EE’s mobile internet download speeds were 9.6 Mbps on average, meaning it would take less than a second to buffer and then listen to music online, just 5.1 seconds to download 10 emails and only 1.8 seconds to load a typical web page.
Vodafone on the other hand has a very slow average download speed of 1 Mbps. That means it would usually take around 15 seconds to buffer online music followed by lots of breaks in songs. It could be frustrating to watch HD video due to buffering and would take about 5-and-a-half seconds to load a typical single web page. Uploading an image to Facebook, for instance, could take as long as 45 seconds given the average Vodafone upload speed is 0.5 Mbps.
At these speeds, Vodafone is seriously behind even its nearest rival O2, which has an average download speed of 1.8 Mbps. Three is also doing well, with an average download speed of 3.5 Mbps and beats EE in terms of network reliability, which shows how often users can connect and then consistently use the network. Three scored 97.3 (out of 100) compared to 95.4 for EE. Vodafone again performed the most poorly in this respect, scoring just 74.3.
The mobile internet speeds EE is offering make it a potential mobile alternative to local fixed-line broadband provider Karoo, which has an average download speed of 10 Mbps[i]. EE’s new super-fast 4G service in the city centre provides an average download speed of 13.8 Mbps. Locals could use an EE contract to do everything they do via their home broadband, but faster and with the added bonus of taking that connectivity everywhere in the city where’s its available.
When it comes to making calls, all operators had strong performance. EE, O2, and Three had outstanding, and statistically comparable, call failure rates of 2 per cent or better. That means 2 in every 100 calls from mobiles on those networks would not go through. While Vodafone performed considerably worse with 4.9 per cent of calls failing to connect, this call failure rate is not particularly poor relative to other parts of the UK. In terms of text message delivery, all operators did well and Three got messages to recipients within 10 seconds in all but 0.2 per cent of tests. Vodafone failed to do so in 20 per cent of cases.
RootMetrics last tested Hull’s mobile networks in August 2012, before EE launched its 4G service. Since then O2′s average download speed improved, while its average upload speed remained the same. Three’s average download speed more than doubled since the last visit – presumably on account of its launch of its Ultrafast service – and its average upload speed also showed improvement.