

KPN TAKES A NARROW LEAD IN THE CITY DATA WALKTESTS,

T-MOBILE AND VODAFONE FOLLOW CLOSELY

In the results of the walktests conducted in Amsterdam, Den Haag, Dordrecht, Eindhoven, Leiden, Rotterdam and Utrecht, KPN again manages to claim a ­narrow lead ahead of T-Mobile and Vodafone. Still, this is a neck-and-neck race: all contenders are only one percentage point apart of each other. Again, KPN wins this scenario by offering slightly higher data rates than the competition both in the Download as well as the ­Upload tests and also achieving success ratios of 100 per cent in the Youtube tests.

KPN TAKES THE WIN IN THE DATA DISCIPLINE, FOLLOWED BY
T-MOBILE AT A CLOSE GAP OF THREE POINTS. VODAFONE SCORES THIRD IN DATA AT A LITTLE MORE PRONOUNCED DISTANCE.

TOWNS DRIVETEST

T-MOBILE AND KPN ON PAR IN DATA DRIVE-TESTS

IN SMALLER TOWNS

In the Data drivetests which our measurement cars performed in 19 smaller Dutch towns, KPN and T-Mobile are on par, while Vodafone scores four percentage points behind. In this scenario, T-Mobile shows somewhat faster Data rates in the download tests, while KPN achieves slightly faster results in the upload tests. In both test cases, Vodafone falls a ­little behind but still achieves good results. In the Youtube tests, the success ­ratios­­ of all contenders are close to or even at 100 per cent.

ROADS DRIVETEST

T-MOBILE AND KPN ARE TOGETHER LEADING IN THE

DATA DRIVETESTS ON CONNECTING ROADS

As already in the smaller towns, T-Mobile and KPN score also on par in the data drivetests conducted on the 3,000 km of ­connecting roads in the Netherlands, with ­Vodafone following at close distance. The very high success ­ratios of downloads and ­uploads, considerable data ­rates and even a comparably high share of 5G samples (see next page) are a 
good prerequisite for using the connectivity features of ­modern cars while driving even on rural roads in the Netherlands. 

TRAINS DRIVETEST

KPN CLEARLY AHEAD IN DATA TESTS PERFORMED IN

DUTCH TRAINS AMIDST OVERALL VERY STRONG OPERATORS

In the Data measurements which our walktests teams performed in Dutch long-distance trains, KPN clearly takes the lead. As already observed in the Voice ­category, all three Dutch operators are convincingly strong in this demanding scenario, delivering high ­success ratios and a good performance. T-Mobile follows at some distance, and Vodafone performs almost equally strong in this scenario.

5G

VERY FAST 5G ROLL-OUT IN THE NETHERLANDS

In the Dutch 5G frequency auction, which was closed in July 2020, all three operators active in the Netherlands were able to ­acquire the spectrum necessary to launch 5G services. KPN received 20 MHz in the 700 MHz band as well as 15 MHz in the 1400 MHz band and 40 MHz in the 2100 MHz band. T-Mobile acquired 20 MHz spectrum on 700 MHz, 10 MHz at 1400 MHz and was able to secure 40 MHz in 
the 2100 MHz band which it has already used previously. Vodafone received 20 MHz on 700 MHz, 15 MHz in the 1400 MHz band and 40 MHz on 2100 MHz.

VodafoneZiggo was the first carrier to offer 5G in the Netherlands, starting on available frequen­cies in April 2020 and later ­extending the ­service to spectrum acquired in the above mentioned auction. In late 2020, VodafoneZiggo claimed to already reach 80 per cent of the Dutch popu­lation with 5G, aiming at reaching national coverage soon after. KPN and T-Mobile both launched 5G at the end of July 2020. KPN started in most of the Randstad area as well as Eindhoven, reaching about half of the Dutch population and striving to reach nationwide 5G coverage in 2021. At the end of October 2020, T-Mobile claimed to reach about 90 per cent of the Dutch population with 5G. 

KPN LEADING IN A NECK-AND-NECK

 
RACE IN OUR 5G ANALYSIS

Considering the date of the availability of 5G spectrum, the Dutch operators have quickly come far in their 5G deployments. This can be seen in the presence of 5G samples in the measurement data captured 
in our drivetests and walktests. They achieve sizeable shares even in smaller towns, on roads and actually also on trains. In our data gathering, Vodafone is the only operator contributing a large share of samples in DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing), while KPN and 
T-Mobile operate on individual frequencies.

The samples with 5G are part of the overall Data score. But in a separate analysis (as exemplified by the Data rates achieved in 7s Downloads, see table below), KPN delivers the highest P10, average and P90 data rates in all scenarios – making the most out of the available spectrum. In terms of 5G coverage, T-Mobile and KPN are about on the same level in the cities, while T-Mobile is well ahead in more rural areas. All three operators ­offer a high reliability during 5G downloads. In a neck-and-neck race between KPN and T-Mobile in this domain, we see KPN slightly ahead and thus award connect‘s special 5G inno­vation accolade to this operator.