Report: BT leads UK in fixed broadband customer experience
July 3, 2024
MedUX, a specialist in international fixed and mobile network testing and benchmarking, has released its 2024 benchmark report on fixed broadband performance across the UK. The research reveals that BT not only leads in fixed broadband network responsiveness, but is also able to provide the overall finest Quality of Experience (QoE), with a score of 4.59 out of 5.
Using an independently developed scorecard, MedUX evaluated the performance of operators BT, Sky and Vodafone, encompassing various benchmarks essential to fixed broadband service quality and end-user experience. The benchmarking report takes a look at scores measuring a combination of service reliability, speed compliance, accessibility, throughput, streaming, data and OTT experience results.
Consistent Quality of Experience in UK
According to the report, BT achieved the most consistent experience (99.88 per cent service reliability). The operator was subject to more than 900,000 tests to its network, with findings highlighting customers will have the best Data and OTT experience, and a great network responsiveness when it comes to using digital services, providing the finest user experience. The research shows that BT’s FTTC (Fibre-to-the-cabinet) customers enjoy the highest average download speed, reaching 60 Mbps. Moreover, BT achieved the best performance for delivering web browsing (99.92 per cent success rate) and an excellent gaming and streaming experience (99.78 per cent and 99.99 per cent success rates respectively). This, with a steady performance across the whole research duration of three months.
Indeed, according to MedUX’s extended research at European level, BT provides the finest experience benchmarked against comparable ISPs counterparts in countries such as Italy and Greece with predominant FTTC technology.
However, BT did not lead in all metrics within the UK study. For example, the report found that Vodafone is the internet service provider most likely to match its service promises with an average ratio of effective download speed versus what it advertised of 86 per cent, a good mark when benchmarked against the European average of 72 per cent including comparable ISPs counterparts. With less than a 0.5 per cent difference in scores, Vodafone and BT share the lead in network responsiveness and streaming experience. Sky is the second best and second most reliable experience, demonstrating the best performance for delivering social media services with a 99.88 per cent success rate.
UK lagging behind European countries
Despite these encouraging results, MedUX is compiling other European country reports that show that performance of the predominant technology in the UK, FTTC (VDSL), and the most common ISP packages in the UK, with speeds between 30 and 100 Mbps, are lagging behind European leaders. FTTC packages have a worse experience (up to 15 per cent) compared to FTTH (Fibre-to-the-home or more commonly referred to in the UK as full fibre) ones in leading countries such as Spain, Portugal, Sweden, France, Romania and Iceland.
The UK tops the charts in Europe in terms of growth in full fibre deployment, according to FTTH Council Europe’s statistics, but, along with Germany and Italy, still lag many European economies when it comes to coverage and subscribers (penetration). In this regard, fibre investments in the country will be instrumental in providing an optimised and future-proof QoE and competing effectively in the market.
MedUX’s effort to benchmark fixed broadband quality of experience across Europe, and its preliminary research around UK’s FTTH full-fibre broadband packages with downlink headline speeds of 500 and 900 Mbps, show promising results in line with European counterparts. The company expects that this technology will bring many benefits to the end-users in the UK.
“We’re pleased to be providing another first of its kind study on UK connectivity. This report builds upon the momentum from our UK and European-wide 5G quality of experience (QoE) reports, and the recently released Italian fixed broadband QoE study. It showcases the breadth of our benchmarking capabilities – providing unique insights into the state of European connectivity. As operators, regulators and industry bodies continue to have pivotal conversations on the state of connectivity, we look forward to seeing insights from our reports being used so networks can be optimised, improving the overall experience for end users,”commented Rafael González CMO at MedUX.