SignalTrackerPro shows the performance of your mobile operator in maps and graphs. Here's how to tell if this is good, bad or average.
You can benchmark your operator’s performance by comparing its download speeds and signal strength with the average, and this figure depends on whether you live in a city, suburb or rural area.
To have a reasonable smartphone experience – from watching videos to making calls and using social media – you need a download speed of 20 Mbps. That’s according to a world leader in actually making mobile base station equipment, Ericsson. Beyond that speed, users will only see small improvements, the company says.
SignalTrackerPro tells you how many tests are over 20 Mbps in the Speed Tests and Technology tab.
Our regular east of England traveller, who uses O2, is getting above 20 Mbps in 52% of tests, as shown below.
O2 speed tests results split into ranges of 0-5 Mbps, 5-20 Mbps etc
Good signal strength is needed to make calls and get internet access. It is shown on the Operator Performance tab and is categorised into Good, Moderate, Usable and Poor or nonexistent.
The quickest test is how often you get a reasonable signal i.e. not Poor or nonexistent. Our east of England traveller is getting this acceptable level 83% of the time.
The UK is about mid-table in many studies of mobile network performance, so it makes an excellent benchmark. Download speeds and signal strength vary by area type, as shown below.
Methodology here
So should our user be pleased with their operator’s performance? It is about average. They are moving between inner cities, suburbs and rural areas so their download performance of 52% at over 20 Mbps, is about midway between the rural figure of 36% and the city score of 63%. The same applies to their “usable or better” signal score of 83%.
On the other hand, in about half of this user’s speed tests are sub-standard – less than 20 Mbps – so another operator might be better. Or similar performance may be available at a lower price.
Whether another operator would be better depends on factors which are personal to you, like which base stations are nearest to the places where you need connectivity. So the best test is put the competitor’s SIM card into your mobile phone and use SignalTrackerPro to make a real world comparison.
