BT Tops Fixed Broadband Quality of Experience in the UK and Across Europe

Join the Quality of Experience (QoE) Revolution in Fixed Broadband and explore the United Kingdom’s network performance. Have you ever wondered which operator offers the best Fixed Broadband Experience in the UK and how it compares to other European peers, and most importantly WHY?

MedUX's comprehensive analysis assessed the performance of the UK's top operators – BT, Sky, and Vodafone – across various metrics essential to fixed broadband service quality and end-user experience.

Our United Kingdom Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmarking report reveals a clear winner and two strong contenders. BT stands out in the UK Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmarking campaign, winning the Top Awards for Best Quality of Experience and Best Reliability.

Why is Fixed Broadband Quality of Experience (QoE) Benchmarking Important in the UK and Beyond

Delivering superior connectivity is crucial in today’s competitive landscape, where consistent and seamless experience is the backbone of our daily interactions. Operators strive to meet the growing demand for fast and reliable Fixed Broadband. 

Satisfied customers are less likely to call customer care, switch to competitors, and they are more open to up - and cross selling opportunities. The race for superior network performance and experience is on.

To help the telecom industry uncover the true Quality of Experience (QoE) of fixed broadband networks in Europe, MedUX conducted a comprehensive benchmarking study during Q1 2024. This study measures fixed broadband performance and quality of experience across major European markets, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Ireland and the Czech Republic. This research reflects our ongoing commitment to revealing the true state of future-proof broadband networks across Europe.

MedUX, the leading internet QoE Testing and Monitoring Company, unveils its latest findings on Fixed Broadband performance in the UK and beyond. 

Fixed Broadband QoE Measurement Campaign in the UK

In our quest to provide comprehensive insights, we have incorporated a rigorous methodology encompassing a broad spectrum of factors such as accessibility, reliability, contracted speed compliance, streaming, gaming and other data & OTT (over-the-top) services. 

Our approach is grounded in extensive in-home performance measurements across 12 regions in the UK. The campaign covered a diverse set of fixed broadband use cases, providing a holistic view of the user experience from the customer’s perspective.

The analysis based on a robust methodology involving more than 3 million tests collected during Q1 2024 in the UK, meticulously evaluated the performance of BT, Sky and Vodafone across various elements essential to fixed broadband service quality.

Considering the current state of FTTH penetration in the UK (Figure 3), the study focused on the predominant technology in the UK, FTTC (VDSL), and the most common ISP packages in the UK, with speeds between 30 and 100 Mbps. The panel used for this study comprises VDSL technology lines and the most representative speed profile, 76 Mbps advertised speed.

As part of our extended testing panel in Europe, which will be considered in our forthcoming 2024/25 research, the most common full-fibre broadband (FTTP) packages with typical DL headline speeds of 500 and 900 Mbps are also being measured. However, the UK still has a FTTH/B market penetration rate of 17% (up from 11% last year). These lines have not been included in the current study.

The MedUX QoE Testing Platform deployed across Europe performs consistent tests 24/7 in all countries, covering the most common VDSL, Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) and FTTH technologies. MedUX conducts more than 25 million Ethernet tests every month from more than 2,000 MedUX HOME devices deployed in eight countries. Each test is performed directly from the homes of users who collaborate with us in this project and host our measurement devices. 

Our research on residential fixed broadband in Europe (Q1 2024) exclusively analyses Ethernet metrics on fixed-broadband status, excluding home wireless-network performance. For this report in particular, data from January to March has been taken into account.

The Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmarking report takes a detailed look at the overall QoE score, measuring a combination of service accessibility (time-to-content), downlink and uplink speed, file transferring, web browsing, streaming, social media and gaming experience results.  

Our team of experienced engineers and data scientists has worked tirelessly to develop a rigorous and comprehensive methodology for testing and benchmarking of fixed broadband networks across Europe. 

MedUX uses a proprietary QoE Score to evaluate the results obtained from our on-the-field measurements, based on international best practices and standards from ETSI and ITU, to compare and rank operators’ performance. This synthetic indicator aggregates a wide set of metrics into a single score, allowing for national and international comparison and in-depth analysis of strengths and weaknesses. 

When comparing at the European level, the results of all fixed network operators per country are aggregated to obtain average country performance and a synthetic QoE indicator at the country level.

Key Findings of the UK’s Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmarking report

According to the extensive report in the UK, BT achieved the best overall QoE rating (4.59 points out of 5) and the most consistent experience (99.88 % 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 great network responsiveness when it comes to using digital services, providing the finest user experience. Moreover, BT achieved the best performance for delivering web browsing (99.92 % success rate) and an excellent streaming experience (99.99% success rate). This, with a steady performance across the whole research duration of three months.

The research found that BT customers received an excellent overall quality of gaming experience with a latency of 24.67 ms during sessions and a 99.78 % success rate, making it the most reliable. BT’s FTTC (Fiber-to-the-cabinet) also achieved the highest average file transfer download speeds, reaching 60 Mbps in the HTTP file transfer test category.  
 

However, BT did not lead in all metrics within the UK study, and it is worth noting that Vodafone and Sky also performed very well in specific categories, as per the following key findings:

1. Best Overall QoE and Reliability (MedUX TOP Experience Awards): BT leads demonstrating the most reliable and best experience in the UK. 
2. Other Experience Awards

• Best Data and OTT Experience: BT also excels in providing the best Data & OTT experience, particularly in gaming, web browsing and file transferring with an average download speed of 60 Mbps. BT delivers the most stable gaming experience with a 99.78% success rate and a packet loss of 0.01%. Overall, this makes it a top choice for users who demand high performance and a reliable time-to-content in these areas.
• Best Matching the Promise: 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%, a good mark when benchmarked against the European average of 72%, including comparable ISP counterparts. 
• Best Network Responsiveness and Streaming: Vodafone and BT stand out for their superior network responsiveness and streaming performance and share both awards (Co-Best with less than 0.5% difference in score). Vodafone provides the finest video streaming experience with 100% stable video playbacks and best Network Responsiveness with a 99.92% success rate, ensuring an excellent overall time-to-content and streaming experience.

   3. Other Significant Experience Insights (Within Data and OTT Category)

• Social Media: Sky takes the crown in this category, offering users the best performance in accessing popular social media platforms. Sky demonstrated the best performance for delivering social media experience with a success rate of 99.88%.

The UK’s Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmark is available on-demand in the following site.

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BT Leads in Fixed Broadband QoE in Europe in FTTC Deployments

According to MedUX’s extended research at the European level, BT provides the finest experience benchmarked against comparable ISP counterparts in countries such as Italy and Greece with predominant FTTC technology. 

Despite these encouraging results, a broader perspective is essential. MedUX’s European country reports, set for release in the coming weeks, position the UK as having an overall experience that has room for improvement compared to leading European counterparts.

In general, FTTC packages provide a worse experience (up to 15%) compared to FTTH ones in leading countries such as Spain, Portugal, Sweden, France, Romania, or Iceland. In the UK, experience improvements would mostly come from the migration towards full fibre infrastructure, as well as from marginal improvements in current FTTC infrastructure.

However, our preliminary research around the UK’s full-fibre broadband (FTTP) packages with downlink headline speeds of 500 and 900 Mbps, shows very promising results in line with European counterparts. MedUX expects that this technology will bring many benefits to the end-users in the UK.

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 lags behind 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 Quality of Experience (QoE) and competing effectively in the market. 

According to data published in the September 2023 first edition of the FTTH Market Panorama Report by country made by IDATE, the number of FTTH and Fibre-To-The-Building (FTTB) subscribers in Europe increased by 10.4% in EU 39  , during the last year, surpassing 224 million users in September 2023. 

Among the countries sampled in this report, Spain and Portugal lead the way in European FTTH deployment with a penetration of 78% and 73%, respectively. As can be seen in Figure 5 Iceland, Portugal and Romania are very close to Spain in market penetration, considering FTTB deployments in addition to FTTH, whereas the UK has a market penetration rate of 17% (up from 11% last year). The EU39 countries have an average market penetration rate of 35%.

The data also shows that the UK has a coverage figure of 57% (up from 42% last year). By comparison, the EU39 countries have a coverage of 70%. Five markets have exceeded the 90% mark, led by Romania with 96.5% FTTH/B coverage, and closely followed by Spain, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Portugal.

Providers that use FTTH not only are able to provide higher speeds, but they also have a future proof technology capable of providing a more consistent and reliable experience than other access technologies, such as xDSL and HFC technologies.

To offer citizens a performance closer to the best-in-class countries in Europe, networks in the UK should accelerate the fibre deployment to improve across the board, firstly in speed and speed compliance, and secondly in services reliability and accessibility. 

We believe that our Fixed Broadband QoE benchmark is an invaluable tool as stakeholders work to optimize fixed network performance and deliver the best possible customer experiences. With our help, regulators and telecommunication operators can stay ahead and meet the growing demands of consumers for faster, more reliable, and more seamless connectivity. 

The UK’s Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmark is available on-demand in the following site.

DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT

Why QoE Matters

Quality of Service (QoS) has long been the industry standard, but MedUX's focus shifts towards QoE - a more holistic view of network performance. This shift is crucial in understanding the real-world implications of future-proof technology, especially as the industry navigates towards the 2030 connectivity targets part of the EU's Digital Decade goal. It is key to accelerate deployment and investment in future-proof infrastructures.

In our continuous effort to demystify fixed broadband performance, MedUX employs its innovative mobile measurement technology, MedUX HOME, harnessing over 200 performance indicators and metrics. This approach not only offers an in-depth analysis of network performance but also aligns with our mission to assist clients in planning, deploying, monitoring, and optimizing future-proof networks.

Our fixed broadband QoE benchmark can cover a wide range of scenarios and use cases, including urban, suburban, and rural areas, residential and business locations, or any other strategic locations such as airports, stadiums or conference centres, thanks to our grand-scale flexible deployment capability.

MedUX focuses on evaluating the QoE that fixed end-users have when using telecommunication services, also called customer-perceived network quality or network experience. 

What Do You Get Joining the #QoERevolution with MedUX?

This benchmark allows telecommunications operators, service providers, and regulatory authorities to gain a deeper understanding of the true performance of fixed broadband networks from a customer perspective. 

Speed is not everything and the industry is trying to adapt to meet the needs of customers when using real services. Typical end-users do not necessarily benefit much from download speeds of multiple 100 Mbps (not yet). High-demand users could benefit from 300 Mbps with symmetric downlink and uplink speeds to guarantee an uncompromising satisfactory experience on any online activity see our Blog Post “How fast is enough to enjoy our #StayAtHome?”.

End-users just use a small percentage of those headline speeds when web browsing, streaming, and any other regular internet activities. Indeed, Reliability (how consistent a network performs) or CDN performance (how your contents are served) is way more relevant in the Digital Era than just performing a throughput and ping test against an (optimized) test server to infer the customer experience. 

So, what do users care about in general when it comes to advanced connectivity? A consistent experience across services and applications is king, particularly applications performance and time-to-content everywhere and every time, at every click to a video, website, social network, cloud storage, games, etc. 

Conclusion

The UK’s Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmarking campaign is a testament to MedUX's dedication to enhancing network experiences across Europe. This report builds upon our 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 we gear up for our next edition, which promises even broader scope and deeper insights, we invite you to join us in this journey of technological excellence.

Discover more about our methodologies, insights, and how MedUX is shaping the future of connectivity. For detailed insights and comprehensive data from our Italy’s Fixed Broadband QoE study, visit our [website] or contact us at hello@medux.com.

Don’t forget to follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest updates and news. We are ready to unlock extraordinary digital experiences with MedUX. 

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The UK’s Fixed Broadband QoE Benchmark is available on-demand in the following site.

DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT

To learn more about our Fixed Broadband QoE benchmark, our use cases on competitive intelligence, pre-rollout analytics, and basic troubleshooting, and how it can benefit your business, please visit our website or contact us directly at hello@medux.com.

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 1. EU 39 includes Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom

About MedUX:

MedUX is the leading Quality of Experience (QoE) company, providing comprehensive and innovative solutions for measuring the performance of fixed, mobile, and TV telecommunications networks for telecom operators, governments, and digital enterprises. With a focus on delivering grand-scale, end-to-end network, and service visibility, MedUX leverages real-time customer perspective data and advanced analytics to ensure quality and regulatory compliance, while also offering valuable insights for optimizing networks and improving customer experiences. With a presence in over 25 countries across Europe, America, Africa, and the Middle East, and monitoring over 60 operators worldwide, MedUX’s patented technology and expertise make it a trusted partner for improving the digital experiences of customers everywhere.   

IMPORTANT NOTICE: 

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