Fastest 5G mobile broadband provider retains its title

A recent British mobile broadband study focused on 5G services has found that Three UK is still the fastest. The research conducted by network testing expert Ookla collects consumer data from the company’s Speedtest.net service for the period of Q3 to Q4 in 2024.

The results of the report revealed that with upload speeds of 12.94 Mbps and download speeds of 236.25 Mbps, Three UK once more is delivering the UK’s swiftest 5G mobile broadband. However, Ookla noted that its performance has dropped, and is now 1.53 Mbps slower.

It is well-known that mobile data performance is a tricky area to measure, as mobile users are typically moving throughout different areas (outdoor, indoor and underground) and using a wide range of devices that have different capabilities. Additionally, elements in the user’s surrounding environments, like buildings, trees and weather is also changeable and impacts connectivity.

All these factors can affect service before even considering other issues, like network capacity available at different cell sites, or the difference in spectrum ownership existing between mobile broadband operators.

Regardless, Ookla’s most recent study compared almost 3.5 million 5G tests initiated by users, taken with an Android or iOS based mobile application from the UK’s four leading mobile operators: Three UK, Vodafone, EE and O2. After Three UK, Vodafone had the next fastest median upload and download speeds, followed by EE. In last place on the table, O2 had 5G mobile broadband speeds of 8.46 Mbps for uploads and 73.86 Mbps for downloads.