Tutela Name Fastest UK Mobile Broadband Operators for Q4 2017

Mobile operators EE and Vodafone have top of Tutela Technologies latest crowd-sourced study of Mobile Network Operator (MNO) performance in the United Kingdom for Q4 2017, which focused heavily on 4G and 3G based Mobile Broadband speeds and latency etc.

The research, which is based on data gathered between 1st October and 31st December 2017 (Q4), works by collecting anonymous usage data from the background of 1,500+ supporting Android and iOS based Smartphone apps “without affecting the user experience“. As a result the new report is based on data processed from a total of 48,021,885 records (speed tests etc.), which was collected from around 9,905 unique devices per day.

Overall EE ranks top with the fastest speeds, while Vodafone took 2nd place, O2 came 3rd and Three UK was ranked bottom in 4th position. On the other hand it should be said that Vodafone still delivered the fastest speeds for older 3G connectivity and they also generally delivered the best 3G and 4G latency times (response time between servers), with only minimal packet loss and jitter.

The regional picture is also a bit different from the overall results. For example, O2 was foun to be fastest for 3G networks in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while Vodafone did best in England and Wales. However the picture changes for modern 4G networks, with EE being fastest everywhere except Northern Ireland where Vodafone came top.

The Tutela data is gathered from various Smartphone apps that are coded to conduct background tests on mobile networks, which is arguably a bit different from the dedicated app approach used by organisations like OpenSignal that tend to be better established and recognised.

Nevertheless it is useful to have another data set to play with, although it’s worth noting that all of these companies produce quite different results and that’s largely because mobile networks represent a highly variable environment (signals can be affected by the operator’s available spectrum bands, coverage etc.). Performance can also vary quite a bit because end-users all have different devices and are constantly in motion.

Consumers should also consider that some networks, such as Three UK, may suffer more strain on their data capacity (network congestion) because of affordable “all-you-can-eat” style data plans that mean subscribers on their service may be more data hungry than via other platforms. Suffice to say that speed testing may not always tell the whole story.