Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
EE wins both the Reliability Experience and Consistent Quality awards outright, scoring 915 points (on a 100-1000 scale) for Reliability Experience and 78.6% for Consistent Quality. EE’s lead indicates its users are most likely to connect and successfully complete everyday tasks — and that they most often see ‘good enough’ performance for more demanding mobile app use.
EE wins both overall speed awards outright — 53.2Mbps for Download Speed Experience and 10.4Mbps for Upload Speed Experience. When connected to 5G, however, Three holds onto both speed awards, reaching 187Mbps for 5G Download Speed and 20.2Mbps for 5G Upload Speed, well ahead of the competition.
EE retains the Video Experience and the Games Experience awards, keeping it on top for on-demand video streaming and real-time multiplayer mobile gaming, both overall and on 5G networks.
EE retains the newly renamed Time on 5G award (previously known as 5G Availability) winning outright with a score of 26.5%, reflecting signal utilisation, or the share of time users’ data traffic on the operator’s network was actively carried over 5G. This report also introduces the updated definition of 5G Availability, which in turn measures how often users detect a 5G signal regardless of active use, measured at 77.4% of the time by our users on EE’s network.
O2 retains the Coverage Experience award. For 5G specifically, however, EE continues to lead, winning the 5G Coverage Experience award outright with six points and a wide lead.
Following the completion of the Vodafone–Three merger in mid-2025, the UK mobile market has entered a period of significant structural change. While the merger represents a major milestone for the industry, Vodafone and Three continue to operate as separate consumer brands, with network integration still underway.
As a result, real-world mobile experience still differs between the two networks. To ensure our analysis remains representative of actual consumer experience, we continue to report mobile network experience results for Vodafone and Three separately.
Within this context, EE emerges as the strongest-performing operator in our January 2026 UK Mobile Network Experience report, securing a total of 11 outright awards. At this time, Three and O2 are the only other operators recognised for leading aspects of mobile experience, with O2 taking the crown for best overall coverage experience.
The UK’s mobile operators are in the midst of sunsetting 2G and 3G networks – focusing investment and freeing up spectrum for the newer generations. Three of the four operators — Vodafone, EE and Three — have already completed their 3G switch-offs, with Virgin Media O2 currently progressing with its shutdowns which is expected to be in the early part of 2026. The providers have further confirmed to the government that they are planning to switch off 2G by 2033. Legacy networks remain critical for emergency and IoT services, and European operators continue to grapple with the complexities of shutdowns. Spectrum refarming will support improved 4G and 5G services, but during this phasing out transition user experience can vary by device capability, location and operator.
As VodafoneThree progresses with network integration, the near-term user experience outcomes are increasingly influenced by the pace and scope of Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) deployment, particularly in locations where network sharing can close historical coverage and performance gaps. The early gains were explored in our October 2025 analysis Early impact of the Vodafone–Three UK merger. The longer-term future of VodafoneThree will be shaped by the ability to deliver on the promise of improved customer experience, and to leverage its strengthened position to support further investment in network upgrades.
Another development, in relation to the merger, has been the acquisition of additional spectrum by Virgin Media O2, which announced that it had agreed a deal with Vodafone UK to acquire 78.8 MHz of spectrum. This will bring the operator’s total spectrum holding to approximately 30% of UK mobile spectrum, materially enhancing the company’s network position.
Ofcom has highlighted 5G standalone (5G SA) as a critical next step in the evolution of the UK’s mobile infrastructure, as 5G SA is becoming a key network differentiator across the developed markets. In its annual Connected Nations 2025 report, Ofcom stated that 5G SA coverage was available to approximately 83% of the UK population and now accounts for an increasing share of mobile traffic.
Virgin Media O2 has framed 5G SA as central to its long-term capacity strategy, and in Sep 2025 announcing that its standalone network is live across hundreds of towns and cities and available to 70% of the UK’s population, making it the widest in the country. EE continues to progress with rollout of 5G SA at a steady pace, which it markets as 5G+, and as of mid-2025 stating it is was reaching half of UK’s population, with further significant expansion targets. VodafoneThree is also actively deploying 5G SA, setting concrete expansion targets to cover around 90% of the UK population within the first three years as part of its long-term network build plan.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the four main mobile network operators in the United Kingdom — Three, EE, O2 and Vodafone — over a period of 90 days starting on October 1, 2025, and ending on December 29, 2025, to see how they fared. The last Opensignal report for this market was published in September 2024.
EE retains the Video Experience award from the previous report, winning outright this time with 69.9 points on a 100-point scale and leading second-placed 3 by one point (69.3). Vodafone ranks third with 68.3 points, while O2 places fourth with 66.3.
Since the last report, scores have risen across all operators, with 3 up eight points, O2 up six, Vodafone up five and EE up three. Vodafone, 3 and EE are rated Very Good (68-78), while O2 is one category lower in Good (58-68).
A Very Good rating means our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling, while a Good rating means our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
In the previous report, EE won the Games Experience award, and in this report it wins outright again with 76.5 points on a 100-point scale, leading second-placed Vodafone on 75.1 points by one point. 3 ranks third with 74 points, while O2 is fourth on 68.1 points.
Since the last report, 3’s score has increased by 10 points, EE’s by six points, Vodafone’s by six points, and O2’s by five points.
Vodafone and EE are rated Good (75-85), while O2 and 3 are one category lower in Fair (65-75).
A Good (75-85) rating means that most users deem the experience acceptable: gameplay is generally controllable, users receive immediate feedback between their actions and outcomes, and most do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
A Fair (65-75) rating means users find the experience ‘average’: in most cases the game is responsive and most users feel in control, but the majority of players notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
In the previous report, EE won the Download Speed Experience award, and in this report it retains the award outright with a score of 53.2Mbps, leading second-placed 3 on 51Mbps by 2Mbps. Vodafone ranks third with 37.5Mbps, while O2 comes fourth on 32.8Mbps.
Since the last report, 3’s score has increased by 13Mbps, O2’s by 10Mbps, EE’s by 7Mbps, and Vodafone’s by 6Mbps.
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
In the previous report, EE won the Upload Speed Experience award, and in this report it wins outright with a score of 10.4Mbps, leading second-placed 3 on 9.3Mbps by 1Mbps. Vodafone ranks third with 7.4Mbps, while O2 comes fourth on 6.4Mbps.
Since the last report, 3’s score has increased by 2Mbps, O2’s by 1Mbps, and EE’s by 1Mbps, while Vodafone’s score has decreased by less than one Mbps.
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
In the previous report, EE won the 5G Video Experience award, and in this report it retains the award outright with a score of 76.3 points on a 100-point scale, leading second-placed 3 by one point (75.6). Vodafone ranks third with 75.1 points, while O2 places fourth on 73.5.
Since the last report, scores have risen for all operators: O2 is up three points, and Vodafone, 3 and EE have each increased by two points.
All operators fall within the Very Good (68-78) category, meaning that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
EE, which won the 5G Games Experience award in the previous report, wins it outright again in this report with 87.4 points on a 100-point scale, leading second-placed 3 by five points (82.6). Vodafone ranks third with 81.5 points, and O2 comes fourth with 78.4.
Compared with the previous report, EE’s score has increased by six points, Vodafone’s by five points, and both 3’s and O2’s by four points.
EE is the only operator in the Excellent category (85 or above), while O2, Vodafone and 3 are one category lower in Good (75-85).
An Excellent rating means the vast majority of users deem the network experience acceptable, nearly all users feel in control of the game and receive immediate feedback on their actions, and there is not a noticeable delay in almost all cases.
A Good rating means most users deem the experience acceptable, gameplay is generally controllable with immediate feedback between actions and outcomes, and most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
In the previous report, 3 won the 5G Download Speed award, and in this report it wins outright again with a score of 187Mbps, leading second-placed Vodafone on 130.9Mbps by 56Mbps. EE ranks third with 92.2Mbps, followed by O2 in fourth on 89.9Mbps.
Since the last report, O2’s score has increased by 10Mbps, while 3’s score has decreased by 22Mbps, Vodafone’s has decreased by 8Mbps, and EE’s has decreased by 5Mbps.
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
After winning the 5G Upload Speed award in the previous report, 3 takes the award outright in this report with a score of 20.2Mbps, leading second-placed EE (16Mbps) by 4Mbps. Vodafone ranks third with 14.1Mbps, followed by O2 in fourth with 11Mbps.
Since the last report, 3 and O2 have each improved by 1Mbps, while EE has dropped by 2Mbps and Vodafone by 1Mbps.
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
After winning the Coverage Experience award in the previous report, O2 retains the award in this report, winning outright with nine points on a 10-point scale and leading second-placed EE by less than one point (EE scores 8.8 points). Vodafone ranks third with 8.5 points, followed by 3 in fourth with 8.1 points. Since the last report, the scores for all four operators have increased by less than one point: 3, Vodafone, EE and O2.
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
EE, which won the 5G Coverage Experience award in the previous report, retains the award in this report, winning outright with six points on a 10-point scale and leading second-placed O2 by one point (4.6 points). 3 ranks third with 4.4 points, while Vodafone places fourth with 2.7 points. Since the last report, EE’s score has increased by two points, and O2, Vodafone, and 3 have each increased their scores by one point.
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
5G Coverage Experience shows the proportion of places Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
In the previous report, 3 won the Time on Network award, and in this report it retains the award outright with a score of 99.4%, leading second-placed EE (99%) by less than one percentage point. O2 ranks third on 98%, followed by Vodafone in fourth on 97%.
Since the last report, Vodafone’s score has increased by two percentage points, O2’s has increased by one percentage point, and both EE’s and 3’s scores have increased by less than one percentage point.
Prior to Q4 2025, Time on Network was referred to as Availability in Opensignal reports.
Our time on network and availability metrics are not measures of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our time on network data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our time on network and availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Time on Network shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
EE retains the Time on 5G award from the previous report and in this report wins it outright with 26.5%, leading second-placed O2 (19.6%) by seven percentage points. 3 ranks third on 11.5% and Vodafone fourth on 9.9%.
Since the previous report, EE’s score has risen by 13 percentage points, O2’s by 11 percentage points and 3’s by two percentage points, while Vodafone’s score has not changed by a significant amount.
Time on 5G measures the percentage of time users with a 5G device are actively connected to a 5G network bearer, indicating how often data traffic is actually carried over 5G rather than 4G.
Prior to Q4 2025, Time on 5G was referred to as 5G Availability in Opensignal reports.
Our time on network and availability metrics are not measures of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our time on network data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our time on network and availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Time on 5G shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription utilised an active 5G connection.
In this report EE wins the 5G Availability award outright with a score of 77.4%, leading second-placed O2 (57%) by 20 percentage points. 3 ranks third with 38.9%, while Vodafone places fourth with 29.6%.
5G Availability measures the percentage of time users with a 5G device and subscription detect a 5G signal, regardless of whether their data traffic is actively using 5G or remains anchored on 4G.
The 5G Availability metric’s definition was updated in Q4 2025 as part of refinement of our metric framework.
Our time on network and availability metrics are not measures of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our time on network data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our time on network and availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had a 5G connection, whether or not it was used.
EE, which won the Consistent Quality award in the previous report, wins it outright again in this report with a score of 78.6%, leading second-placed 3 by four percentage points (74.8%). Vodafone ranks third on 74%, while O2 is fourth with 69.5%.
Since the last report, 3 has improved by six percentage points, O2 by five percentage points, and EE by two percentage points, while Vodafone has declined by one percentage point.
This metric measures whether the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices, assessing experience indicators including download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download throughput, upload throughput, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
EE, which won the Reliability Experience award in the previous report, wins it again in this report outright with a score of 915 points on a 100-1000 point scale, leading second-placed Vodafone and 3, whose scores are statistically tied at 903-906 points, by around 11 points. O2 places fourth with 889 points.
Since the last report, scores have risen across all operators: O2 is up 59 points, 3 is up 43 points, EE is up 35 points and Vodafone is up 29 points.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks, based on % time connected, Data Connectivity, Task completion and Sufficiency.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on communication service providers’ (CSP) networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their CSP’s network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience