We want reliability over speed say phone users

UK customers consider reliability to be more important than speed when choosing their phone network.

In a national survey by Global Wireless Solutions (GWS), 41 per cent said what matters most is reliably getting a connection, not its speed. Only one per cent said speed was more important while 36 per cent said they were equally important.

This view was reflected in the problems people commonly experience. Around 30 per cent regularly suffer websites and apps failing to load, the survey found, while 19 per cent say phone calls often disconnect.

Customers seem to be reasonably satisfied by the current speed of phones. Nearly 80 per cent of people deem four to six seconds to be an acceptable time to wait to complete activities on their device, such as loading a website. GWS, which tests and analyses networks around the world, says UK operators hit that speed 96 per cent of the time.

GWS said customer satisfaction with existing speeds casts doubt on how much public appetite there is for 5G. Dr Paul Carter, head of the company, said that using your phone “is not a race”.

He added: “After all, what difference does it really make if your network is a few megabits faster if you can already stream your favourite video, and open apps without issues, but are still struggling with dropped calls?”.

GWS’S research also revealed that O2 was the most reliable network in half of the 36 UK locations where it ran tests, including Birmingham and Glasgow. EE came top in 14 places, including Liverpool and London, while Vodafone was top in only four areas. Three wasn’t the most reliable network anywhere. See the full list at www.snipca.com/33973.

What’s more important to you – reliability or speed? Let us know: letters@computeractive.co.uk