EE shines as 5G mobile availability improves for all UK operators

The benefits of increasing competition among the four UK mobile operators saw continued 5G improvement for users in terms of availability and other key benchmarks at the end of 2024, even though there was no clear leader for 5G speed experience, according to RootMetrics’ UK state of the mobile union report for H2 2024.

The benchmark testing was carried out using the latest Samsung 5G-enabled handsets sold by retailers to test both 4G LTE and 5G performance on the networks of EE, Three, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone. In all, more than 627,000 tests were conducted across the UK during the day and night, both indoors and outdoors, covering 23,000 miles and 787 indoor locations.

Among the topline findings for the Mobile union report for H2 2024 was that BT-owned EE maintained its position as the UK’s overall leading network, winning or sharing every UK-wide RootScoreAward. Notably, EE has won the UK Overall RootScore Award outright in every test period dating back to H2 2013, giving EE the prestige of being rated as the UK’s best network for 11.5 years running.

Although no operator was awarded the Fastest 5G Experience in the UK, EE, Three and Vodafone each delivered 5G median download speeds exceeding 200 Mbps in UK-wide testing, while Virgin Media O2 trailed at 82.8 Mbps. 

All four UK operators continued to show improved 5G availability in RootMetrics’ testing, with EE, Three and Virgin Media O2 all demonstrating 61% 5G availability during UK-wide testing. While Vodafone trailed at 48.3%, all operators showed improvement in comparison to a year ago during H2 2023 testing, where no operator offered 5G availability above 60%.

EE also posted the fastest UK-wide median download speed at 89.9 Mbps, nearly double that of closest competitor Vodafone which offered 49.9 Mbps. It also secured Best 5G Experience honours for the second consecutive test period through its “combination of widespread 5G availability and strong performance”.

Looking at the individual operators, the study singled out Three for sharing the UK Text RootScore Award with notably strong performance in metropolitan markets, recording median download speeds above 50 Mbps in 13 out of 16 markets tested – the second highest mark of any operator. Although Three trailed EE and Vodafone for both awards and speeds, its 33 RootScore Awards nearly doubled Virgin Media O2’s total of 17.

Improving its rankings in several UK-wide categories while increasing its award tallies in both nation and metro testing, Vodafone performed well overall. Its 5G network delivered strong results, with the operator recording median 5G download speeds above 100 Mbps across all 16 markets tested.

The operator increased its RootScore Award tally in major cities from 35 in the previous report to 45 in H2 2024. However, its median download speed interval results only showed modest improvement, with median download speeds above 100 Mbps in one more city than in the first half of 2024.

Virgin Media O2 was the only operator that didn’t record any median download speeds over 100 Mbps in major cities, and the operator recorded the only sub-20 Mbps median download speed during testing with 14.8 Mbps in Southampton.

Yet despite trailing in awards, RootMetrics found VMO2 had showed improved 5G availability in 15 out of 16 cities tested, while posting faster median 5G download speeds in a majority of the cities tested.