A recent network benchmarking study looking at 4G and 5G performance (for broadband and calls) across London has named Vodafone UK as the top performing network.
Based in Berlin, NET CHECK completed their London study of mobile network performance and found that Vodafone achieved the highest number of ranking points – Scoring 932.83 out of 1,000 points.
Who is NET CHECK?
NET CHECK was founded in 1999 to improve the quality of communication networks. Since then, NET CHECK has become one of the leading partners of network operators and infrastructure providers in the operation and optimisation of mobile and fixed communication networks of all technologies.
When and where was the network study conducted?
Between the 30th October and 7th November, a team from NET CHECK carried out a mix of performance based tests across all 32 London boroughs plus the City of London using Samsung S23+ smartphones.
Covering 23 routes, the measurement technicians covered a distance of 1018km across Greater London whilst driving. The measuring equipment (SwissQual Benchmarker II (Rohde & Schwarz) and Samsung S23+) was placed in the roof boxes of two passenger cars collecting data on the performance of voice and data services during the tests. This approach allowed performance measurement for all the operators simultaneously and at the same locations.
How did the network study allocate points?
As we said above, the maximum number of points a network provider can rank is 1,000. This is earned by a max of 350 points for voice services and a max of 650 points for data services.
The testing involved a range of both voice and data services, with categories including:
- Accessibility
- Reliability
- Speech quality
- Mobile broadband speed-tests using customer applications such as the browsing of popular web pages, video streaming and more.
Sample wise, they collected approximately 15,700 data samples per operator to enable them to accurately analyse data services. For voice services, they made approximately 1,390 test calls. For each test call, they collected 12 speech samples which resulted in approximately 16,600 speech samples in total.
Which networks were close behind frontrunners Vodafone?
As we stated above, Vodafone ranked the highest in terms of points with 932.83 out of 1,000.
Not far behind them was EE with 923.45 – Only about 9 points less than highest ranking Vodafone.
In 3rd place it was O2 Virgin Media with 834.16 points, with Three UK trailing behind its competitors with 757.82 points.
You can see a summary of results from the study below. To have a read of the full report, head here.
With thanks to NET CHECK for all the tables and imagery, directly from their report.
