Published On: Fri, Jan 30th, 2026

UK’s mobile networks rated with one clear winner trouncing the field


The latest results are in, and the UK’s mobile networks have been ranked according to 15 different factors to find which is currently considered the best in the land – and it’s good news if you are an EE customer.

That’s according to Opensignal, the network analytics firm, which has crowned EE best mobile network in 11 of the 15 categories, including top spot for both reliability and consistent quality. The BT-owned mobile provider was also found to offer the faster overall speeds and was ahead of the competition when it comes to 5G coverage.

Rival network Three won out for the fastest 5G connection, while O2 came top for overall coverage nationwide.

Opensignal claims to collect billions of measurements every day globally, and can analyse mobile network performance. These results are in the firm’s latest Mobile Network Experience Report, which covered the three months from October 1 to December 29, 2025.

“EE wins both the Reliability Experience and Consistent Quality awards outright, scoring 915 points (on a 100-1000 scale) for Reliability Experience and 78.6 percent for Consistent Quality,” Opensignal said.

“EE’s lead indicates its users are most likely to connect and successfully complete everyday tasks — and that they most often see ‘good enough’ performance for more demanding mobile app use.”

EE clocked the top result of 53.2 Mbps for average download speeds, with Three hot on its heels with 51 Mbps. Vodafone lagged behind with 37.5 Mbps, and O2 in last place on 32.8 Mbps.

It’s also good news if you are on Lyca Mobile, 1p Mobile, Spusu, Ecotalk and Talk Home, as these independent operators lease the EE network, meaning their customers can enjoy the perks of its performance.

EE also won for video, games, upload speeds, 5G video, 5G games, time on 5G, and 5G availability.

Notably, while EE won 11 metrics followed by Three with three and O2 with one, none of the 15 categories were won by Vodafone.

“Following the completion of the Vodafone–Three merger in mid-2025, the UK mobile market has entered a period of significant structural change,” said Andrey Popov, Principal Analyst at Opensignal. “While the merger represents a major milestone for the industry, Vodafone and Three continue to operate as separate consumer brands, with network integration still underway.”

The results come as O2 is in the process of turning off its older 3G networks for good, with EE, Vodafone and Three having already totally switched off theirs, making more airwaves available for 4G and 5G coverage. All of the UK’s networks still maintain their 2G networks for basic calling coverage, though these networks are pegged for closure by 2033.

You can read through the results in the full report on Opensignal’s website.



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