EE awarded UK 5G experience gold medal

• RootMetrics has put the four UK mobile network operators to the test
• 5G availability and speeds are improving across the board for all telcos
• EE has taken the crown in delivering the best 5G experience in the first half of the year, as well as being the best overall mobile service provider

EE provided the best 5G experience in the UK during the first half of 2024, beating its domestic rivals in key metrics, including availability and performance, according to a new report from RootMetrics.

The mobile service testing specialist conducted more than 625,000 tests of the performance delivered by the UK’s mobile network operators – EE (part of BT Group), Three UK, Vodafone and Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) – across every region of the UK in the first six months of this year.

RootMetrics found that EE’s 5G availability and performance was just better than that of Three UK, which topped the 5G experience tables for the second half of 2023.

And EE didn’t just land the 5G gold medal: Across all mobile services, the BT operation “won or shared every UK-wide RootScore Award” during the first six months of the year,” as the chart above shows, “including its twenty-second consecutive UK Overall RootScore Award. EE also held a commanding lead in major cities, as EE’s total of 126 Metro Area RootScore Awards was over three times as many as that of any other operator. The next highest award count in major cities belonged to Three, with 38 total metro awards,” noted the testing firm.  

RootMetrics highlighted that there was no clear winner in terms of providing the fastest 5G speed experience in the first half of the year, but that all operators managed to offer “strong 5G speeds in major cities” and to enhance their 5G availability capabilities.

It added that EE and Three UK recorded 5G median download speeds of more than 200 Mbit/s, with Vodafone not far behind with a median speed of 184.9 Mbit/s. Meanwhile, VMO2 was the only operator whose 5G median download speed was below 100 Mbit/s (79.7 Mbit/s).

RootMetrics also noted that all of the four operators improved their 5G performance in most of the examined cities.

According to RootScore’s ranking, Three UK took the second spot in six out of eight performance categories, while Vodafone came in third. Similar to the second half of 2023, VMO2 ended up taking the last place in seven out of eight categories.

The results prompted EE to boast that it is “the most reliable network for mobile customers” in the UK and that it has been named as “the UK’s best network for a record 11th year in a row.”

Commenting on the rankings, EE CEO Marc Allera said that “for EE to be crowned the UK’s best mobile network for eleven years in a row is a remarkable achievement”, considering the highly competitive market and the increased importance of reliable performance as customers use mobile devices more than ever.

“We’ve worked tirelessly to deliver the fastest and most reliable mobile network in the UK and we will continue to put network quality at the heart of our customer experience,” he added in this press release.

- Yanitsa Boyadzhieva, Deputy Editor, TelecomTV