EE Is ‘Best’ UK Mobile Network But Three Is Most Reliable

EE has once again been named the UK’s best and fastest mobile operator, but improvements in Three’s network reliability saw it wrest one of the six individual category awards away from the overall champion.

RootMetrics awarded EE a weighted score of 88.1 out of 100, ahead of Three’s 84.5, Vodafone’s 78.6 and O2’s 76.6, with BT’s new subsidiary also rated best for network speed, mobile Internet performance, calls and texts.

However Three, which has tied with EE for reliability in the past, has been able to secure top spot in the category for the first time. This means calls are less likely to drop or block and connectivity.

Read More: How does RootMetrics test UK operators?

RootMetrics results

Vodafone finished second for speed once again, while O2 made improvements in calls, texts and speed but this was not enough to lift it up from bottom overall.

EE was also named best overall and the fastest in all four home nations, while Three was rated most reliable in each country. Vodafone tied with EE for calls in Scotland and Northern Ireland and O2 tied for texts in England.

RootMetrics conducted 874,568 tests across the UK to calculate its findings, which are presented as ‘Rootscores’. This metric weights certain categories as more important – for example mobile internet is given priority over texts – and it is hoped this, rather than pure stats, can make the results easier to understand.

Network choice

“EE continues to provide the best mobile performance across the UK, but we’re seeing some of the other operators making good improvements across all the different ways we use our mobile phones,” said Scott Stonham, RootMetrics General Manager of Europe.

“Choosing the mobile operator that’s right for you is not one-size-fits-all. While some people care most about fast mobile internet so they can watch videos or download music without delay, others just want to know that they can reliably make a call or send a text. Consumers can use this report to make informed decisions based on where they live and how they tend to use their phone.”

However some operators (mostly the ones that don’t do too well) have disputed the firm’s findings and methods. RootMetrics told TechWeekEurope last year that its scientific approach offered the best indication of a network’s performance.