RootMetrics Awards EE as the BEST UK Mobile Operator in H1 2026 Study
Mobile benchmarking firm RootMetrics (Ookla) has this morning published their H1 2026 study of UK mobile networks (calls, texts etc.) and mobile broadband (4G, 5G) speeds. The results once again name EE as the best mobile operator after they scooped up the highest scores and fastest data speeds across most categories.
Like last year this study is based on the results of over 609,000 tests, conducted by a team of testers using off-the-shelf Smartphones between January to June 2026 (drive and walk tests), to measure the real-world performance of mobile operators in the United Kingdom. But it should be said that this study is focused on the results from 16 of the UK’s largest metropolitan markets, which means that it isn’t very useful at reflecting the balance from slower rural connectivity.
The results shown below are typically split into several categories (network reliability, speed, data, call and text quality etc.) and each is assigned a score out of 100 (higher numbers = better). In terms of the UK-wide results, EE came top or shared the top spot in every single category, with Three UK being the runner-up. By comparison, O2 echoed their results in other surveys by sitting at the bottom of almost all the categories. One caveat here is that, since the merger, Three UK and Vodafone have increasingly aligned their networks and it is thus becoming harder to treat them as separate operators.
Advertisement
In terms of the overall results, every single mobile operator managed to improve their scores over the previous biannual study in H1 2025, with the biggest improvements once again being recorded by Three UK and O2. Otherwise, EE delivered the fastest median mobile broadband download speed of 130.3Mbps (up from 110.8Mbps last year), followed by O2 on 54.7Mbps (up from 36.2Mbps), Vodafone on 54Mbps (up from 48.4Mbps) and Three UK on 48.1Mbps (up from 45.7Mbps).
Overall Scores for H1 2026 (vs H1 2025)
1. EE – 95.6 (up from 93.2)
2. Vodafone – 88.4 (up from 85.8)
3. Three UK – 89.5 (up from 84.2)
4. O2 – 84.1 (up from 80.1)
Finally, in terms of 5G specific mobile broadband speeds, EE delivered average median download speeds of 230.8Mbps (down from 241.2Mbps), followed by Vodafone on 174.4Mbps (up from 163.8Mbps), Three UK on 158.9Mbps (down from 217.3Mbps) and then O2 on 117.3Mbps (up from 98.7Mbps).
The availability of 5G networks also continued to improve – EE led with 5G availability of 80%, followed closely by O2 at 78.0%. Three UK and Vodafone recorded similar results at 62.6% and 62.3%, respectively. Compared to 2H 2025, EE and O2 each improved their UK-wide 5G availability, while Three UK and Vodafone remained relatively stable.
Advertisement
However, the RootMetrics’ report only provides bits and pieces of selected information, while we would have preferred to see a bit more detail (e.g. upload performance and latency). As above, the data is also dominated by an urban focus, which gives little weighting for poorer performance in rural areas. But that is often the caveat with this type of scientific, albeit very manual, testing – there’s simply not enough data to give a complete picture of the UK.
RootMetrics UK Mobile Performance Review H1 2026
https://www.ookla.com/../rootmetrics-uk-state-of-mobile-union-1h-2026
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.
I would be interested to know if testing is done using SA options like 5g+ for EE, would be good to see how standard 5g, 5g+ and mvno on each network actually compare.
Oh good grief.
Really need more mobile network in this country, oh I forgot, we have even less now.
BT/EE trying to bill me for£999.05 and £47.27 for ending a service i never asked for
Account number ————–
my tv and Internet at home was with BT residential until November 2025,i thought it was with EE
I also had a wifi dongle for my cafe i undertood was with EE
I asked mid 2025 to have invoices available with VAT on them for the wifi dongle in my cafe ,the people in the EE/BT shop said they can do this but will take a few months
I could never really get an invoice with VAT on it
In July 2026 a woman from EE or BT not sure which said they could upgrade my cafes wifi ,move my home tv and Internet to a business account and i would have a new wifi unit tomorrow as i was now out of an agreement
I heard nothing so phoned a week later. I was told they couldn’t send a new wifi unit because i already have one,so the EE or BT guide said i have a work around, he can move my cafes wifi to my home account and move my home tv/Internet to my business account and send me a temporary sim card for the cafes dongle which i would have to cancel within 14 days which i did so they could send me a new wifi unit which i never got
then i found my tv at home had been disconnected
i was told it couldn’t be reconnected and they would have to order me a new package AND THEY WILL CANCEL THE OLD PACKAGE ,which meant it looks like i have only been with them for from July 2026.What they did was move me from BT Business to EE Residential which was the start of these nasty threatening letters. I NEVER asked them to move it all from BT Business To EE Residential , they did this on their own accord
I received a bag to send back the old router and wifi which i did and received a new set of equipment which i connected up so i could watch TV and use the Internet
Because of this ,i moved my cafes wifi to Vodafone as it was out of agreement
I received a letter from BT saying sorry you’re leaving ,which i didn’t understand
why i received this letter
I then started to get thratening letters from BT demanding payment for ending my services
I phoned and spent hrs on the phone between EE and BT and eventually after a couple of months they said its all sorted and i wont receive any more letters
then i get another letter from BT today dated 29th September threatening me again and saying they will take legal action and i will have to pay the legal costs
I phoned BT again and said they will look into it. I phoned EE again who tried to blame me because i agreed to move my services ,i never never agreed to a £999.05 penalty
I told them again, IT WAS EE THAT PHONED ME ABOUT UPGRADING MY CAFES WIFI NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
This is BT and EEs fault
The guide said BT and EE are one company so where have i moved from and too??
The guide said my services were moved from BT to EE so they are two separate companies when it suits them
Before BT or EE respond to this with your standard blurb about phoning you up and one of your guides will help, thank you think again
I will fight you ,i will not pay for YOUR MESS
Fix it
You are not customer focused at all
I have my phone records showing yiu contacted me first
STAY AWAY FROM BT AND EE
I am 59 years old and this nonsense is affecting my health