July 2019
Tutela’s State of Mobile Networks report for DACH showed consumers’ experience with wireless networks varies significantly across the region, with download speeds in Switzerland significantly higher than in neighbouring countries being just one example. To see how operator networks perform in the largest urban areas, Tutela analyzed network measurements crowdsourced between 01 December 2018 to 31 May 2019, including 3.4 million speed tests, and a total of over 21 billion measurements across the 15 largest cities.
Key findings:
Report Facts
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Germany | Austria | Switzerland |
1. Bern 2. Zurich 3. Lausanne 4. Basel 5. Geneva |
When looking at network performance in dense urban areas, network capacity is just as important as network coverage. With millions of users crammed into a few square miles, the network can become overloaded at peak times, even when you’ve got a perfect signal.
As a result, relying on an average download speed to evaluate network quality isn’t a good method. As operators have worked to upgrade 3G networks to LTE-Advanced technology, theoretical (and even real-world) peak throughput speeds have increased to a level that vastly outstrips the maximum needed for any common use-case. As a result, a handful of multi-hundred-megabit download tests taken at 2AM can greatly skew the results, and the fact that cellphones become unusable on a train during rush hour doesn’t show up in the results.At its most basic, a good connection is one that doesn’t get in the way of users doing what they want to do. In the real world, smartphone users aren’t running speed tests all day -- they’re browsing the web, sending emails, using apps, voice calling their friends, streaming Netflix and YouTube, or making video calls.
To more objectively evaluate when networks are (and are not) enabling users to do those things, Tutela has developed a standard called consistent quality. The design of the standard is explained in further detail here. Simply put, it’s two sets of thresholds, called “excellent” and “basic”. If a connection hits the “excellent” standard, it’s sufficient for the most demanding mobile use-cases, like HD video calling or 1080p video streaming. A “basic” connection is good enough for simple web browsing, emails, and VOIP calling, but users will experience delays or buffering when trying to use more demanding apps.
Tutela’s consistent quality score simply measures the percentage of time that users hit these thresholds. The higher the number, the more often users have a basic or excellent connection.
KPI | Average download speed | Average upload speed | Latency | Jitter | Packet loss |
Minimum acceptable value | 4 Mbps | 2 Mbps | 50 ms | 30 ms | ~0% |
KPI | Average download speed | Average upload speed | Latency | Jitter | Packet loss |
Minimum acceptable value | 512 Kbps | 128 Kbps | 100 ms | 50 ms | 5% |