nPerf Name EE as the UK Fastest Mobile Network in 2025 Benchmark
Internet connection benchmarking firm nPerf has this morning published the results from their annual 2025 crowdsourced study into UK mobile broadband (4G, 5G) performance, which sees EE being named as the country’s best and fastest operator for mobile data performance. But Three UK still holds the top spot for 5G-only performance.
The latest nPerf study is based on 91,281 tests carried out – between January and December 2024 – exclusively by end-customers of the various mobile network operators, using tools on both nPerf’s website and via their dedicated mobile testing apps for Android and iOS. The results are said to reflect “users in real conditions” from across the United Kingdom.
However, there are caveats to this sort of data, such as the fact that it could be impacted by any limitations of the devices being used, and it hampers the ability to adopt a common type of hardware in order to establish a solid baseline of performance. But those caveats are shared by all operators in the study.
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Overall, EE came top for mobile broadband upload speeds (16.03Mbps), web browsing performance, latency (36.14ms) and YouTube video streaming, which dethroned Three UK from the top spot of last year’s nPerf study. But Three UK remained the fastest for both overall download speeds (111.49Mbps) and also almost across the board for 5G-only connections. Sadly, O2 (Virgin Media) found themselves at the bottom of the study, again.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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That pretty much reflects my experience with mobile wireless when travelling around. The o2 service is virtually unusable unless stationary in a commercial area but the EE coverage is always there. I am also getting sub-30ms latencies on the EE 5G service.
This review does NOT reflect my experience at all. Maybe four years ago when I switched from O2 to EE… It was a pleasant change then, but EE’s quality has since declined while the pricing has skyrocketed during covid. I’ve recently switched from EE to Vodafone and for less I’m getting a lot more stable network access. Vodafone has clearly capitalized on the low band 5G which is needed more in the capital than in rural areas. However silly it sounds, it’s true because everything downtown has a meter-wide stone walls and EE’ 3GHz NR is just completely amiss.
Same for me. Wherever I go, O2 is unusable or just so slow it feels like 2003. EE and Three are both the fastest for me but they are still hit & miss as in one works in one area and not the other
Well said somedude. EE benchmarks never look at indoor coverage. I wonder why, because they’d be dead last. Unusable indoors or slow as hell.
O2 and Vodafone were designed for where people actually use their phones.
Can’t be using the benchmarks i uploaded.
Jesus Christ, look at the difference between 3rd and 4th place. That’s just embarrassing! Now I know why I’ve heard them called “Slow2” – That is PAINFULLY slow!
I’m glad I’m on O2, a network that actually works indoors. Your network sucks.
Load of utter rubbish. Use EE indoors and it will be band 20 which won’t work.
Great if you’re outside in the cold.
Never had a issue with EE signal or connectivity.
Pop down to rural Hampshire. EE doesn’t work. Band 20 or band 3 that doesn’t go indoors. Utterly hopeless. Vodafone and O2 are the best networks by a country mile where people use their phones.
Results show three faster, but EE wins.
ok
Three’s 5G is mostly based around their big slice of n78. Great for speeds, but it has a more limited range and not good for indoors.
You can see why a network that is more balanced with the frequencies they use will do better in practice. They won’t be the fastest network, but it will be more reliable.
Im on EE, signal has got worse and worse. There’s areas I used to have signal and now phone cuts out. They blamed my handset that was 3 years old so I bought a new one, exactly the same problem. 5g I’m sure is a myth, it’s displayed on my screen but unless it’s full bars it is like dial up. I do work running fibre to new cell towers, so money is being spent to upgrade, I just don’t understand how the UK phone network isn’t improving and is actually noticeably getting worse.