EE wins the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark in the UK for the seventh time

Aachen, 2021/12/14 - Together with our long-standing partner connect, we once again analysed the mobile networks in Great Britain in 2021. EE are the overall winners of the 2021 umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark Test for Great Britain. Vodafone are not far behind in second place, with the best marks in Voice Performance. As in the 2019 Benchmark Test, Three once again take third place, just ahead of O2. The Benchmark Test also comprises additional analyses of 11 cities across Great Britain, including the capital, London.

EE performed best, leading in the categories Data and Crowd, with an overall rating of "very good" and a score of 864 points out of a possible 1,000. Vodafone, leaders in the category Voice, achieved second place with a rating of "good" and 820 points. In comparison to the last Benchmark Test, Three have managed to increase their score by 118 points. By achieving improvements in all the tested categories, Three were able to once again secure third place with 739 points and a rating of "satisfactory". With a significant increase in their score in the categories Voice and Data, O2 followed in fourth place, with 715 points and a rating of "satisfactory".

Hakan Ekmen, CEO of Telecommunications at umlaut says: "Congratulations to EE on their seventh win in the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark Test in Great Britain! Vodafone are close behind with a good set of results and the best marks in the category Voice. Three deserve recognition for the greatest improvement in results in this Benchmark Test, while O2 have made improvements in the categories Voice and Data since our last Benchmark Test. We have also seen huge progress in terms of the provision of 5G in Great Britain, with EE providing the best 5G coverage and Three offering the highest data rates.

This year too, our Benchmark Test analysed the capital London, as well as ten other cities across Great Britain. In comparison to the nationwide results, EE are again the frontrunners, leading in the categories Crowd and Voice. Vodafone are in second place in the capital, with better results for Voice and Crowd than they achieved in the nationwide results. The same applies to O2, who achieved third place in London, with better results in Voice and Crowdsourcing than in the nationwide data tests. Three are in fourth place in the capital. Their results for Voice are not as good as those achieved in the nationwide tests. In the category Data, Three do rather better in the walk tests, but achieve lower scores in the drive tests than in their results for the whole of Great Britain. In the Crowdsourcing analyses, Three once again achieved a higher score than in the national results.

This benchmark test also includes additional analyses for ten further cities across the United Kingdom: Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. The nationwide overall winners EE achieved first place in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester. Vodafone took first place in Belfast and Liverpool.

The drive and walk tests for the 2021 umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark Test in Great Britain were carried out in the period between 25 October and 13 November 2021. Four drive test vehicles covered a distance of approximately 10,000 kilometres and visited 29 towns and 46 villages. In addition to this, two walk test teams visited a total of ten towns, travelling by train. The test area covers 17.3 million people or approximately 26% of the total population of Great Britain. A comprehensive analysis of umlaut's crowdsourcing data, which was collected over a period of 24 weeks from the end of May to the beginning of November 2021, was also incorporated into the results of the evaluation. The methodology used for the umlaut connect Mobile Benchmark Test is the result of more than 15 years’ experience in mobile network testing. Today, network tests are carried out in more than 120 countries. The methods were developed very carefully to evaluate the performance and the service quality of mobile networks from the point of view of the user and to facilitate an objective comparison between providers.

Find the full report here.