GWS: London’s 5G networks deliver on throughput, disappoint on latency

Global Wireless Solutions (GWS), a mobile network benchmarking firm, has released the results of its first test of EE, O2 and Vodafone’s 5G networks in London.

GWS observed download task throughputs above 350 Mbps on EE’s (at various locations), while O2 and Vodafone both experienced download task throughputs above 200 Mbps. Speeds varied significantly across the capital, with spikes of ‘super-fast connectivity’ at some locations; with instantaneous peaks of more than 470 Mbps on EE’s network recorded near St Paul’s Cathedral, 330Mbps on O2 at Victoria Station and more than 320Mbps on Vodafone in Belgrave Square. Upload speeds saw maximum task throughputs of more than 60Mbps for Vodafone, and more than 30Mbps for both EE and O2.

Overall, operators were able to complete 35 per cent per cent of the data tasks at download speeds above 100Mbps and 46 per cent of the tasks at upload speeds above 20Mbps. These speeds are three to four times faster than that observed by GWS during previous 4G testing in London.

However, the average latencies observed by GWS during the test period were no different from those often experienced on 4G networks (typically 35-50ms).