{"id":295082,"date":"2019-02-07T09:07:39","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T07:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=295082"},"modified":"2019-02-07T09:09:40","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T07:09:40","slug":"money-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/295082-money-talks.html","title":{"rendered":"Money talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

MyBroadband\u2019s recent mobile network performance drive tests in Gauteng show what many people know – network performance is directly related to network investment.<\/p>\n

Between 1 January and 5 February 2019 MyBroadband conducted 28,567 drive tests in Gauteng using the latest high-end LTE smartphones.<\/p>\n

The phones run a custom version of the MyBroadband Android speed test app which performs download, upload, and latency tests at regular intervals.<\/p>\n

The results show that MTN had the best network performance with the highest download and upload speeds, and the lowest latency.<\/p>\n

MTN was closely followed by Vodacom, with Rain, Telkom and Cell C\u2019s performance far behind the two leaders.<\/p>\n

The table below shows the average network performance and peak performance of the five operators in Gauteng during the testing period.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Average Network Performance – Gauteng Drive Tests<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Operator<\/strong><\/td>\nDownload (Mbps)<\/strong><\/td>\nUpload (Mbps)<\/strong><\/td>\nLatency (ms)<\/strong><\/td>\nPeak Speed (Mbps)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MTN<\/strong><\/td>\n45,616<\/td>\n19,617<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n185,755<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vodacom<\/strong><\/td>\n44,558<\/td>\n18,356<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n172,080<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rain<\/strong><\/td>\n32,037<\/td>\n13,847<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n155,777<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Telkom<\/strong><\/td>\n30,668<\/td>\n4,581<\/td>\n41<\/td>\n119,465<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cell C<\/strong><\/td>\n27,022<\/td>\n13,098<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n92,019<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Network performance closely linked to network investment<\/h3>\n

The performance of the five network operators in Gauteng is closely linked to their network investment in recent years.<\/p>\n

MTN, for example, spent around R37 billion over the last three-and-a-half years on improving its network.<\/p>\n

Vodacom, in comparison, invested around R30 billion in its network over the same period.<\/p>\n

These large network investments enabled the two operators to significantly increase their 4G coverage and roll out the latest network technologies.<\/p>\n

Their network enhancements include deploying advanced antenna technologies like 4\u00d74 MIMO, 3CC (3 Carrier Combining) and advanced features such as 256QAM.<\/p>\n

Smaller operators like Cell C and Telkom do not have the money to match MTN and Vodacom\u2019s network investments and the results show in their coverage and performance.<\/p>\n

This is why Telkom and Cell C have signed 4G roaming agreements with Vodacom and MTN respectively.<\/p>\n

The charts below show the relationship between network investment – over the last 18 months – and network performance.<\/p>\n

Cell C and Rain were not included as accurate network investment figures are not available for them.<\/p>\n

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*The Network Quality Score takes download speed, upload speed, and latency into account, and shows how the network performed in relation to other networks.<\/em><\/p>\n

Coverage is king<\/h3>\n

Many people expected Rain’s average performance to exceed MTN and Vodacom’s because its full network supports 4G.<\/p>\n

The argument was that MTN and Vodacom have countrywide coverage with many of their subscribers residing in areas which are only covered by 3G.<\/p>\n

This did not happen, and the reason is simple: coverage is extremely important to provide a good mobile experience.<\/p>\n

A denser mobile network and better indoor coverage translates into more network capacity and higher average speeds.<\/p>\n

Better coverage also means that subscribers are, on average, closer to a base station when using their phones – which improves performance.<\/p>\n

It is therefore not surprising that MTN and Vodacom, which have the best coverage – especially 4G – in South Africa, also have the best network performance.<\/p>\n

Tests performed on the networks<\/h3>\n

The images below show the successful tests performed in Gauteng over the last month, which loosely relates to the coverage of the five operators.<\/p>\n

Each red dot with a green circle around it represents one test. Bigger red areas represent multiple tests in the same area.<\/p>\n

The more red areas an operator has, the better its coverage was during the testing period.<\/p>\n

\n

MTN Tests<\/h3>\n

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Vodacom Tests<\/h3>\n

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Rain Tests<\/h3>\n

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Telkom Tests<\/h3>\n

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\n

Cell C Tests<\/h3>\n

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Now read:\u00a0MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to mobile network performance, it is all about the money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":262639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[355,35,42,57272,43716,109,41],"class_list":["post-295082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-cell-c","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-network-performance","tag-rain","tag-telkom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295118,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295082\/revisions\/295118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}