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Jasper Hart
November 15, 2019
The results revealed there is still work to be done to ensure widespread coverage
Global Wireless Solutions (GWS) have today released the results of their first 5G tests in London.
The mobile network benchmarking firm tested mobile network operators EE, O2, and Vodafone’s 5G network in several locations in London.
The results revealed that there is a lot still to be done to ensure widespread coverage. This is in part due to deployment approaches which can cause the networks to drop back down to 4G, even in densely packed areas of London.
GWS investigated performance in locations where the operators have said they have deployed 5G. In the early months of commercial deployment, EE saw download task throughputs above 350 Mbps during testing at various locations while O2 and Vodafone both experienced download task throughputs above 200 Mbps.
Speed varied significantly throughout the capital and certain locations saw spikes of super-fast connectivity for each network. The testing delivered peaks of over 470 Mbps at St Paul’s Cathedral, 330 Mbps from O2 at Victoria Station and over 320 Mbps from Vodafone in Belgrave Square.
Upload speeds saw maximum task throughputs of over 60 Mbps for Vodafone and over 30 Mbps for both EE and O2.
The operators were able to complete 35 per cent of the data tasks at download speeds above 100 Mbps and 46 per cent of the tasks at upload speeds above 20Mbps. The speeds are three to four times faster than what GWS found during their previous 4G testing in London.
CEO of GWS Paul Carter said: “In the early stages of 5G deployment in London, the speeds we witnessed indicate signs of good things to come for consumers that have a 5G phone – especially in comparison to what we have observed in previous 4G tests.
“As part of our own additional qualitative research, we discovered that consumers have (over the past 6-7 years since 4G was launched) come to consider the performance of 4G as the new minimum technology standard.
“Although still in its early stages, 5G technology will likely very quickly follow suit as the new normal in the future, so the potential is indeed exciting.”