United Kingdom Mobile Quality Report

Introduction

The mobile market in the United Kingdom is comprised of several operators, although O2, EE, THREE and Vodafone dominate the market with close to 90% of market share. Thus, the network situation for these MNOs acts as a trustworthy barometer of the network situation in the country. A good knowledge of the network situation also allows the customers to perform fully informed decisions. The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the network situation in the United Kingdom for these four carriers.

This report provides a quick overview of the network situation based on the following KPIs:

• Disconnection time: time that the users of an MNO have had only emergency coverage or no coverage daily in average, in minutes.
• 4G and 5G time: time that the users of an MNO have had 4G and, if deployed, 5G coverage (including 5G NSA and 5G SA).
• 5G penetration and usage: percentage of users that have 5G connectivity and the percentage of time that 5G is actually used.
• Network status in the Common Coverage Area: an analysis of the network status, based on the signal strength and the signal quality, for the areas where all four MNOs provide coverage.
• Call technology usage: percentage of use of each call technology by MNO. This shows which technologies are mainly used by the customers.
• Mobile network latency: percentage of customers on different latency ranks. The ranks are selected according to several performance thresholds.

Summary

The data collected by Weplan Analytics shows that, in general, the four main mobile network operators (MNOs) have a good network situation in the United Kingdom, with very similar performance among them. However, there are some notable differences.

Regarding connectivity, the four MNOs have low disconnection times, with EE and THREE users having around 10 daily minutes of disconnection and O2 and Vodafone users having around 12 daily minutes of disconnection. In addition, all four operators offer 4G or 5G coverage more than 88% of the time, although EE stands out from the rest of the operators by offering 4G/5G coverage 96% of the time.

In terms of 5G penetration and usage, the operator with the most clients that use 5G is THREE (21%), while EE, Vodafone, and O2 have 18%, 12%, and 11% of 5G customers, respectively. Regarding 5G coverage time for the 5G clients, EE offers 5G coverage 52% of the time. THREE and O2, on the other hand, offer 5G coverage 42% and 41% of the time respectively, and finally, Vodafone only offers it 27% of the time.

Regarding the mobile network situation, it is noteworthy that the four UK operators offer good coverage. Regarding areas of Good or Very good network, EE leads the list with 36%, followed by Vodafone with 33%, O2 with 28%, and THREE with 26% of the area being Good or better.

Regarding the distribution of call types made in the UK, the situation is slightly different for each operator. VoLTE technology is the most used by EE, THREE and Vodafone customers, with EE customers being the ones who use this technology the most (70% of the calls). The second most used technology by the clients of these 3 operators is VoWifi (24% of the calls). On the other hand, O2 customers use VoLTE only 31% of the time, with 3G CSFB being the most used call technology (37% of the calls).

Finally, in terms of latency, the four MNOs present a slightly different latency situation, as EE has 85% of measurements with good latency, while Vodafone, O2 and THREE have 82%, 80% and 67% of measurements with good latency, respectively.

The main key figures are as follows:

• The main operators in the UK (EE, O2, THREE and Vodafone) offer 4G and 5G coverage at least 88% of the time.
• On average, 15% of all customers of all analyzed operators are 5G customers (i.e., customers with a compatible device), with THREE being the MNO with the most 5G customers (21%).
• EE is the MNO that offers most 5G coverage time to its 5G customers, doing so 52% of the time. Vodafone offers the least, providing 5G coverage 27% of its coverage time.
• On average, 78% of all carriers' measurements have a good enough latency for a decent experience across all possible usage types.

Methodology

In the following pages an in-depth description of each analyzed KPI can be found, including the methodology and rationale behind them. At a more general level, the following paragraph describes the data collection methodology.

At a more general level, Weplan Analytics collects crowdsourced data from more than 200 million devices in 31 countries. For this analysis, 1,278 million measurements collected between February 2023 and April 2023 were used.

The following map shows the density of measurements taken throughout the country by Weplan Analytics.

The most relevant insights can be found in the Summary section above. A detailed account of each one comprises the rest of the report below.

As the three aforementioned MNOs serve their networks to other parties (such as VMNOs, due to roaming agreements or as part of emergency coverage) the MNOs have been filtered by the network provider reported in the SIM card.

More details about the methodology can be found here.

Connectivity

Connectivity: Daily disconnection time

The following graphic shows the disconnection time as the average number of minutes that each customer of each MNO experiences disconnections throughout the day. Disconnection time includes moments when a customer has no coverage at all (for example in underground parkings, inside elevators, so far away from a site that connection is not possible...) or moments when a customer only has emergency coverage, that is, the ability to perform only emergency calls. This disconnected time may (and, in most cases, will) be discontinuous, and is the average of the daily disconnection time for all users.

Regarding the disconnection time, the situation is very similar among the four MNOs. EE and THREE have the best result, with only 10 daily minutes of disconnection. Its competitors have a very similar result: O2 and Vodafone are statistically tied at around 12 daily minutes of disconnection time.

Connectivity: 4G and 5G time

With the advent of the newer 5G technology older technologies such as 2G and 3G are being turned off to free frequencies. Thus, guaranteeing at least a proper 4G coverage is one of the main goals of MNOs, and for those who already have 4G sorted out, the focus turns to 5G.

Regarding the 4G and 5G connectivity in the UK, EE stands out from the rest of the operators by offering 96% of the time 4G/5G coverage. Three, in second place, offers 91% of the time 4G/5G coverage. Vodafone and O2 provide 89% and 88% 4G/5G coverage respectively.

5G penetration and usage

The implementation of 5G in the UK by EE began in May 2019. Vodafone, on the other hand, started offering commercial 5G services in July 2019, and THREE launched its 5G service in August 2019. Finally, O2 launched its 5G network in October 2019.

The ability of a customer to use the 5G network depends on several factors. First, their device must be 5G compatible. Second, the MNO must have a 5G network. Finally, the client must contract a mobile plan that allows the 5G to be used, as not all MNOs offer full access to the 5G network as part of the regular plans.

The following charts show the percentage of users by MNO that have 5G access and, for those who do, the percentage of time that they are under 5G coverage. To establish whether a user is a 5G client or not, their 5G connectivity has been checked: if they have connected to the 5G network at least once, they are considered 5G clients.

In the UK, all carriers offer 5G. The operator with the most 5G clients is THREE, which has 21% of this type of clients, followed by EE with 18%, Vodafone with 12% and O2, being the operator with the fewest 5G clients, with only 11%.

Regarding 5G coverage time for 5G clients, there are some differences between operators: EE is in first place, providing 5G coverage 52% of the time, followed by THREE and O2 that provides 42% and 41% of 5G coverage time respectively, while Vodafone only does so 27% of the time.

4G and 5G network status

There are two main network performance indicators: signal strength and signal quality. Each technology has its own measurements, but five great categories can be established:

• Very Good: the performance for all network usages will be excellent.
• Good: the performance for all network usages may present occasional difficulties but is overall good.
• Fair: most network-dependent usages (such as calls or data usage) will have a decent or better performance.
• Degraded: network usage will be unstable and unreliable but allows for basic usage such as calls with acceptable quality and very slow data transfer.
• Very Degraded: network usage different from emergency calls is nearly impossible.

There are two ways to establish this value: looking at the percentage of area and looking at the percentage of measurements on each category. Most measurements take place in urban areas, where coverage is better, but in most countries most of the area is not urban, so the percentage of area with a problematic network situation may be different to the percentage of measurements with a problematic network situation.

To ensure a fair comparison between carriers only areas where all MNOs have data have been analyzed. Also, as most connections are made in 4G and 5G, only those technologies have been considered. The frequencies used, the total bandwidth per band, the number of clients and the assigned band for each MNO are very influential factors in these results.

The overall network situation in the common coverage area of the analyzed operators in the UK, area-wise, is good. EE presents the best result with 82% of the area with fair or better coverage, followed closely by Vodafone with 79% and O2 with 75% of the area with fair or better coverage. In last place is THREE, with 67% of the area rated as at least fair.

Regarding areas with good or very good network coverage, the situation is similar. EE tops the list with 36% of the area classified as such, followed by Vodafone with 33%, O2 with 28%, and THREE with 26%.

Measurement-wise the general network situation is similar. EE is the operator with the best result, with 74% of measurements being fair or better. It is followed by Vodafone and O2 with 72% and 68% of measurements being fair or better respectively. In fourth place is THREE with just 61% of measurements being fair or better.

If we focus on Good and Very good measurements, the same order applies with EE at 41%, followed by Vodafone at 38%, O2 at 32% and then THREE at 29%.

Call type percentage

Although 2G and 3G are capable of data usage, the advent of 4G and more recently 5G technologies have relegated them to mostly call usage. The absence of 4G-based call technology ensured that 2G and 3G, as the only way to make a phone call, were still relevant. The development of VoLTE (Voice over LTE) calls during the 2010s marked the beginning of the end for these legacy technologies.

However, not all customers can benefit from VoLTE calls. For a customer to use this technology several conditions must be met:

1. Their MNO must provide 4G and VoLTE.
2. They must have a phone capable of performing VoLTE calls.
3. They must have a phone rate that includes VoLTE calls.
4. Their phone must be homologated by the MNO and the manufacturer to perform VoLTE calls.

The fourth condition means that a customer, without changing their phone, can have VoLTE with one MNO but lack it with a different MNO. When a customer connected to 4G without VoLTE capabilities (for any reason) tries to perform a call, a hand-off process to the 2G or 3G network takes place. This process, depending on the method applied, is called CSFB (the most common one) or SRVCC. Aside from those technologies, VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) is also used when a Wi-Fi network is available.

In the United Kingdom, VoLTE technology is the most used by EE, THREE, and Vodafone customers, with EE customers using this technology the most, accounting for 70% of calls. As for THREE and Vodafone, their customers make 63% and 54% of their calls in VoLTE, respectively. The second most used technology by customers of these three operators is VoWiFi, using it around 24% of the time.

On the other hand, O2 customers use VoLTE only 31% of the time, with 3G, through a network transfer (CSFB), being the most used technology by its customers, making use of this technology 37% of the time. In addition, its customers use VoWiFi 22% of the time.

There is still a relevant percentage of Vodafone, O2, and THREE customers who use 3G, being 9% for O2 and, in a statistical tie, 7% for Vodafone and THREE.

It is important to mention that Vodafone, EE, and THREE have already announced that they will begin disconnecting their 3G network between December 2023 and January 2024. Meanwhile, O2 has not made public a 3G disconnection date, being the only operator in the United Kingdom that will offer 3G services starting from 2025.

Latency status

Latency is the measurement of how much time it takes for the information to be transmitted between the user and the network. A lower latency means a faster, smoother network experience, whereas a higher latency means that the network experience will not be as good, or even unusable. This makes latency a good indicator of user experience. We have divided latency in four great groups:

• Excellent latency translates to a very smooth user experience, even with the most data-intensive usage, such as gaming or 4K streaming.
• Good latency translates to a good user experience, although gaming may not be as fluid and 4K may present occasional problems.
• Degraded latency translates to a mediocre user experience. Gaming and 4K are either uncomfortable or impossible, videochat may present noticeable lag, messaging with multimedia may take a long time to load and loading a web may be slow.
• Bad latency translates to an essentially unusable network. Only the lightest usage, such as sending messages without multimedia works decently.

The four MNOs present a slightly different latency situation. EE leads this category with 85% of its measurements classified as at least good, followed by Vodafone and O2 with 82% and 80% respectively. In fourth place is THREE, with only 67% of its events classified as such.

Regarding the percentage of events with excellent latency, EE is a clear winner, with 53% of events having excellent latency. O2 and THREE follow, statistically tied, with 26% of events classified as such. Vodafone comes last with 23% of events with excellent latency.