Our Data

Through partnerships with mobile applications globally, we sample data from millions of real-world users. Tutela collects data from over 300 million devices worldwide, resulting in 200+ billion new data points added to our dataset every single day.

Not only is our dataset unparalleled in size, but our collection methodology means that Tutela’s insights come from the people who matter the most — actual mobile subscribers. Furthermore, our active network tests are designed from the ground up to be representative of real-world use, rather than measuring network performance that is rarely seen by users.

Real-world analysis

To collect data, Tutela partners with a diverse range of mobile app publishes, in categories such as gaming, navigation, or utility apps. Tutela’s SDK is embedded into those apps, and collects anonymous network quality information, from hundreds of millions of users around the world.

From its global user base, Tutela collects information about cellular and Wi-Fi networks, and also conducts active tests to measure end-user quality of experience. Those active tests include measures of throughput, network reliability, and video streaming performance.

Introducing Consistent Quality

When it comes to measuring and quantifying mobile network quality, Tutela is focused on end-user quality of experience. That’s why we conduct our network QoE metrics against the content delivery networks that power real web pages and applications - not specific test servers in optimized locations. We also test throughputs using packet sizes and protocols representative of common use-cases - not massive files optimised to achieve the highest bitrates. Tutela has also developed a standard for measuring how often a network is good enough to deliver the performance needed for common applications— Consistent Quality

Consistent Quality incorporates six network performance measurements: download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss and time to first byte. These KPIs, when evaluated together, provide a complete picture of the network quality that a user is receiving, rather than looking at individual KPIs alone.

Consistent Quality determines how often (expressed at a percentage) that these KPIs exceeded minimum performance thresholds. We use two sets of thresholds (‘excellent’ and ‘core’), which were selected using the minimum performance requirements of popular mobile applications.

Public reporting metrics

Through our public reporting we aim to benchmark mobile operators around the world to determine which operators are providing the best network performance for their subscribers. Our tests represent the typical user experience of an individual subscriber and we aim to provide a fair comparison of operator performance, ensuring the metrics we include in our public reporting are as open and transparent as possible. Learn more about the metrics we use in our public reporting and our promises and philosophy.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Tutela get its data from?

Tutela partners with the publishers of common consumer applications, such as gaming, dating, or utility apps. Tutela’s SDK is embedded into those apps, and allows anonymized network quality information to be collected from hundreds of millions of users around the world.

From its global user base, Tutela collects information about cellular and WI-Fi networks, and also conducts active tests to measure end-user quality of experience. Those active tests include measures of throughput, network reliability, and real-world applications like video streaming.

Which applications is Tutela’s SDK embedded in?

To safeguard the independence of our data, Tutela does not share details of individual apps. Data comes from a diverse set of over 3,000 apps globally, spanning a number of app genres and user demographics, including both iOS and Android devices.

What data do you collect?

Tutela collects data related to network performance and user mobile quality of experience. Tutela does not collect sensitive personal information or persistent identifiers, and Tutela has steps in place both commercially and technically to make sure that our datasets never identify individuals, or are used by Tutela, our partners, or our customers in order to do so. For more details, please see our KPI page and Privacy Charter, which includes details of the categories of data we collect and our privacy provisions.

How does Tutela handle user privacy?

Network engineers want access to non-sensitive data about how mobile networks are performing. We want to keep consumers safe and our customers understand the importance of receiving and working with data that is identity-free. Our software runs in the background of downloaded apps, does not collect any sensitive personal information or persistent identifiers, and has minimal impact on the consumer and their daily mobile use.

You don't just have to take our word for it: Tutela has engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers, an independent industry authority, to conduct a privacy review. This is just one of the steps we have undertaken to meet or exceed industry standards for privacy and data collection.

What goes into the Consistent Quality metric?

Consistent Quality incorporates six network performance measurements: download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss and time to first byte. Every time Tutela collects those measurements, we compare them against two sets of thresholds (‘excellent’ and 'core'), which were selected using the minimum performance requirements of popular mobile applications. You can read more about Consistent Quality here.

How does Tutela test download throughput?

To test download throughput in the way that best represents the experience of real-world users, Tutela tests against real-world content delivery networks, the same ones that power the majority of actual services that subscribers use every day. Those include the content delivery networks of Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, amongst others. Our download tests also utilize a fixed file size, similar in size to packets downloaded for common applications like web browsing or video streaming. In this way, we test for the download speeds a user is likely to actually experience, rather than flooding the network to tests maximum download speed.

Want to know more? Contact a member of our sales team here.

Privacy

Tutela does not collect personally identifiable data or persistent identifiers, and we have steps in place both commercially and technically to make sure that our datasets never identify such individuals or are used by Tutela, our partners, or customers for such a purpose. In the interest of transparency, the data that we do collect is included below.

Find out more

Independence

Tutela is a proudly independent third-party company. We work with, but not for, key players in the mobile industry to improve networks worldwide. All of our reports are produced with data owned by Tutela and using methodology developed by our in-house experts, without interference from third parties.