SIRODA, a network measurement specialist, has compared the data / Internet speeds of all five UK mobile operators ( T-Mobile , Orange , O2 , Three (3) , Vodafone ) over a 60 day period and across 150 UK locations. The test measured mobile data connection speed at peak periods throughout the day and concluded that O2 was the best.


The tests show that in January 2010, O2 offered the fastest average web page access experience in London at 1.7 seconds. It claims that this figure is over 30% quicker than the slowest operator, though no further details are given. Outside London, the right to claim the fastest web access speed was shared between all five operators.

For downloading a music track, O2 was shown to be the fastest operator on average in the UK. It achieved the fastest music download rate in 12 out of 20 UK key cities and was second place in a further four more.

Number of UK cities where each operator came top for music download speed
1. O2 (Cities: 12)
2. Orange (Cities: 0)
3. Three (Cities: 1)
4. Vodafone (Cities: 5)
5. T-Mobile (Cities: 2)

Cities covered included London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield. However it should be noted that the survey methodology was commissioned by O2 itself and no actual data speeds are revealed in the press release. Other "independent" surveys conducted by YouGov and P3 have been known to highlight very different results.