CROWD 

672,600 users from the UK have contributed around 2.7 billion measurement ­samples between end of May and early November, 2021. We have
conducted a thorough analysis of this extensive data set, using an even more ­refined crowdsourcing methodology compared to previous years.

While the drive tests and walk tests determine the peak performance of the examined networks, ­­crowdsourcing can add important dimensions such as time, geo­graphy or variety in devices and tariff plans – if done in the right way. A detailed description of our crowdsourcing ­methodology can be found on the methodology page. A total of 672,600 mobile phone users in the UK have ­provided relevant samples to our crowd data. The test area of our crowdsourcing ­represents 99.2 percent of the ­built-up area of the UK and 99.8 percent of the UK‘s population.

EE LEADS in COVERAGE QUALITY.

IN COVERAGE REACH, EE and O2

on a PAR, and VODAFONE RANKS THIRD 

In terms of Coverage Reach (the recorded 3G, 4G or 5G coverage related to the overall summation of all coverage areas), EE and O2
are on a par, followed by Vodafone and Three. But EE offers the best Coverage Quality (the ratio of all Evaluation Areas to the “common
footprint“) and also the best Time on Broadband (how often an average user had 4G or 5G reception). In both KPIs (Coverage Quality and Time on Broadband), Vodafone is on the second rank, fol­lowed by O2. Three ranks fourth also in these considerations.

EE takes the lead in all download speed

classes, followed by vodafone

In our crowdsourced assessment of Download Speeds, EE achieved the best results in all considered speed classes. 

In the Basic Internet sub-category, 93.7 percent of EE‘s samples have throughputs above 2 Mbps, closely followed by Vodafone with 92.4 percent, Three follows on third rank with 91.5 percent and O2 ranks fourth with 90.5 percent.

In “HD Video” (above 5 Mbps), EE leads again with 78.3 percent of the samples fulfilling this requirement, followed by Vodafone with 73.6 percent. At a wider gap, Three achieves 69.4 percent, and O2, 66.3 percent.

In the most demanding sub-category, “UHD Video”, EE manages to achieve 21.4 percent, while the three competitors share the second position with 15.4 percent.

“EE takes the lead in the Crowd evaluation, ahead of Vodafone. O2 comes in third, and Three ranks fourth. ”
 

EE AHEAD IN the LATENCY METRIC,

FOLLOWED BY VODAFONE AND THEN O2

In our examinations of Latency, EE is the leader in the Gaming ­category by showing 87.1 percent of the samples below 50 ms, followed by Vodafone with 70.8 percent and O2 with 63 percent.

In the more demanding Gaming category, only 47.7 percent of the samples gathered in the Three network are below the threshold of 50 ms.

In the “OTT Voice” category, EE and Vodafone are on par with 96.3 percent of their samples ­below 100 ms, closely followed by O2 with 95.4 percent. Three remains in fourth position with 92.7 percent of the samples showing a latency below 100 ms.

“CROWD RESULTS AT A GLANCE
In the crowd-based score, EE takes the lead, ahead of O2. Vodafone comes in third, only slightly behind O2. Three ranks fourth with a distinct gap towards Vodafone. All four UK operators achieve a good score for voice and data coverage, with EE also scoring well for 4G ­coverage. Three falls significantly behind the competition when it comes to 4G coverage, but also Vodafone and O2 show room for improvement there. In urban areas, Vodafone ranks second behind EE in download speeds, and Three second best in upload speeds. In non-urban areas, O2 takes the lead in the upload category. EE and O2 showed no anomalies in the observation period. For Vodafone, we identified one day with anomalies, and for Three three days with anomalies.”

Reliability

The assessment of Reliability is another way to look at the results of our voice and data drive tests and walk tests as well as at those of our crowd analyses. This approach concentrates on the compulsory basics instead of the highest peaks of a network‘s performance.

Reliability is not an additional category of our tests, but rather a diffent angle of viewing the results: For each KPI, our scoring distinguishes between “Qualifiers“ (the expected basic performance) and “Differentiators“ (the additional performance that exceeds the expected basics).

Our look at Reliability limits itself to the Qualifiers – thus conveying an impression of the standards, a user can reasonably expect from a mobile network. The reference values in this representation are therefore only the subset of score points which we assigned to the Qualifiers. The resulting scores state the reliabilty with which an operator offers its network services.

“EE also leads in the Reliability assessment. Vodafone is ahead in Voice. O2 achieves higher scores than three in the reliability of the voice drive tests and of the crowdsourcing.”

EE LEADS in reliability, VOdafone

ahead in Voice, O2 SURPASSES THREE

IN RELIABILITY IN THE VOICE DRIVE

TESTS and in CROWDSOURCING 

The scores resulting from our special look at Reliabilty mostly correspond to the overall ranking. As in the overall result, in the Voice category Vodafone also reaches a slightly higher score in the Reliability assesment in comparison to EE.

Also, O2 reaches more score points than Three in the Voice category – coming from the Voice drive tests tests – as well as in the Crowdsourcing. These results support a view that O2 focuses a little more on the wide-spread availability of its services, while Three shines in the domain of peak performances.

 

EE LEADS in Reliability assess-

ment FOR London, VODAFONE

follows as “Co-Best“ at a very

NARROW GAP. O2 ahead of Three in

the london reliabilty scores

The Reliabilty assessment for London refers to an even smaller maximum score, as the road, town and railway tests are omitted. In the hotly contested capital, EE still takes the lead – but the gap to Vodafone is narrow.

Vodafone is ahead in the Voice category, leading in the drive tests and scoring on a par with EE in the walktests. In Data, EE is ahead by a very narrow margin. Overall, both contenders are very good in terms of their Reliability score for London. O2 scores ahead of Three in this consideration mainly due to stronger Voice results.

 

LONDON

Traditionally, umlaut and connect take a ­closer look at the UK‘s capital to see how the operators cover this lively centre of business, politics and culture.

Greater London is by far the most densely ­populated area in the UK and also a vibrant business capital. This also makes the nation‘s capital an especially ­demanding terrain for deploying and maintaining a mobile ­network. For this reason, we regu­larly take a closer look to see how the performance in the ­capital compares to the rest of the ­United Kingdom. 

So, as in our previous umlaut connect Mobile Benchmarks for the UK, we have filtered the results of the ­drive tests and walk tests as well as the crowd results obtained in the London area in order to separate them from the nation­wide values. As these city scores neither contain the ­results of the drive tests conducted in the ­smaller towns and on the connecting roads nor the walk test results from the trains, we have adapted the maximum achievable ­points accordingly to a total of 700.

EE leads in london too, vodafone ranks second. All four

networks perform better in the capital than nationwide

The overall ranking in the London area is the same as in the nationwide assessment. EE leads the field in the capital, showing slightly stronger voice and crowdsourcing results compared to the evaluation for the whole United Kingdom. In the data category, EE however falls a little behind its nationwide result in the drive tests. The walk tests basically reveal the same level ­performance as in the rest of the UK. Vodafone ranks second in London, also performing somewhat stronger in the voice and crowdsourcing disciplines compared to its ­nationwide results. In the data tests, similar to EE, ­Vodafone‘s scores
are also a little lower than in the nationwide assess­ment. 

STRONG CROWD RESULTS FOR O2 and THREE in london

The same is also true for O2 which achieves the third position in the capital: In the voice and crowdsourcing it is a little stronger, the data tests performed in ­London score a little behind its nationwide result. Three ranks fourth in the ­capital. Its voice results are a little behind the nationwide assessment. In the data tests, Three performs a little stronger in the walk tests conducted in London, but falls a little behind its result in the rest of the UK regarding the data drive tests. In the crowdsourcing analyses, Three again achieved a somewhat higher score than nationwide.

“LONDON RESULTS AT A GLANCE
As in the nationwide assessment, EE is also the winner in London. Compared to the results for the whole UK, EE scores a little better in the voice discipline, ­but falls somewhat behind in the data walk tests. Vodafone performs overall on the same level as nationwide, but also loses some score points in the data walk tests. The third-placed O2 achieves a slightly better voice score than in the whole UK, it‘s data results are all in all on the same level as nationwide. Three‘s voice results are comparable to the result for the whole country, but its data score for London is distinctly lower than in the rest of the UK.”

As interesting as the focus on the densely populated London area is, the inhabitants of other large UK cities and the ­capitals of the other nations besides ­England ­have their own perspective on network performance and availability.
In order to also ­provide valuable insights for their inhabitants, we have additio­nally analysed the per­formances of the four ­operators in ten large cities of the UK.

When comparing the ­individual results, it must however be taken into account that we did non conduct walk tests in Belfast and Edinburgh – and thus have adapted the amount of maximum obtainable points accordingly.

SAME RANKING AS Nationwide IN birmingham, bristol, Cardiff and manchester

The same ranking as in the nation­wide assessment can be seen in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Manchester. In ­these cities, EE is the leader, followed by Vodafone. Three ranks third, and O2 fourth – although the gaps between the four contenders are some­what different as can be seen from the bar charts shown ­below. Overall, EE leads in seven out of ten ­cities (plus London). With the exception of Cardiff, the two top contenders rank ­relatively close together.

Vodafone local champion in belfast and LIVERPOOL.

O2 ahead of THREE in BELFAST, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW AND LEEDS 

In Belfast, Vodafone takes the lead with strong data and crowd results and in Liverpool due to a distinct advance in Voice. EE ranks second in both cities. O2 outranks Three in Belfast as well as in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leeds.

O2 local champion in Bradford

And in the Metropolitan Borough City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, O2 takes the position of a local champion: Here, the operator ranks first ahead of EE and a closely succeeding Vodafone. Three follows at some distance but with still respectable results and exactly the same scores as Vodafone in the voice and data categories.