Survey reveals mobile broadband speeds throughout the day

Mobile benchmarking company Opensignal recently generated some interesting insight on how download speeds on both 5G and 4G networks across providers compare, both at different hours of the day and in general.

The recent research is based on crowdsourced data collected from users on a diverse range of devices between the dates of March 1 and May 29, 2023. It analysed data from provides like Three UK, Vodafone, EE (BT) and O2 (VMO2)

The study found that 5G speeds fell by a similar amount to 4G for most of the day. However, it noted that 4G seemed to be more resilient than 5G speeds in the afternoon and morning. It also found that users of both mobile network generations experience the lowest average speeds in the hours between 6:00 and 9:00 pm.

Furthermore, the research uncovered that 5G still supplied the most optimum speeds at every time of day, in most cases by a substantial margin. 5G download speeds for users were recorded to be from 3.9 to 4.3 times quicker than 4G over the three-hour periods of the days analysed by Opensignal.

In terms of performance for different mobile providers, users of Three UK experienced the swiftest 5G download speeds throughout the day, but also suffered the greatest loss of speed during busier times compared to the 3:00 am to 6:00 am early morning peak.

In comparison, customers of EE customers enjoyed the fastest 4G speeds throughout the day, while both Vodaphone and EE users saw relatively small drops in download speeds during the early morning peak hours.