MOBILE BENCHMARK Aberdeen Perth Srling Glasgow Tranent The 2017 Berwick-upon-Tweed Ayr Dumfries Morpeth Newcastle upon Tyne Antrim Chester le Street Durham Mobile Omagh Belfast Penrith Newton Aycliffe Dungannon Lancaster Harrogate Wetherby Bradford Castleford Kingston Chorley Manchester Goole upon Hull Farnworth Thorne Network Liverpool Sheffield Knutsford Sale Chesterfield Stoke-on-Trent Nongham Stafford Shrewsbury Loughborough Wisbech Norwich Peterborough Birmingham Leicester Theord Test in Coventry Swansea Harlow Maidenhead London Bristol Reading the United Taunton Eastleigh Bridport Southhampton Exeter Wimborne Minster The fourth sucessive Drivetest year, the consulting, Walktest Kingdom engineering and testing company network and the P3 communications rollout of enhance- GmbH and connect ments like Voice over magazine have LTE affect the ranking examined UK’s of the four mobile mobile networks’. operators in the UK? How would the Or simply put: Which ongoing improve- operator offers the ments of the LTE best network for mobile voice and data? 1 MOBILE BENCHMARK The 2017 P3 connect Mobile Benchmark in the United Kingdom has a clear winner with a very good EE, and a good Vodafone on rank two. In contrast, Three and O2 have lost some ground Results in compared to our previous year’s benchmark. a nutshell Due to the carefully designed methodology, in- cluding drivetests and walktests, P3‘s network benchmarks are highly objective, and have be- en widely accepted as authoritative. In this ye- ar, the drive tests covered 20 of the largest ci- EE Vodafone ties in the UK with more than 100,000 inhabi- max. 1000 Points tants. Additionally, we conducted walktests in 29 Three 30 11 cities, eight of which have also been inclu- O2 ded in the drivetests. The cars also visited 28 smaller towns and drove on trunk roads and CROWD 30 motorways. The areas in which we tested max. 30 caters for more than 17 million people, or roughly 27% of the UK population. P3‘s rigorous and meticulous measurement included the use of up-to-date LTE Cat 9 as well as VoLTE-capable smartphones for the tests. We 514 474 also constantly readjust the thresholds of our DATA 435 352 max. 582 evaluation. With steps like these, we reflect the latest technical developments in the mobile networks and once more emphasise the scope of our benchmarking: How do the mobile net- VOICE works perform at the edge of what is techni- max. 388 328 314 291 285 cally feasible – and to what extent do custo- mers benefit from these capabilities? In order Total Score 871 818 754 667 to provide valid answers to these questions, we have also used the most comprehensive Grade very good good good sasfactory mobile plans available from each operator. Shown voice, data, crowd and total scores are rounded. Top ranking EE and second-placed Vodafone Overall Results Voice and Data EE Vodafone Three O2 The overall winner of this year‘s UK benchmark is EE with the grade “very good” and a clear Voicemax. 388 328 314 291 285 lead in voice and data as well as a high degree Ci es (Drivetest) 174.6 84 % 85 % 73 % 78 % of operational excellence. Vodafone ranks second Ci es (Walktest) 58.2 96 % 95 % 78 % 85 % at some distance in voice and data and the Towns (Drivetest) 77.6 84 % 76 % 80 % 72 % overall grade “good” (but a full 30 points in our new crowdsourcing assessment – see page 10). Roads (Drivetest) 77.6 78 % 66 % 71 % 56 % Compared to the previous year, both top-ran- Data max. 582 514 474 435 352 king contenders show distinct score improve- Ci es (Drivetest) 261.9 89 % 86 % 76 % 62 % ments, with EE achieving the most distinct gain. Ci es (Walktest) 87.3 85 % 82 % 63 % 41 % Three comes in third, showing a definite gap over Vodafone‘s voice and data as well as to the Towns (Drivetest) 116.4 87 % 75 % 80 % 66 % operational excellence results but still achie ving Roads (Drivetest) 116.4 90 % 78 % 75 % 67 % the grade “good”. As in 2016, O2 ranks last Crowdmax. 30 29 30 28 30 with the grade “satisfactory”. In terms of 2017-07 10.0 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % points, both Three and O2 have lost some 2017-08 10.0 90 % 100 % 100 % 100 % ground compared to the previous year. 2017-09 10.0 100 % 100 % 83 % 100 % Connect Ra ng max. 1000 871 818 754 667 Percentages and points rounded to integer numbers. 2 For the calcula on of points and totals, the accurate, unrounded values were used. MOBILE BENCHMARK Of the four mobile networks competing in the UK, EE and O2 are the largest players in terms of subscribers, followed closely by Vodafone, with the smaller Three attacking with agressive tariffs. The UK operators With approximately 30 mil- Vodafone UK is part of the lion customers, EE (formerly Vodafone Group which is also Everything Everywhere) is headquartered in the UK. the biggest mobile network The Vodafone Group owns operator in the UK. Since and operates networks in 21 January 2016, EE has been countries. Vodafone UK laun- part of the British Telecom ched 4G/LTE in 2013. With Group. EE started offering a around 18 million sub scri bers, 4G service in October 2012. O2 claims to be the second Vodafone is the third largest Three UK is a subsidiary of The operator claims that its largest mobile network ope- mobile network in the UK Hutchison Whampoa and 4G coverage today reaches rator in the UK with approxi- after EE and O2. In June 2012, launched its mobile service about 99 per cent of the UK mately 25 million customers. Vodafone and O2 signed a in the UK in 2003. As a rela- population. The geographic Formerly a subsidiary of deal to “pool” their network tively young operator Three 4G coverage currently is British Telecom, O2 plc was technologies, creating a sin- started as a 3G-only network approximately 85 per cent, purchased by the Spanish gle national grid of 18,500 supplemented by 2G via na- with an ambition to hit 95 telecommunications com- transmitter sites. Both net- tional roaming. In December per cent by 2020. EE ope- pany Telefónica in 2006. works how ever announced 2013, Three began to roll rates its 4G network at 800 Today, the company also they would continue to use out its 4G/LTE service and MHz, 1800 MHz and 2600 owns half of the mobile virtual their own independent spec- expanded it rapidly all over MHz. Additionally, it operates network operator Tesco Mo- trum. Vodafone currently the UK. With about 9.2 mil- 2G at 1800 MHz and 3G at bile which operates on the operates 4G/LTE at 800 and lion customers Three is the 2100 MHz which also reach O2 network in the UK. O2 2600 MHz and has started to smallest mobile network a population coverage in the started providing its 4G ser- refarm also some of its 3G operator in the UK but claims 98 to 99 per cent range. vice in August 2013 and has spectrum at 2100 MHz to 4G. to carry over 40% of the EE operates a growing expanded this service across Additionally, Vodafone offers nation‘s data traffic. Offering number of “LTE Advanced” the UK since. In September 2G at 900 and 1800 MHz plus the cheapest price for 4G network cells that support 2017, O2 claimed to cover 3G at 900 and 2100 MHz. and unlimited data plans Category 9 (Cat 9) and thus over 97 per cent of the UK With “Carrier Aggregation”, (excluding tethering) may faster speeds of up to 450 population with its 4G service, Vodafone is upgrading its 4G well support this claim. Mbps. Also, EE offers Voice striving to meet a regulatory network to “4G+”, currently In addition to 1800 MHz, over LTE (VoLTE) in parts of requirement of covering 98 offering up to 450 Mbps – Three offers 4G also at 800 its 4G network. All plans come per cent of the indoor popu- as well as Voice over LTE MHz as well as 3G on 2100 with 4G at no extra cost. lation by the end of 2017. (VoLTE) telephony. MHz. The company currently O2 operates its 4G net- claims to cover 98 per cent of work mainly on 800 MHz the UK‘s population with 3G with limited additional 1800 and about 91 per cent of the MHz coverage in London. poplulation with 4G. Ultima- Additionally, O2 provides 2G tely, Three is aiming at 98 on 900 and 1800 MHz and per cent UK population co- 3G on 900 and 2100 MHz. verage with its 4G network. Like the other UK operators, Three has also started to O2 has started to roll out deploy Voice over LTE Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in (VoLTE) in parts of its parts of its 4G network. growing 4G network. 3 MOBILE BENCHMARK A close look at the UK DATA VOICE networksAll UK operators are working hard to expand their LTE networks’ 58.2 % 38.8 % coverage and performance. Recently, they also introduced VoLTE. How will these investments affect the results of our network test? Web Page Download Call Setup Time P3 communications GmbH, based hours in 65 countries across five Success Rao in Aachen, Germany, is a world continents, with its test vehicles Call Success Rao leader in mobile network testing. covering more than 620,000 Youtube Quality It is part of the P3 group, with miles. As the de-facto industry over 3,000 employees world wide standard, the P3 benchmarking File Up- and Download Speech Quality and a turnover of more than methodology focuses on custo- €300 million.