Top Fastest UK Mobile and Home Broadband ISPs for H1 2024

Next we’ll examine how some of the more established alternative networks (AltNets) – those building their own separate full fibre broadband networks – perform when compared with the main national players. Take note that Cityfibre doesn’t have a specific entry because they’re supplied via various ISPs (e.g. Vodafone, Zen, TalkTalk) and we can’t easily separate the data for them from other networks – the same is also true for a few of the other wholesale-only Altnets.

Otherwise, the following providers don’t suffer from the same performance woes as copper or hybrid fibre networks, thus we only focus our results on the top 10% (fastest) connections, which in most cases will reflect those consumers who take the fastest gigabit tier(s) available. The caveat is that these scores will still be heavily impacted by the same issues as mentioned earlier (slow Wi-Fi, local network congestion, take-up etc.).

The main changes this time around include the removal of Seethelight, BeFibre, Swish Fibre, Jurassic Fibre and Lila Connect due to a lack of test data (i.e. not enough samples for a credible result). In addition, Swish Fibre and Jurassic have been consolidated into a new wholesale network (All Points Fibre), which may make them difficult to re-add in the future; the same will also become true of Giganet in the near future.

Speaking on consolidation, in future reports we may also have to combine Brsk and YouFibre, now that Brsk has agreed to merge into Netomnia. But this agreement has only just been reached and thus doesn’t yet impact the results below. Finally, we’ve had enough data to add GoFibre into the table for the first time, and Truespeed also made a return.

Full Fibre Altnets by Avg. Download (H1 2024 vs H2 2023)

As before, it’s wise not to read too much into speed fluctuations above because the faster you go, the more obvious the caveats of web-based speed testing become. In addition, some provider’s, such as toob, only sell a 1Gbps package (i.e. the results aren’t impacted by users on slower tiers) or may have fewer customers (i.e. greater fluctuations in the data), which means true apples-to-apples comparisons are tricky to achieve.

We intend to keep expanding this table as AltNets grow, which will in turn result in more data, but most of these providers are clearly delivering excellent performance.

The Fastest Mobile Operators

Mobile performance remains a difficult network technology to study because end-users are always moving through different areas (indoor, outdoor and underground), using different devices with different capabilities and the surrounding environment is ever changeable (weather, trees, buildings etc.). All of this can impact signal quality and that’s before we consider any differences in network (backhaul) capacity or spectrum between locations.

Suffice to say that studies of mobile broadband speed are inherently open to variation, but the top networks often tend to be those with a combination of the best 4G or 5G coverage, a good amount of radio spectrum and the most advanced technologies.

Average Mobile Download Speeds – H1 2024 vs H2 2023

Average Mobile Upload Speeds – H1 2024 vs H2 2023

Overall, the average download speed of the four primary mobile operators was 55.57Mbps (up from 44.05Mbps in H2 2023) and the average upload speed hit 11.6Mbps (up from 10.65Mbps). Most of the operators delivered a strong improvement this time around, with Vodafone rocketing their download performance by over 76% and thus leapfrogging EE to take 2nd place.

By comparison, EE suffered an uncharacteristic fall in both download and upload performance (the only operator to suffer such a decline), although they still managed to hold on to the top spot for upload performance. Time will tell whether this is just a temporary anomaly or the start of a trend, but for now we suspect it may only be temporary.

We should point out that most existing 5G networks remain hobbled by issues of limited coverage and legacy 4G services, although the gradual introduction of Standalone 5G (SA) networks is starting to change that. In addition, Ofcom’s plan to auction off more 5G spectrum in the mmW bands – 26GHz and 40GHz – is another event to keep an eye on later this year, but it’s impacts may be primarily limited to urban areas.

Finally, the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK may be impacting their 5G roll-out plans (it’s not uncommon for big deployment plans to be put on a ‘go slow’ during such periods), which could change once the deal is either approved or rejected by regulators. Approval would, we’re told, mean a wider and generally more significant roll-out of 5G SA technology by the merged entity.

UPDATE 10:57am

We’ve added Truespeed into the altnet list after accidentally missing its inclusion in the latest data this morning.