DACH - Consistent quality

Chapter 1 Key findings	Chapter 4 Latency
Chapter 2 Consistent quality	Chapter 5 Spectrum and technology usage
Chapter 3 Download and upload speeds	Chapter 6 Coverage

Historically, download speeds have been used as the standard for measuring mobile network performance. For years, the logic has gone like this: the faster the download throughput, the better the network experience for subscribers.

However, as networks (and how subscribers have used them) have evolved, the means used to evaluate them have changed. Adequate download speed is just one of several crucial requirements for a “good” connection, and an over-emphasis on download speeds that are well in excess of what’s required for almost all mobile applications has caused other network performance measurements to be overlooked.

To solve this problem, Tutela has developed a metric called consistent quality. It incorporates five network performance measurements: download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, and packet loss. Every time Tutela collects those measurements on a mobile connection, we compare them against two sets of thresholds, which were selected using the minimum performance requirements of popular mobile applications.

There are two sets of thresholds, excellent and basic. If all the network measurements meet or exceed the standards for excellent consistent quality, we conclude that the user can use services like Netflix, Skype, YouTube, or other real-time or streaming video applications (in 720p HD) with no noticeable problems or hiccups, since these will exceed the minimum network requirements set by these services. Connections that don’t meet the thresholds may still allow users to use those services, but without the same likelihood of a flawless experience.

The basic consistent quality thresholds follow a similar principle, but for less demanding use-cases. A connection that meets the basic consistent quality thresholds will be sufficient for things like web browsing, email, or a VOIP voice call on a service like WhatsApp or Viber. Tutela set these thresholds based on the network requirements set by the applications (where available). You can read more about how Tutela chose these thresholds and what they represent here.

In the reports, Tutela represents each operators’ consistent quality with a percentage score; this number represents what percentage of tested network connections met or exceeded the excellent or basic consistent quality thresholds. Every connection that meets the excellent consistent quality threshold also exceeds the requirements for basic consistent quality.

Across Switzerland, Austria and Germany

Swiss operators took first place for both excellent and basic consistent quality, although their advantage was most pronounced when it came to excellent quality. The difference in basic quality is minimal: the Swiss average was 98.3%, Austria was second on 97.8%, and Germany was third on 97.4%. With less than one percent separating first and last place, there’s little difference in basic consistent quality across the region.

For excellent quality however, the gap between Germany and other countries is more pronounced. Switzerland took first place with a small (but significant) lead over Austria, 82.9% compared to Austria’s 80.2%. However, the gap to Germany is much wider, with its excellent consistent quality of 72.9% putting it a ways behind the other countries.

Much of the difference is likely attributable to Germany’s greater reliance on 3G: the more demanding requirements of the excellent consistent quality thresholds make it difficult to achieve an excellent connection over 3G.

Switzerland

Although Switzerland leads the region in excellent consistent quality, there are differences in the quality of connection provided among the network operators. Sunrise took first place for excellent consistent quality, but just one percent separates Sunrise from second-place Swisscom.

Switzerland’s largest operator also beat out Sunrise for basic consistent quality, with a score of 98.6% compared to Sunrise’s 97.9%. Salt finished in last place for both excellent and basic consistent quality. The gap is minimal for basic consistent quality -- Salt is just 0.4% below Sunrise for basic consistent quality -- but over seven percent for excellent consistent quality.

In practice, the difference in consistent quality score should translate to a similar experience for customers of all three networks when it comes to web browsing, checking emails, or placing VOIP calls. For more demanding use-cases, the superior excellent consistent quality scores of Sunrise and Swisscom should translate to a noticeably better experience for subscribers.

Austria

3 narrowly won the crown for best excellent consistent quality within Austria, a particularly impressive result given that the network has the third-highest data usage (per SIM) of any operator in the world, and carries 43% of Austria’s mobile data traffic. All else being equal, high data usage tends to correlate to a diminished network performance, thanks to congestion, but 3 appears to be walking the line between efficient network utilization and overcrowding quite accurately.

A1 delivered the highest overall basic consistent quality, at 98.4% compared to 3’s 98.1% -- in part due to its larger network coverage compared to other Austrian operators.

In addition, A1 is only behind 3 on excellent consistent quality by 1.7%. Like 3, A1 also has a significant fixed wireless offering, so its strong showing in consistent quality demonstrates again that Austria’s mobile subscribers are not suffering as a result of fixed wireless deployment.

T-Mobile is in last place for excellent consistent quality, finishing almost five percent behind first-place 3. T-Mobile is in the middle of the pack for 3G vs 4G utilization, and performs well on latency; however, its last-place finishes for download and upload speed translate to a minor decrease in consistent quality compared to the other operators.

Germany

All three German operators are extremely close on consistent quality. Telekom has the edge in both excellent and basic consistent quality, with its 73.6% excellent consistent quality score putting it 0.7% ahead of next-placed O2. Telekom’s lead in basic consistent quality is even greater, as it finished 0.9% ahead of next-placed Vodafone for basic consistent quality.

As well as being extremely similarly matched for excellent consistent quality -- just 1.3% separates first and last place -- all three German operators finished behind any of the operators in Austria or Switzerland for excellent consistent quality, highlighting the gap in network quality between the regions.