Vodafone UK is the most reliable and the fastest network for mobile broadband according to a survey conducted by LCC International, an independent wireless engineering company and paid for by Vodafone.

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.

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.”

Key test results:

Up to 77% faster when downloading a 2MB file (compared to slowest operator performance): Vodafone UK download speeds on mobile broadband are 1.2Mbps/13.54seconds compared to 764kbps/21.44 seconds for Three, 683kbps/23.99 seconds for Orange, 812kbps/20.17 seconds for 02 and 993kbps/16.15 seconds for T-Mobile.
Up to 278% faster to open a web page (compared to slowest operator performance): Vodafone UK’s mobile broadband takes 6.7 seconds compared to 12.7 seconds on Three, 7.45 seconds on 02, 7.8 seconds on T-Mobile and 25.67 on Orange

Source:cellular-news