EE v Vodafone vThree v O2 – best and worst UK network (Image: GETTY)
The results are in and there is one clear winner when it comes to using your smartphone. All the big four networks, including EE, Vodafone, Virgin Media O2, and Three, gave their best in the latest tests from the team at RootMetrics and if you want the fastest downloads, EE comes out on top.
The network scored an average UK-wide speed of 58.8 Mbps, which is more than twice as fast as any of its rivals. Vodafone was second in the speed class with average downloads of 25.2 Mbps, followed by Three (19.1 Mbps) and the newly formed Virgin Media O2 (15.6 Mbps).
And it’s not just speed with which EE performed well, with the operator also winning in reliability, data, calls and texts. “EE continued to be the operator to beat in our UK-wide testing, winning or sharing six of seven UK RootScore Awards,” RootMetrics confirmed in its report.
Before you get too disappointed if you don’t use EE, there was some good news for the other UK suppliers too. Vodafone has had another excellent year with the company second in key areas such as reliability, calling and texting.
In fact, Vodafone showed a remarkable improvement in the first half of 2021, with three UK RootScore Awards, a marked increase from last year.
READ MORE: Sky Q will upgrade YOUR picture quality today at no extra cost
The latest RootMetrics scores are in (Image: RootMetrics)
There was also good news for Virgin Media O2: the company won its first-ever RootScore Award with huge improvements in accessibility.
The operator also improved its ranking from fourth in 2020 to third in 2021 for overall performance, network reliability and call performance.
Unfortunately, the news isn’t so good for Three users, as the company isn’t improving from last year. RootMetrics says Three’s rankings remain nearly identical to 2020’s, with text performance actually dropping since last year.
These are RootMetrics’ overall performance scores.
EE • 95.2
VODAFONE • 92.3
VIRGIN MEDIA O2 • 87.6
THREE • 87.5
Good news for all consumers is that the 5G upgrade is improving in the UK and all networks are contributing to it. RootMetrics says speeds and availability have improved in the UK, with all the big four showing impressive growth.
5G is able to offer much faster downloads and allow more people to connect at the same time, making it much more reliable.
Patrick Linder, Chief Marketing Officer at RootMetrics by IHS Markit, said of the results: “End users will be pleased to see all four major operators improve their performance, especially when it comes to 5G availability and speed. 5G continues to grow and all four major operators providing users with daily 5G median download speeds in excess of 100 Mbps in nearly every city we tested are clearly making good strides in terms of delivering the key combination of both widespread availability and fast speeds. .
“While EE clearly excelled in the first half of the year, the improvements we saw from the other operators should not be overlooked. As the competitive landscape becomes more intense and equal over time, end users should continue to benefit from better mobile performance.”
Check all Technology News here: Gaming Ideology
