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OpenSignal survey reveals best and worst 3G and 4G networks; reveals fall in 4G speed |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Jul 2002
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OpenSignal survey reveals best and worst 3G and 4G networks; reveals fall in 4G speed
A rival to RootMetrics has today released crowd sourced data captured on its app, which reveals the best and worst 3G and 4G networks, as well as showing that 4G speeds are already falling - by nearly 50% since the company started recording 4G data speeds.
It has also shown that despite poor 3G coverage, and 4G coverage that lacks far behind EE, it has still been able to come top with the highest average speeds. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Three came last on both 4G coverage and average speed. Here's my summary of the data, which can also be viewed and analysed in more detail on the OpenSignal website. http://jmcomms.com/2014/11/05/opensi...rks-in-the-uk/ |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Homerton, London, E9
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Very interesting read, thank you Jon.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Woore, Cheshire/Shropshire
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Interesting results, was surprised how tight the average 3G speeds were between 3 of the operators and the percentage of no signal.. No surprise on threes 4g speeds due to the way they are rolling it out but I expected the average 3G speed to be higher, this could be a result of the strange 'hugh grant' style of roll out where they are putting 4g in congested areas but often not at the actual mast which is congested but instead at a mast which covers a wide area at low power, with phones set to switch to a very weak 4g signal over all but a very strong 3G signal it pulls in loads of users from a wide area, impacting on the 4g speed yet leaving the users in the immediate vicinity of the non upgraded 3G mast, largely still congested..
But we're very much in the middle of changing times and a work in progress with all the networks and I think 2015 will be an exciting time for all (if your an anorak anyhow) and nows not a time to start a 24month contract unless a network is already providing what you need.. |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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thanks for posting this. I'm probably moving to EE from Tesco and I'm expecting an improvement.
Interesting on voda as I went to Tesco from them due to terrible 3G signal in my area. (London). |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Portsmouth
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I'm never sure how Three beats EE for 3G coverage,,,, when they share their coverage AND EE have those old Orange 3G masts that Three can't use yet.
Actually, looking at the statistic, it's because Three users spent more time connected to a 3G or 4G network. Three sims set the phone to WCDMA-Preferred (to use the Android terminology, meaning cling onto 3G even when its so weak its barely usable for voice calls) so will not hang around on 2G, like EE phones do (GSM auto mode). So that's probably affecting some of it. |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Key to this is Opensource. I still trust Rootmetrics own tests over anyone else just now. For example the EE4G accounts were they ordinary speed or double speed.. just one example of how results are not accurate.
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#7 |
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Quote:
Key to this is Opensource. I still trust Rootmetrics own tests over anyone else just now. For example the EE4G accounts were they ordinary speed or double speed.. just one example of how results are not accurate.
That its the problem with end user contributed data, you may have people on 2GB or less allowances, and they max out at 30mbps, whereas someone on a 5GB or more tarrif can get 70 or 80mbps in exactly the same location. EE's price plans are complex, but this data set is essentially useless for 4G testing without that being taken into account. |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Jul 2002
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That is a valid point and one to ask OpenSignal. It is possible some users were on a speed capped 4G service.
I should go and amend my post to mention that! |
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#9 |
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Quote:
That is a valid point and one to ask OpenSignal. It is possible some users were on a speed capped 4G service.
I should go and amend my post to mention that! That was why I was very sceptical. Surely if OpenSignal are just getting anonymous data from the end user, this will be a problem in their methodology. They will need staff members with known EE accounts to do double checks ? |
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#10 |
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Perhaps a solution is to have the app ask what tariff you're on?
I can't imagine that you could ask people to say if they are on a single speed or double speed tariff, but the app could work it out. |
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#11 |
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Quote:
Perhaps a solution is to have the app ask what tariff you're on?
I can't imagine that you could ask people to say if they are on a single speed or double speed tariff, but the app could work it out. I guess with 4G+ and 4.5G now from Voda & EE - and with compatible (Cat6) handsets, this will get more and more complex. |
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#12 |
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I suppose the app could see how it was connected, as the phone would know, but it's a case of whether that information can be obtained by an app.
Ideally, knowing if you're using 3G, HSPA, DC-HSPA, cat 3, cat 4,cat 6 LTE etc will all give valuable additional data to OpenSignal. After all, in the years to come, people will want to know if they're getting the fastest 4G service from the Base station than just 4G. |
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#13 |
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Surprised too that EE came so high in network uptime.
I would have expected them to be near last with all these upgrades going on. No surprise Vodafone's 4G was the fastest is it. Thier 3G is so crap it's not using up any network bandwidth. Down Plymouth with my Cousin and the kids watching the fireworks last night. She has 5s on Vodaphone, had a full 3G signal and she gave up trying to get a website up (to find somewhere to eat) as it was worse than dial-up. There were squillions of people there so it was always going to be slower but not that slow surely? I had full 4G and 3G signal on EE. 3.5Mbps on 3G (expected (but good) considering the crowd). 34.6Mbps on 4G!! |
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#14 |
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The one issue with the test is that VF users might get fast data, but it's likely that there are far fewer 4G users on the network and they can get 4G in far fewer locations.
Of course the survey does show the coverage, but not everyone will look at that. |
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#15 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Quote:
Surprised too that EE came so high in network uptime.
I would have expected them to be near last with all these upgrades going on. No surprise Vodafone's 4G was the fastest is it. Thier 3G is so crap it's not using up any network bandwidth. Down Plymouth with my Cousin and the kids watching the fireworks last night. She has 5s on Vodaphone, had a full 3G signal and she gave up trying to get a website up (to find somewhere to eat) as it was worse than dial-up. There were squillions of people there so it was always going to be slower but not that slow surely? I had full 4G and 3G signal on EE. 3.5Mbps on 3G (expected (but good) considering the crowd). 34.6Mbps on 4G!! |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Oct 2003
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Also, NetRadar also claims Three are the fastest in the UK.
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...er-europe.html I do wonder if they tested it with a smaller packet of data. That speed would obviously be boosted by low latency. Compared to the EU we are actually slow both ways, according to this comment. "We don’t even get better Average Latency to make up for the poor throughput, infact we are 5 more places down the list on Average Latency which for mobile is arguably more important than high throughput." |
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#17 |
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Seems Ofcom does the paying for OpenSignal stuff.
So maybe its more to do with Ofcom rather than that 'Open' name as to why the data is consumer balanced. http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2014/3g-4g-bb-speeds/ |
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#18 |
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Location: Oxford, UK
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Looks a good app, shows you where your mast is
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#19 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Scotland
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App isn't very accurate, in location or speed.
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#20 |
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It adds the delay to the figures rather than ignoring any latency delay before you finally get your data
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#21 |
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Join Date: Mar 2009
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Quote:
Seems Ofcom does the paying for OpenSignal stuff.
So maybe its more to do with Ofcom rather than that 'Open' name as to why the data is consumer balanced. http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2014/3g-4g-bb-speeds/ http://opensignal.com/about.php Our pledge In return for users submitting their signal strength data, we pledge to generate a coverage map and make it available for anyone around the world to view, for free, at any time! We also have an API you can use to analyze the data in your own applications. |
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#22 |
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Join Date: Jan 2010
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How do OpenSignal know where the masts are? A lot seem to be complete fantasy looking around my area.
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