GWS Name Virgin Media O2 Best Combined Mobile and WiFi Provider

Global Wireless Solutions has today published the results of a confusing new study that measured the network performance of operators that have combined their mobile and broadband ISP businesses. Overall, the study found that the fastest download speeds by a combined provider were seen by Virgin Media O2 (138Mbps average).

The data for this unusual study was collected by GWS’ opt-in consumer panel of 5,200 participants (18+) from around the UK. From this nationally representative sample of people, GWS then conducted a series of tests in the background, measuring and analysing network reliability and performance. A total of over 143,000 speed and reliability tests were run during a 6-month period (October 2022 through April 2023).

The tests were run at random times, seven days a week, and looked at reliability and performance across uploads, downloads, and video streaming on both the mobile network and “WiFi“. Only combined connectivity tests were included, meaning that only tests from a mobile network and that operator’s broadband partner were factored into reliability/performance scoring.

Overall, O2 and Virgin Media (VMO2) came out on top, although we only get the most basic of scoring and precious little in the way of other useful details.

Over the six months tested, the fastest download speeds by a combined provider were seen by VMO2 at 138Mbps (average), followed by BT/EE on 64Mbps. With average download speeds across all major combined providers currently sitting at 82Mbps, VMO2 was found to be the only combined provider to offer above average speeds.

When looking at uploads, VMO2 was found to lead the way at 26Mbps, followed by BT/EE at 21Mbps, then Sky Broadband / Sky Mobile (17Mbps), Vodafone (16Mbps), and Three UK (15Mbps) trailing much further behind.

Elsewhere, when watching videos, VMO2 also tied with Sky/Sky Mobile for the highest combined resolution and lowest buffering times. As for reliability, GWS measured whether or not simulated tasks were completed or not, and found over 96% success rate across all providers (operator and ISP) tested.

Closing Thoughts

Personally speaking, we would much rather get the separate results for each side of the network / service, not least because by combining this data the study ends up masking which aspects are causing the biggest drag on performance (e.g. O2’s mobile data speeds usually come bottom in other studies – here and here).

One other issue is that the study appeared to include Three UK, which is despite the fact that they’re a mobile-only operator (including them confuses the picture). Equally, it’s worth mentioning that the only fully converged and merged operators in the table are BT/EE and Virgin Media/O2.

Speaking of which, there’s a lack of clarity around how the “WiFi” side of broadband connections were tested. The use of WiFi terminology suggests the testing was conducted over a local wireless network, which leaves connections open to all sorts of performance issues due to the highly variable nature of wireless signals in different environments and at different distances. It’s often far better to test over a wired link.

Overall, without showing the full results from both sides of the network, this study is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and loses its relevance when mobile-only providers are included.