October 14th 2021

EE consistently offered the best mobile experience to its customers, according to Tutela’s new 2021 State of Mobile Experience for the UK. The report found that the operator offered its users the highest Excellent Consistent Quality in the country at 73.0%. EE also achieved the highest Core Consistent Quality, the greatest relative coverage score on both 4G/5G and total coverage, and the greatest relative coverage on just 5G. 

Meanwhile, 3 performed best for both Excellent and Core Consistent Quality on a 5G network and had the second highest Excellent Consistent Quality in Common Coverage Areas across the UK as well as a 5G coverage score of 69 out of 100. 

In order to benchmark mobile experience in the UK over the last six months, Tutela has evaluated over 3 million speed and latency tests, conducted on the smartphones of real-world users of national mobile operators within Common Coverage Areas, between March and August 2021.

Key findings:

• EE continues to lead performance and coverage overall
  EE dominated in a majority of the metrics tested, with its mobile users experiencing the highest Excellent Consistent Quality in Common Coverage Areas across the UK at 73.0%. The operator also had the highest Core Consistent Quality, the greatest relative coverage score on both 4G/5G and total coverage, and the greatest relative coverage while looking solely at 5G. 
• EE also performs best for video streaming but drops behind on 5G performance
  In Tutela’s newest metrics that highlights 5G stand-alone and Video Experience, EE had the highest Video Experience Score at 3.97, however the operator had the lowest 5G Excellent and Core Consistent Quality.
• 3 performs best for 5G Consistent Quality
  3 took the lead for both the highest 5G Excellent and Core Consistent Quality at 85.9% and 92.9%, respectively. The operator was also a strong contender to EE for overall Excellent Consistent Quality and 5G coverage, placing second at 67.8%  Excellent Consistent Quality and second place for a 5G coverage score of 69 out 100.    
• O2 delivers a consistent performance for 5G and Video, narrowly missing out on the top spot
  O2 also proved itself a worthy competitor in some metrics, with the operator taking second place for both 5G Excellent and Core Consistent Quality at 80.6% and 90.5% respectively, and second place with a Video Experience Score of 3.79.

Tom Luke, VP at Tutela, said: “As 5G continues to be gradually adopted by more mobile users across the UK, the big four operators continue to impress us with their results. New metrics have been added to this report to better understand the overall mobile experience and video experience users are having in the UK, as well as what impact 5G is having, and it is pleasing to see strong contenders emerging such as 3 with its high 5G Excellent Consistent Quality and EE with its high Video Experience score. During what has been a challenging year, a strong and reliable mobile connection is a must, and leading into 2022 operators must continue expanding 5G coverage and improving infrastructure to ensure subscribers are feeling the full impact.”

The full report is available here.