Orange still offers the best mobile network in 2021, Free Mobile is making the most progress and stands out from … – Univers Freebox

Which operator offers the best mobile network in the different areas of the territory? To answer this, Arcep takes the plunge on the 22nd edition of its annual survey to assess the quality of service of metropolitan mobile operators. Orange is once again the big winner. Free Mobile is improving and performing in rural areas.

The dynamic of the deployment of 4G and 5G networks continues at a rapid pace in 2021, the subscribers of the four operators will not all be able to say the opposite. On November 19, Arcep is publishing the results of its mobile services measurement campaign over the year: “A clear increase in the quality of service for mobile internet, after 2020 marked by the health crisis”, summarizes the regulator.

In total more than 1 million measurements in 2G, 3G, 4G, and for the first time, in 5G, were carried out in all the departments, from May to September 2021, on the places of life – inside and in outside buildings – and in transport. The survey focused on the most popular mobile services: web browsing, video playback, data transfer, SMS and voice calls.

So which operators performed the best depending on the area? Unsurprisingly, Orange confirms its leadership position for the eleventh consecutive year and “Displays the best results by finishing 1st or 1st tied out of 366 of the 403 criteria measured”, he congratulates himself this morning. The incumbent operator remains the leader in the quality of mobile service with an offer and a 4G terminal, data, voice and sms, in dense, intermediate, rural and tourist areas, on highways and on all rail axes (TGV , metro, transiliens, RER, intercités).

Free records the best progress in mobile quality of service

Starting from afar, Free Mobile recorded the best progress on all mobile quality of service indicators. “We are the second operator who has made the most progress compared to last year with, in particular, an improvement rate of + 55% on speeds in all areas combined.”

On this level, the debit Average measured for Orange is 110 Mbit / s, followed by SFR (69 Mbit / s), then Bouygues (55 Mbit / s) and Free Mobile (50 Mbit / s). In rural areas, Free mobile offers the second best average speed, behind the historical operator. “This translates into very good results in terms of usage: Free is second in terms of web page display speed and video viewing (streaming). Entering the mobile market 15 years after the other players, Free now stands out as the 1^er alternative operator in sparsely populated areas ”, welcomes Xavier Niel’s operator.

Lagging behind on speeds, Free Mobile is at first seen penalized by the test mode, namely in “single-connections”, that is to say consisting in opening and using a single connection flow between the mobile and the server where the file to download is hosted. While it is currently the majority use on the internet according to Arcep, this protocol may reveal the efforts to optimize operators’ networks in this direction but also the differences between the speeds measured by the regulator and those from applications such as nPerf favoring “multi-connection” tests, which put more emphasis on the “maximum capacity” of the network in terms of throughput. For its part, Free Mobile seems to limit the downloading of a single file. The reasons for this clamping are not known, but this limitation gives very different results depending on the mode chosen.

Be that as it may, the quality of mobile Internet service has improved markedly in general thanks to the investment policy of telcos. “This trend is particularly visible for the results of web browsing and online video viewing tests: in dense and intermediate areas, Orange can display web pages in less than 5 seconds in 98% of cases, followed by Bouygues. Telecom (96%), SFR (95%) then Free Mobile (93%). In rural areas, Orange (90%) is this time ahead of Free Mobile (83%) then Bouygues Telecom and SFR (81%), reveals the regulator.

As for viewing video (streaming), in dense areas Bouygues Telecom is ahead of Orange, when their two other rivals bring up the rear In intermediate and rural areas, Orange is in the lead, with a 4-point lead over its competitors, with Free placing second in streaming in the campaigns.

Pfirst measures of 5G quality of service, Orange ahead on speeds, Free hits the mark

For the first time, Arcep has implemented a protocol to test the quality of service for a subscriber with a plan and a smartphone compatible with 5G. Orange thus offers the best downlink speeds, with an average of 142 Mbit / s throughout France. “The operator’s 5G subscribers in dense areas, where most of their 5G sites are deployed, have an average of 227 Mbit / s. It is followed by SFR, with 84 Mbit / s on average throughout France and 145 Mbit / s only in dense areas, then Bouygues Telecom (71 Mbit / s on average, 130 Mbit / s in dense areas). Free is last with 31 Mbit / s on average, with little difference between dense areas and intermediate or rural areas ”, reveals Arcep.

Covering more than 70% of the population in 5G by choosing to deploy the 700 MhHz band in addition to the 3.5 GHz cozur band, Free Mobile today relies on a narrow network of the territory to import it on the “hook rate” of 5G, that is to say the share of speed tests carried out with 5G compatible measurements which have effectively “used” 5G to download files. On this indicator, Free is 2^th in dense areas, and very largely 1^er in intermediate, tourist and rural areas.