EE Leads London 4G Race, But Vodafone And O2 Perform Strongly

O2 and Vodafone’s 4G networks have performed strongly during their first three weeks of operation, according to research firm Rootmetrics, but both trail EE 4G in terms of speed.

Rootmetrics conducted 11,000 tests in the capital over a period of five days, and found O2 4G and Vodafone 4G were delivering similarly strong results.

Vodafone 4G was available 69.4 percent of the time, while O2 4G could be accessed during 63.9 percent of the tests. Rootmetrics said this compared favourably with the initial results of other 4G networks, which usually achieved around 50 percent or above.

London 4G tests

This meant most users were likely to experience a mixture of 3G and 4G coverage in London, with O2 recording a ‘blended’ average download speed of 16.3Mbps, slightly faster than Vodafone’s 16.2Mbps.

EE 4G’s mixture of 3G and 4G saw it come in first with 22.7Mbps, up from 17.3Mbps in April. This rise can be attributed not only to the operator’s ten month head start, but also to the fact it had doubled speeds in London, along with a number of other UK cities, during the summer.

EE also led the way in terms of 4G-only speeds, recording 29.6 Mbps, around 20-30 percent faster than O2, which achieved 23.3 Mbps and Vodafone, which reached 20.8Mbps.

“This first look at London’s 4G services bodes well for the new providers and, more importantly, for people who chose to sign up,” said Bill Moore, CEO and President of RootMetrics. “EE has had the best part of a year to cement its place and remains the speed leader, but the early signs for O2 and Vodafone are very positive, especially when it comes to 4G availability.

“This is all good news for the consumer as uploading your pictures or downloading content on the move will become quicker and quicker as coverage expands and improves.”

Three is the only major UK operator not to have launched its 4G network, but it has confirmed it will roll out its LTE service in December this year, at no extra charge to customers.

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