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Vodafone and O2 prove fastest mobile internet providers
Nick Jones
A survey commissioned by O2 has demonstrated that the Telefonica-owned network is the fastest for data access in large cities, along with Vodafone
The five UK networks have battled it out to find out which is the fastest for data
Published on Feb 22, 2010
A nationwide survey of mobile device service networks has revealed O2 as a leader in network speed.
The survey, run by veteran third party benchmarking consultancy Siroda, compared service providers Orange, Vodafone, O2, Three, and T-Mobile.
The tests, which were conducted in the 20 largest cities in the UK, measured data network performance by recording the time each network took to download a typically sized music file, as well as the time it took to load a web page.
Siroda's survey was administered on all days of the week, and between the hours of 10am and 10pm to simulate "general user patterns", ensuring the validity of the figures.
While O2 has claimed to be the fastest provider, citing the results of the survey, the evidence suggests that the network only earned the title of fastest music download in the UK, proving fastest in 12 of the 20 city test sites.
Vodafone proved to be faster at accessing the web in more cities than O2, topping all other providers in 5 out of 20 cities (O2 winning in only 4 cities). The survey, which O2 commissioned, was overseen and verified by the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications (BABT), an independent party.
The test results are almost certainly due in part to O2's £30 million pound investment, which came in late 2009. The investment allowed the addition of 40 masts in and around the greater London area.
The survey concluded that O2 was 30 percent faster at accessing the web than the slowest provider in the survey, but when one looks at the figures (Fastest: 1.3 seconds, Slowest: 1.7 seconds), one wonders if £30 million pounds is worth that 30 percent. The world is moving faster than ever before, that is certain, but have we reached the point where four tenths of a second is a serious issue? We'll let you decide.
