Network testing firm Ookla (i.e. Speedtest.net, Downdetector.co.uk) has used its crowdsourced data to examine how 5G mobile (mobile broadband) networks performed across a selection of major world cities, including London in the UK, during last year’s New Year’s Eve (Dec 2023) celebrations.
The study essentially analysed how 5G networks coped with the “surge in demand and change in traffic patterns” at New Year, across a selection of major cities featuring some of the largest New Year celebrations around the globe. As part of this, they focused in on median performance alongside the slowest 10th percentile, in order to evaluate the spread of performance from the median user to those experiencing more challenging network conditions.
Firstly, in terms of upload speed (this is most important when sharing social media content from big events), half the cities in their analysis recorded 10th percentile upload performance of less than 1Mbps, with speeds ranging from 0.30Mbps in Berlin, to 6.09Mbps in Dubai. London delivered a median average upload speed of 9.42Mbps, while those in the slowest 10% suffered 0.77Mbps.
It was a similar picture for New Year revellers based on download speeds and latency, albeit with far better overall performance. Dubai topped the table with a median download of 493.55Mbps and a 10th percentile score of 97.52Mbps, while Bangkok came last with a median of 63.25Mbps and a 10th percentile of 2.72Mbps. By comparison, London delivered a mid-table median of 109.12Mbps and a 10th percentile of 12Mbps.
As for latency (milliseconds), the fastest was Rio de Janeiro with a median of 25ms and a 10th percentile of 54ms, while the slowest was Tokyo on a median of 45ms and a 10th percentile of 64ms. Sadly, London was the 2nd slowest on a median of 42ms and a dramatically worse 10th percentile of 116ms (the slowest 10th percentile city was Sydney on 232ms).
The results are something that some people may find interesting, while also helping to highlight areas where mobile network operators may need to invest. But there aren’t too many earth-shattering revelations above, and it would have been more useful had Ookla released this back in January 2024, when the data was still fairly current and thus more reflective.