Study Reveals UK Mobile Broadband Users Get 24% of Advertised Speeds

Published on: 10th June 2009

A report from researchers, Epitiro is revealing that speeds delivered to UK mobile broadband users are significantly less than those advertised. The report is based on nationwide research from an ongoing project that monitors the performance of leading mobile operators in terms of actual customer experience.

The research covered popular broadband activities such as web surfing, downloading music and movies, VoIP telephone calling, internet gaming and watching streaming video. Leading mobile broadband operators 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone were measured and Epitiro's analysis revealed the following;

• UK mobile broadband users receive on average 24% of advertised download speeds
• The average download speed achieved with mobile broadband is just under 1 Mbps
• The average mobile broadband ping time (150 msec) exceeds the recommended ceiling (100 msec) for acceptable web-based game playing. Ping times are 3 times slower than equivalent fixed line broadband services which are less than 50 msec, on average.
• Web browsing is 34% slower than speeds achieved on equivalent ADSL broadband services
• Trends in mobile broadband indicate TCP download speeds improving at a rate of 11% over the test period
• Average mobile broadband speeds double to 1.8 Mbps at 3.a.m on weekdays indicating that contention at the cell may be a limiting factor
• From the 750,000 TCP download speeds recorded throughout the 5 month period, several tests managed to exceed 3 Mbps indicating that higher speeds are possible

"This exhaustive study confirms the general consensus that mobile broadband services are functional and, while currently slower in practice than their fixed line competition, continually improving." said Gavin Johns, CEO, Epitiro. "That we recorded a few measurements at relatively higher speeds is confirmation that mobile broadband technology is capable of much more."

"Given the growing interest in mobile broadband and its potential to address 'not spots' there will be increasing demand on operators to provide solutions that meet consumer expectations and further improve performance." continued Johns. "Epitiro will continue to monitor mobile broadband performance and track service levels during this exciting period of development."

Epitiro's broadband monitoring software was downloaded at random by over 1,300 UK mobile broadband users and reported over 1.4 million test results from December 2008 until May 2009.

 

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