Vodafone Fastest Mobile Broadband Network

Vodafone UK is the most reliable and the fastest network for mobile broadband according to LCC International, the largest independent wireless engineering company in the world.

The conclusion follows 28,000 network tests throughout March, April and May 2008 and comes a month after Vodafone UK announced it would start to do more to simplify mobile broadband for customers, and talk less about theoretical possibilities and more about real speeds and actual benefits.

The study, commissioned by Vodafone UK, in locations independently selected, found that the Vodafone UK network is the fastest and most reliable for file download and web page loading when using data cards or USB modems.

The sites tested across the UK reflected real customer experience of residential and business use, both indoor and outdoor, and included towns and cities of various sizes with locations such as railway stations, tourist spots, airports and motorway service stations.

The fastest available equipment from each operator was used in the test.

In May, Vodafone UK said it would do more to make actual speeds clearer to customers when purchasing a USB modem to access Vodafone’s high-speed mobile broadband network.

Tests show that on average the Vodafone network took 13.54 seconds to download an MP3 file of 2MB in size (approx. one 3 minute song), which was up to 10 seconds faster than the slowest competitor.

The network reliability was the highest among the operators with a 99.76% success rate for downloading a 2MB MP3 file.

When opening web pages, Vodafone’s network took just 6.7 seconds on average to load a page, significantly faster than other networks (up to four times faster than slowest competitor).

This was matched with a 99.69% success rate for opening a web page.

Neil Smith, Vice President of LCC International, explains: “When we responded to Vodafone’s tender it was made very clear that this test was to be done in independent conditions. We have been rigid in our methodology and did not disclose anything to Vodafone UK until the trial was completed.

We have designed one of the most comprehensive assessments of its kind in order to generate a statistically sound report. As a result, we have been able to conclude that Vodafone‘s mobile broadband network is statistically significantly faster and more reliable that other operators to both download files and load web pages.”