Thanks to its Queldébit smartphone utility and the information it collects, UFC-Que Choisir has a brand new instrument to evaluate the standard of every mobile community (speeds, latency, net web page show velocity, high quality of distribution of streaming movies, and so forth.). Here are the principle classes we will draw from the primary spherical of outcomes.
Orange confirming its place “Leadership for the 11th consecutive year”, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, every claiming the place of “2nd best mobile network in France”, Free Mobile which sees a “validation of its strategy”… The 4 main operators have, as soon as once more, interpreted the outcomes of the annual survey to evaluate the standard of mobile providers (net shopping, video playback, knowledge switch, SMS and voice calls) by Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (Arcep), printed on 19 November. For the twenty second version of this examine, the telecommunications policeman famous a common enchancment within the high quality of mobile networks, specifically speeds, in all areas (rural, intermediate and dense). At the identical time, it highlighted high quality variations. As for 5G, which was the topic of measurements for the primary time, Arcep indicated that it introduced higher speeds, however not for all operators and never essentially within the proportions promised by them. So who wins? Which operator actually has the very best community? Does the service supplied by every of them dwell as much as what subscribers count on?
To get its personal concept, the UFC-Que Choisir launched, final June, its utility referred to as What flow. While Arcep, to ascertain its rating, performs hundreds of measurements in all corners of the nation, our new instrument has given us the potential for accumulating, in just some months, invaluable knowledge on the mobile connections of the French. Speeds, latency, net web page show velocity, streaming video supply high quality… all this info, taken from hundreds of velocity checks, permits us to have a reasonably exact concept of the efficiency of every operator. On the power of those first outcomes (and they don't seem to be the final!), we provide the two essential classes to recollect.
Real variations between the networks
The first commentary is that the 4 mobile networks out there in France do not likely provide the identical efficiency. Overall, that of Orange is nicely above common. The incumbent operator offers the very best uplink and downlink speeds (reception and transmission of knowledge). Its subscribers, like these of Sosh, are subsequently supposed to have the ability to retrieve their e-mails, obtain purposes and even put up images on social networks by way of 4G sooner than others. And that is not all. With Orange, movies play sooner and net pages show extra rapidly. These good outcomes didn't actually shock us. It should be stated that with its practically 20 million mobile telephony prospects, the operator has an unequalled strike pressure. Thanks to this decisive benefit, it was capable of deploy a lot of antennas all through the territory and acquire the most efficient frequencies through the auctions organized by Arcep.
The rivals of this undisputed chief are competing for the opposite locations on the rostrum, however relying on the standards, the order varies. If we bear in mind the downlink velocity, SFR climbs on the second step whereas Free is forward of Bouygues Telecom by a hair. Regarding the loading time of net pages, this time it is Bouygues that distance SFR and Free. In brief, if Orange firmly occupies the highest of the rating, its three challengers stand in a pocket handkerchief. However, these parts should be taken with some warning. On the one hand, these are nationwide averages: relying on the place you might be, Orange could very nicely be overtaken by a competitor. On the opposite hand, the variations between the networks stay usually fairly low. The actual affect ought to in the end stay comparatively restricted, even imperceptible.
The digital divide is widening
The different main lesson from this primary wave of outcomes is that there's a hole between cities and the countryside by way of efficiency. While the common downlink velocity loved by Orange prospects residing in city areas is 79 Mb/s (megabits per second), it is just 41 Mb/s in rural areas. As for the add velocity, it goes from 16 to 9 Mb/s. The net pages additionally take longer to load within the campaigns. If, in keeping with Arcep, the distinction will not be so nice, it's as a result of the regulatory authority measures the share of pages displayed in lower than 10 seconds. According to our personal outcomes, at Orange, that is the case for 89% of net pages in rural areas and 96% in city areas, a distinction of 9 factors. Except that 10 seconds for an internet web page to return up is a very long time! We subsequently additionally recorded the pages showing on the display in lower than 3 seconds, with the intention to higher meet shopper expectations. With a results of 87% in city areas and solely 71% in rural areas, a distinction of 16 factors, the hole is widening. This development is similar for nearly all operators. Only Free presents comparable and even higher efficiency in rural areas. A phenomenon that's actually resulting from a way more city subscriber base than that of its rivals, therefore the “traffic jams” within the cities.
This disparity between telephony in cities and telephony within the countryside is sadly not about to vanish, fairly the opposite. Admittedly, because the telecom authority asserts, common speeds are rising in every single place in France. Nevertheless, it's clear that they have an inclination to rise sooner in city areas than in rural areas, which additional aggravates the digital divide between territories. In truth, regardless of the efforts made by operators to cowl the entire of France with 3G or 4G, too many French folks nonetheless dwell in white areas the place they don't obtain any sign.
And when an space is alleged to be “covered”, this doesn't imply that the community is accessible in every single place, nor that the velocity delivered is adequate to take full benefit of your cellphone. It remains to be quite common that residents do not need the potential for bringing competitors between operators, and even that they don't have any different selection than to go to the underside of the backyard to ship an SMS or have a wire. As for browsing the Internet on their smart phone, as is of course executed within the metropolis, many don't even give it some thought though their month-to-month plan prices them the identical value as elsewhere. The drawback is that operators could boast of deploying 4G within the countryside, however they proceed to commit the overwhelming majority of their investments to enhancing their service in dense areas. They accomplish that with the intention to address inhabitants development and the explosion of bandwidth-intensive makes use of, reminiscent of video or videoconferencing. If they even need to preserve their high quality of service, they don't have any selection however to extend the capacities of present antennas and add new ones. It is at this value that they'll at all times boast of providing the very best mobile community.
The outcomes of our measurements (1)
Data reception (common obtain charges)
The Orange community clearly presents the very best obtain speeds. With an Orange or Sosh plan, you've gotten extra probability {that a} message arrives rapidly and {that a} obtain takes place rapidly. SFR, in second place, is way behind. Free and Bouygues stand in a pocket handkerchief.
Data transmission (common add speeds)
In phrases of quantity debits, the variations are smaller, however Orange stays within the lead, nonetheless forward of SFR. This time, Bouygues Telecom grid politeness to Free Mobile. The add velocity influences specifically the velocity of sending attachments, posting images or movies on social networks, and so forth.
Cities and countryside (share of obtain speeds better than 8 Mb/s)
Urban areas
Rural areas
8 Megabits per second that is the velocity past which a mobile connection is taken into account “good”. Our knowledge exhibits that we're more likely to profit from this velocity in dense areas than within the countryside, besides maybe with Free.
(1) Source: What flow
Queldébit utility • We want you!
The extra knowledge we've got, the extra exact conclusions we will draw and the extra leverage we can have with operators and competent authorities to make issues occur. So don't hesitate to obtain in your smartphone our utility What flow, out there totally free at App Store and on the Google Play Store. After putting in and launching it, you'll be able to select between two checks:
- A fast check, which calculates the downstream fee (in reception), the upstream fee (in transmission) and the latency (the velocity, in a manner). It normally lasts lower than a minute.
- An entire check, which additionally assesses the flexibility to play movies and entry net pages. It brings us again extra info and lasts as much as three minutes.
Then all that is still is to attend. Once the check is completed, every criterion is evaluated within the type of a coloured pictogram (from purple for dangerous to inexperienced for excellent). At the top of the entire check, an general rating out of 10 can also be awarded. It tells you the standard of your connection in the mean time T. A historical past permits you to comply with the evolution of efficiency and a map of France provides an concept of the standard of the connection by zone. Do not hesitate to multiply the checks. To find out all about using Queldébit, click here.
→ Good to know
What flow makes use of so-referred to as “single-thread” expertise and takes under consideration not the very best knowledge, however the common of the outcomes obtained through the check, with the intention to get as shut as doable to the shopper's expertise. In addition, remember that every of those checks consumes just a little knowledge (on common, for the entire part, 30 MB in 3G, 90 MB in 4G and 150 MB in 5G). They are subsequently to be reserved for subscribers with a package deal together with a knowledge envelope.
5G doesn't carry a lot but
A 12 months and a half after its launch, the 5G nonetheless struggling to take off. However, it does let you profit from higher efficiency. According to What flow, linked to a 5G antenna, we've got a downlink velocity of 225 Mb / s, on common, in opposition to 44 Mb / s from a 4G antenna. In brief, it's multiplied by 5! However, to benefit from 5G, you should be in an space coated by this community. For now, only some cities and medium-sized cities are affected, and even then, not all of them. Consequence: you will have a appropriate smartphone and have subscribed to an enough plan, in most circumstances, you'll have to accept 4G. And when you're fortunate sufficient to be linked to a 5G antenna, the outcome will differ drastically relying on the place you might be positioned. Our readings point out that in rural areas, 5G velocity peaks at solely 48.9 Mb/s on common, roughly the identical as 4G. What's extra, our measurements present that the proportion of net pages loaded in lower than 3 seconds is an identical in 4G and 5G. This is defined by the truth that the efficiency of 5G varies in keeping with the zones and the frequencies utilized by the operators. However, on the whole, the place 5G is nice, so is 4G. We are nonetheless removed from the promised revolution.