Author: Dave Andersen

Dave Andersen is a Marketing Program Manager at Ookla, where he creates enterprise and consumer content across Ookla’s brands. Dave got his start in the telco space in 2012, producing content for RootMetrics. Dave has a bachelors in marketing from Washington State University and studied creative writing in Oklahoma State’s MFA program.
Ookla Research™ Articles
| April 11, 2025

Keeping Customers Loyal: Data-Driven Strategies to Prevent Churn

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Every telecommunications provider faces the challenge of customer churn — the rate at which subscribers cancel or switch providers over a given time period. While churn is inevitable, it isn’t cheap. Industry studies consistently show that acquiring a new customer costs 5 to 25 times more than keeping an existing one. Despite this economic reality, many internet providers struggle to identify the specific factors that drive customers to switch services.

As new technologies like 5G and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) transform the telecommunications landscape, providers need to look beyond traditional metrics like download speed to understand and improve customer satisfaction. Network responsiveness and the quality of everyday connected experiences – like video conferencing, streaming movies, and online gaming – play crucial roles in retaining customers. But without access to granular data and insights into these actual user experiences, providers risk misallocating resources and missing opportunities to address the true drivers of churn.

Ookla’s crowdsourced data provides these key insights by capturing both Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS) metrics, along with provider ratings and Net Promoter Scores (NPS), to reveal the reasons behind customer churn. In this article, we’ll explore how these comprehensive measurements help providers pinpoint churn factors, improve retention strategies, and optimize user experiences. For a deeper dive, check out our webinar “Why Customers Leave: Preventing Churn with Crowdsourced Data.”

The Connection Between Network Performance and Customer Retention

Customer decisions to stay or leave are heavily influenced by network performance. While promotional offers and pricing strategies play a role in these decisions, long-term retention also depends on delivering a fast, consistent, and responsive experience. Providers that fall short risk losing subscribers to competitors that consistently meet customer expectations.

A recent Ookla analysis revealed a striking pattern across the United States: providers with higher percentages of low-latency connections consistently achieve better customer satisfaction scores and higher retention rates than those with slower, less responsive networks. The impact of low latency on customer loyalty is particularly clear when looking at customer satisfaction for users on fiber compared to those on non-fiber networks:

  • Fiber networks averaged a 3.84 customer rating (on a 5-point scale) versus 3.17 for non-fiber connections.
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) — a standard customer loyalty metric that measures willingness to recommend a company on a scale from 0-10 — showed an even more dramatic difference, with fiber networks achieving positive scores of around +20 while non-fiber networks averaged -16.5.

While providers have traditionally emphasized download speed in their marketing and performance assessments, our data shows that latency may play an even bigger role in keeping customers happy and reducing churn.

Beyond Speed: Understanding QoS and QoE Metrics

For decades, the telecommunications industry has typically focused on a single metric — download speed — as the primary measure of network quality. With download speed often viewed as a proxy for overall bandwidth, the assumption was that more bandwidth would generally lead to a better user experience.

However, speed alone doesn’t fully explain why customers with objectively fast connections can still experience issues like slow video buffering, delays in real-time applications, or inconsistent app performance. Other network factors — particularly latency — can significantly contribute to these problems, often leading to user frustration and, in some cases, prompting them to switch providers. 

That’s why it’s crucial for providers to gain a more holistic view of performance that reflects how customers actually experience their network in daily life. Ookla collects this comprehensive data through two complementary approaches:

Quality of Service (QoS): Measuring What Networks Deliver

Quality of Service measures the technical aspects of network performance that affect user experience, including speed and latency, which influence how well a network can deliver a smooth, consistent connection.

QoS is measured when users actively run a Speedtest. These tests capture key network performance metrics, including:

  • Download and upload speeds (measuring network capacity)
  • Latency and jitter (measuring network responsiveness)
  • Network provider identification and connection type (mobile, fixed, Wi-Fi)

Quality of Experience (QoE): Measuring Real-World User Experiences

Quality of Experience metrics examine how users actually experience the network during everyday digital activities. These metrics provide insights into how various network types perform across key performance indicators that directly impact user satisfaction. From streaming Netflix and video chatting with colleagues to competing in online games, network performance plays a significant role in shaping the user experience.

QoE metrics are primarily collected through Ookla’s embedded SDK across hundreds of applications in the digital ecosystem, measuring performance across various network types, including fiber and non-fiber connections. Here are some notable performance differences observed between fiber and non-fiber networks based on QoE metrics:

  • Video streaming: Metrics like video start time show significant differences between network types, with fiber connections averaging 1.47 seconds versus 1.76 seconds for non-fiber, a 16% improvement that reduces buffering when starting videos or changing resolutions.
  • Web browsing: Page load times on fiber networks averaged 1.12 seconds compared to 1.35 seconds for non-fiber, a 17% faster experience that adds up to significant time savings during extended browsing sessions.
  • Video conferencing: Across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and WhatsApp, fiber networks delivered conferencing latency of 51.56 ms versus 79.43 ms for non-fiber, a 35% improvement that, combined with other network factors, contributes to more consistent video and audio quality.
  • Gaming: Lower latency in fiber networks can create substantial competitive advantages in gaming. Ookla data shows fiber networks deliver gaming latency improvements ranging from 22.8% in Atlanta (48.95 ms vs 63.33 ms) to 62.2% in Seattle (39.35 ms vs 104.18 ms). For gamers, milliseconds matter – faster network response means more immediate reactions to controls, giving players a smoother experience and potential edge.

No one likes a laggy game, a frozen video call, or a sluggish webpage — and when frustration piles up, customers often start looking for a better option. Ookla’s QoE and QoS insights can help providers stay ahead of customer experience issues and make the kinds of improvements that keep users happy.

Understanding Churn: Where Customers Go and Why They Leave

It’s not enough to know that customers are leaving — providers need to know where they’re going and why. Traditional churn metrics only tell you that subscribers are switching, but they typically don’t reveal which competitors are gaining them or which locations are most affected.

That’s where Ookla’s Net Flow Percentage analysis comes in. By tracking aggregated, anonymized user data, providers can pinpoint exactly where they’re losing customers, find patterns in subscriber movement, and see how network performance correlates with subscriber losses or gains. Net Flow Percentage analysis helps providers:

  • Identify location patterns by analyzing service areas with changing usage trends
  • Observe provider transitions to understand shifts in market share over time
  • Calculate Net Flow percentage as the difference between users gained and users lost in a given area

When combined with performance metrics, Net Flow Percentage analysis offers key correlations that can guide targeted technical improvements where they’ll have the greatest impact on retention, while also revealing potential reasons behind churn. 

How ISPs Can Prevent Churn

Providers can no longer afford to simply react to customer churn; they must be proactive in staying ahead of potential issues and actively fostering loyalty. Strategies that focus on continuously enhancing the customer experience are now essential. Ookla’s data provides valuable competitive benchmarking and insights to help identify and prioritize areas for optimization. Using this information, providers can deliver a high-quality user experience that minimizes churn and strengthens long-term customer relationships.

With data-driven insights, ISPs can focus on strategies to improve customer retention:

  • Fiber Deployment (FTTH) Expansion: High-performing fiber networks consistently deliver faster speeds and more reliable performance compared to non-fiber alternatives, providing a superior experience that helps reduce churn.
  • Low Latency: Providing users with consistently low latency is crucial for ensuring a smooth and responsive network experience, particularly for activities like video conferencing, gaming, and web browsing. Providers that deliver low latency tend to see higher customer satisfaction and reduced churn.
  • Quality of Experience Optimization and Proactive Monitoring: QoE metrics track critical user experience factors like video start times and service stability, allowing providers to monitor and address issues proactively, preventing dissatisfaction and minimizing churn risks.

Implementing proactive strategies to reduce churn enables ISPs to enhance customer satisfaction and build lasting loyalty, providing a strong competitive edge in the fast-evolving telecom industry.

Turning Insights into Action: Real-World Examples of Churn Prevention

Understanding why and where customers leave is only valuable if it leads to proactive, targeted action. Ookla’s analysis has pinpointed several examples where granular insights into network performance, user behavior, and technology gaps directly guided providers to address the root causes of churn:

  • Tackling Performance Issues: Small performance degradations can drive major customer losses. One provider observed that a 25% increase in YouTube and Google loading times coincided with significant customer departures. After network infrastructure upgrades at key connection points, web performance improved and customer retention stabilized.
  • Addressing Network Technology Gaps: Disparities in technology can significantly impact customer decisions. Data from Houston showed fiber networks delivering 10x faster speeds than non-fiber alternatives (477 Mbps vs. 47 Mbps), while users in Seattle experienced dramatically higher latency on non-fiber networks.
  • Leveraging Early Infrastructure Investments: Providers who deployed fiber early captured significant market share that continues to grow. This underscores the importance of timely network upgrades and the need for providers to accelerate fiber deployments, optimize latency, and consistently enhance the quality of experience to maintain competitive advantage.

While customer churn remains a major concern among telecom providers, those who leverage crowdsourced data to identify specific performance issues and technology gaps gain a decisive advantage. The key is targeting investments with precision, creating a virtuous cycle — better performance drives higher satisfaction, reduced churn, and ultimately stronger returns on infrastructure investments.

Conclusion: Using Data-Driven Insights Reduce Churn

The bottom line is that keeping customers is much cheaper than replacing them. That’s why understanding why they leave — and taking steps to prevent it — is so critical. By leveraging insights from Ookla’s QoS and QoE data, providers can gain a comprehensive understanding of both network performance and its impact on real-world user satisfaction.

With a clearer picture of the factors that drive churn, providers can address issues like slow speeds, high latency, and inconsistent experiences. Providers that invest in fiber, consistently deliver low latency, and proactively monitor QoE are better positioned to keep their customers happy — and prevent churn.

Why customers leave: Preventing Churn

For more on how Ookla’s crowdsourced data can help your enterprise reduce churn, reach out to our team! And if you want a deeper dive into applying these insights to your strategy, check out our recent webinar “Why Customers Leave: Preventing Churn with Crowdsourced Data.”

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

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Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 21, 2025

Bridging the Digital Divide: How Regulators Use Crowdsourced Data to Improve Rural Connectivity

Network Performance

Digital connectivity has become essential for modern life, with access to high-speed internet now allowing people to work remotely, access education, receive healthcare services, and participate in online commerce and banking. Yet a stark digital divide persists: while 40% of urban centers globally enjoy download speeds exceeding 100 Mbps (sufficient for most demanding online activities including HD video streaming and remote work), rural communities across the world — including in Africa, Central and Southern Asia — often struggle with slow connectivity or none at all. These disparities can create profound differences in opportunity, limiting the potential for many communities worldwide.

To effectively address connectivity gaps, regulators and policymakers need granular, accurate data on real-world network performance, and that’s where data from Ookla® can help. Crowdsourced data from Ookla’s Speedtest® provides crucial insights into actual user experiences, helps identify underserved areas, tracks improvements, and holds service providers accountable for deployment promises.

In this article, we’ll examine the current state of global connectivity disparities, explore how the digital divide affects education, healthcare, and economic opportunities in underserved areas, and show how Egypt’s Decent Life Initiative is using data-driven approaches to transform rural connectivity. 

For a deeper look into these topics, including case studies and methodological insights from Ookla and the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt, watch our full webinar.

The State of Global Digital Connectivity

Effective solutions start with an accurate diagnosis. Before meaningful progress can be made in bridging the digital divide, stakeholders need precise data showing where connectivity gaps are widest and which communities are most affected. Without detailed mapping of these disparities, stakeholders risk directing investments to the wrong areas and missing chances to help those most in need. 

A study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center, conducted in partnership with Ookla, revealed several key findings about global connectivity disparities:

  • Many countries in Africa lag significantly behind, with some regions experiencing median download speeds below 3 Mbps.
  • Broadband speeds vary dramatically between and within regions, with 40% of urban centers enjoying speeds over 100 Mbps while others struggle with basic connectivity.
  • A strong correlation exists between connectivity and economic development, with high-income countries enjoying significantly better broadband speeds.
  • In many countries in Africa and other developing regions, mobile networks are more widespread and better performing than fixed broadband networks.

These findings highlight the complex nature of the digital divide and the need for targeted approaches to address connectivity challenges in different regions. By mapping end-user speeds and coverage differences with precision, stakeholders can develop more effective interventions tailored to specific geographic and socioeconomic situations.

Map of Bridging the Digital Divide: Understanding the need

The Real Impact of the Digital Divide

Connectivity gaps aren’t just data points on a map – they represent real barriers that affect people’s everyday lives. When communities lack reliable internet access, they face serious disadvantages across multiple areas of life, as seen in Sub-Saharan Africa, where GSMA reports two-thirds of the population (710 million people) do not currently use mobile internet despite living within the footprint of a mobile broadband network. These impacts include:

  • Limited access to information directly affects civic participation, with disconnected communities unable to access government services, agricultural guidance, and essential public health information.
  • Educational inequality deepens when rural students cannot access digital learning resources and research materials or utilize remote learning options available to their urban counterparts.
  • Healthcare outcomes suffer as communities without reliable connectivity cannot benefit from telemedicine, remote diagnostics, or timely access to medical specialists.
  • Economic opportunities vanish when rural residents cannot participate in e-commerce, access online job markets, or utilize digital financial services

Addressing connectivity problems requires understanding not just where internet access is lacking, but how that absence affects real people in these communities. With this understanding, stakeholders can develop more effective strategies that prioritize the most impactful investments. 

Leveraging Crowdsourced Data for Better Connectivity

When making connectivity decisions, actual user experiences matter more than theoretical coverage maps. Regulators need to know where people are truly experiencing poor or great service, not just where internet providers claim to provide coverage. Ookla’s crowdsourced data reveals these real-world experiences, helping stakeholders make better decisions through several practical applications:

  • Creating precision maps of connectivity disparities by visualizing actual speeds geographically rather than relying on operator-reported coverage claims.
  • Identifying socioeconomic impacts through targeted research, such as the World Bank’s use of Ookla data to discover that 30% of areas near Brazilian educational facilities had inadequate speeds for effective e-learning.
  • Guiding evidence-based policy decisions, as demonstrated in the OECD’s analysis, revealed that rural fixed broadband speeds averaged 31% below national averages even in developed countries.
  • Establishing accountability frameworks, exemplified by South Carolina’s use of Ookla data to track rural-urban connectivity gaps and verify that providers delivered promised service improvements.

The examples from Brazil, OECD countries, and South Carolina demonstrate how empirical, user-generated data provides crucial insights that theoretical coverage models simply cannot offer. With such a granular understanding of actual network performance, regulators can target investments more precisely, measure progress accurately, and hold providers accountable for delivering on any promised improvements.

Graph of Crowdsourcing Helps with Strategic Planning

Case Study: Egypt’s Decent Life Initiative

Egypt’s ambitious Decent Life Project is a comprehensive national development program launched to improve the quality of life in rural areas, with telecommunications infrastructure as a key component. Launched in 2019, it demonstrates how data-driven planning, strategic investment, and public-private collaboration can transform rural connectivity at scale. This nationwide program tackles both coverage and quality issues in some of the country’s most underserved communities:

  • A comprehensive approach targeting 4,500 villages and directly impacting over 58 million Egyptians through improved infrastructure and services
  • Collaborative implementation involving more than 20 ministries, 23 civil society organizations, and numerous volunteers to address connectivity alongside other development needs
  • Strategic two-pillar telecommunications strategy focusing on mobile network expansion (establishing 1,096 new stations) and fiber optic deployment (targeting 2.8 million buildings)
  • Measurable improvements in download speeds across targeted governorates, documented via before-and-after performance testing using Ookla data
  • Innovative funding model combining government funding resources with private operator investments to share costs and accelerate deployment

With 80% of the first phase complete and plans to reach 99% mobile coverage by 2025, Egypt’s Decent Life Project demonstrates how targeted interventions can dramatically reduce rural-urban connectivity disparities. Egypt’s approach also underscores the power of coordinated action across government agencies, private sector partners, and civil society organizations. 

Best Practices for Addressing the Digital Divide

Successful digital divide initiatives like Egypt’s Decent Life Project and many others revealed a crucial insight: technical solutions alone cannot solve connectivity challenges when underlying economic, regulatory, and social barriers remain unaddressed.

Indeed, meaningful change occurs when comprehensive strategies align policy, funding, and technology toward clearly defined connectivity goals. Across initiatives aimed at narrowing the digital divide, several approaches consistently deliver positive results:

  • Data-centric planning that uses granular performance metrics to identify specific underserved areas rather than relying on broad regional generalizations
  • Technology diversity that combines mobile, fixed, and alternative technologies based on local geography, population density, and economic conditions
  • Collaborative funding frameworks that blend public resources with private investment to distribute costs and create appropriate incentives
  • Focus on outcomes rather than specific technologies, allowing solutions to adapt to local contexts and evolving capabilities
  • Parallel investment in digital literacy and relevant content to ensure infrastructure investments translate into actual adoption and usage
  • Continuous performance monitoring to maintain accountability, document improvements, and adjust strategies based on measured results

Practical experience from successful initiatives around the world shows that these elements form not just a theoretical framework but a proven roadmap for accelerating connectivity improvements. By combining data-driven planning, appropriate technology choices, innovative funding, and continuous performance monitoring, countries can make rapid progress even in challenging environments. 

Conclusion

Bridging the digital divide requires a comprehensive understanding of both coverage and usage gaps, strategic investment in infrastructure, and ongoing assessment of performance improvements. As demonstrated by Egypt’s Decent Life Project, crowdsourced data plays a critical role in guiding these efforts and measuring their impact.

When regulators leverage accurate, real-time performance data, they can more effectively address connectivity challenges and ensure digital resources are accessible to all communities. The result is not just improved network statistics but meaningful improvements in education, healthcare, economic opportunity, and quality of life.

For a more detailed examination of how regulators are using crowdsourced data to improve rural connectivity, including additional case studies and methodological insights, check out our recent webinar, “How Regulators Use Crowdsourced Data to Improve Connectivity in Underserved Rural Communities.”  

  

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

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Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| March 19, 2025

5G Standalone: Global Deployment Trends and Monetization Strategies

5G SA

As 5G networks continue to mature globally, the industry is witnessing a pivotal shift toward 5G Standalone (5G SA) architecture, which offers significant performance improvements compared to the initial Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G deployments that began in 2019. This evolution to 5G SA represents not just a technical upgrade but a fundamental reimagining of what mobile networks can deliver to both consumers and enterprises. 

The global 5G SA landscape shows significant regional variations in deployment strategies, performance metrics, and monetization approaches. Using network data from Speedtest Intelligence® and market analysis from Omdia, this article looks at the current state of 5G SA development across different regions and the innovative ways operators are working to monetize these investments.

For a deeper dive into these topics, including expert analysis and interactive data visualizations, watch our recent webinar featuring Ookla and Omdia analysts. Additionally, our collaborative study with Omdia – “Global Evaluation of Europe’s Digital Competitors in 5G Standalone” – provides comprehensive analysis of 5G SA networks, their performance benchmarks, and the business considerations telecom operators face. 

Global 5G SA Deployment Status

Understanding where different regions stand in their 5G journey is crucial for operators planning their network evolution and investment strategies with 5G SA. The global landscape of 5G SA deployment shows striking variations that reflect different market priorities, regulatory environments, and competitive dynamics.

Our analysis shows that China, India, and the U.S. have established clear leadership in 5G SA deployment, with China showing over 80% 5G SA sample share in Ookla’s network measurement data. Meanwhile, Europe lags significantly behind, despite the European Commission setting some of the most ambitious 5G infrastructure targets of any advanced liberal economy. 

These regional disparities highlight the different approaches operators are taking, with some focusing on early competitive launches (to maintain network leadership and cater to the premium market segment), while others are being more cautious and balancing deployment against investment constraints. Several key trends are shaping the global 5G SA landscape:

  • Regional momentum: Despite a slow start, the EMEA region has accelerated its deployment pace, accounting for 70-75% of commercial SA launches in the last two years, with Spain and Austria emerging as regional leaders.
  • Performance gains: 5G SA is delivering consistent improvements across markets, particularly in reducing latency and providing faster median download speeds, with the U.S. emerging as a global performance leader through T-Mobile’s multi-band spectrum strategy.
  • Regulatory impact: Government funding programs and regulatory requirements have proven effective in driving deployment, with countries like Spain (Unico funding program), the U.K. (merger-related coverage obligations), and Germany (spectrum auction conditions) showing stronger progress.

The data clearly shows that no one-size-fits-all approach works for 5G SA deployment, with operators in each market pursuing strategies that reflect their specific circumstances. Countries implementing targeted regulatory measures and spectrum strategies are showing stronger progress, suggesting that supportive policy frameworks play a significant role in accelerating deployment.

Consumer 5G Monetization Strategies

Many operators have struggled to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) despite significant 5G investments over the last several years. With 5G Standalone technology, operators now have new opportunities to create premium offerings that customers truly value, moving beyond simply selling larger data packages.

The most successful operators are finding ways to turn technical capabilities like faster speeds, lower latency, and guaranteed service levels into premium services that target specific customer groups. A recent Omdia survey of 19,000 consumers showed people are willing to pay more for specific benefits like faster speeds, priority video streaming, location-based speed boosts, reduced gaming lag, and better performance for work applications. These consumer preferences are already translating into real-world offerings, with several innovative approaches emerging across markets:

  • Speed tiers: Elisa in Finland offers SA-enabled “5G Plus Premium” with an 18% price premium over standard 5G service
  • Performance guarantees: Three Austria provides bandwidth guarantees for 5G home internet, with premium tiers commanding a 23% price premium
  • Event-based services: Singtel offers special “Event Pass” options for sporting events and concerts, giving customers priority connections when networks are congested
  • Gaming packages: Deutsche Telekom’s 5G Plus Gaming service combines reduced lag times with a bundle of over 100 games for €10
  • Priority connections: U.K. operators target premium subscribers with “Network Boost” and “5G Ultra” services that provide prioritized connections in crowded areas

These early examples demonstrate a clear shift toward more targeted service offerings. Operators are finding that different customer segments have different priorities and different willingness to pay for enhanced services, and the most successful approaches recognize these differences rather than treating all customers the same. While premium operators pursue advanced technical capabilities and guarantees, value-focused providers can still compete effectively with simpler offerings at competitive price points.

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Opportunities

5G Standalone technology is helping operators deliver competitive home internet service through Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), creating new revenue streams beyond mobile subscriptions. The approach varies by market, but the enhanced capabilities of SA networks — particularly through network slicing (creating dedicated virtual sections of the network for different services) — allow operators to deliver reliable home broadband while ensuring mobile customers maintain a good experience.

Effective FWA strategies depend heavily on local market conditions. Some operators use FWA to compete with traditional broadband providers, while others focus on underserved areas where fiber deployment is impractical. Key FWA deployment patterns include:

  • Dedicated capacity management: Operators like Elisa use network slicing to separate FWA traffic from mobile traffic, protecting their valuable smartphone customers while delivering better home internet performance
  • Market-specific strategies: U.S. operators have enough spectrum to deploy FWA widely without needing to separate traffic, while European operators in markets with extensive fiber networks must be more selective about where they offer FWA service
  • Targeted customer segments: FWA appeals to specific customer groups like students and temporary residents who value flexibility, while also serving as an alternative in areas underserved by traditional broadband
  • Competitive positioning: Mobile-only operators use FWA as an entry point into the home to compete with traditional broadband providers

FWA represents a significant opportunity for operators leveraging 5G SA capabilities. Our webinar highlighted how FWA approaches vary significantly by market, with operators adapting their strategies based on spectrum resources, existing broadband infrastructure, and competitive dynamics. These tailored approaches allow operators to target specific customer segments and market gaps where FWA offers the most compelling advantages.

Conclusion

The transition to 5G SA represents both a technical evolution and a business opportunity, but success requires understanding what consumers actually value. Beyond raw speed, consumers care about a consistent quality of experience, and the good news is that 5G SA is already delivering tangible improvements in network performance and the user experience.

Operators deploying 5G SA are recognizing that different customer segments have distinct priorities. By creating tailored offerings that address these needs — whether for entertainment, productivity, or other use cases — they are turning 5G SA’s technical advantages into services consumers are willing to pay more for.

For deeper insights into global 5G SA deployment, performance metrics, and monetization approaches, watch our webinar and check out our comprehensive report “Global Evaluation of Europe’s Digital Competitors in 5G Standalone.”

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

5G SA

About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| February 14, 2025

Cell Analytics in Action: Enterprise Success Stories in the Real World

Cell Analytics

Reliable connectivity powers critical services everywhere, forming the backbone of essential daily operations for businesses and consumers worldwide. From emergency response systems to retail payment processing, connectivity has become indispensable infrastructure for organizations and individuals.

But maintaining consistent connectivity across a range of consumer and enterprise use cases is no easy feat. Emergency responders need reliable communications during disasters. Schools must connect remote students in areas with limited coverage. Retailers require dependable payment processing across thousands of locations. And mobile operators need accurate data to guide infrastructure expansion.

Understanding and solving these connectivity challenges requires detailed insights into network performance, coverage, and user patterns. That’s where Ookla’s Cell Analytics comes in, providing the insights organizations need to make smart decisions about coverage, optimize their networks, and ensure reliable connectivity where it matters most. 

Let’s take a look at some real-world examples of how innovative organizations are using these capabilities to solve critical business challenges and deliver better experiences to their users. 

Bridging the Digital Divide in Education

When remote learning became essential, a major metropolitan school district faced a critical challenge: ensuring all students had reliable internet access. Using Cell Analytics, the district’s IT team mapped connectivity performance against remote learning requirements across their community. 

This data-driven approach allowed the district to strategically deploy school buses equipped with Wi-Fi in low-connectivity neighborhoods, guide students to optimal study locations with better coverage, and target neighborhoods for additional funding and resources. The district also used these insights to identify areas requiring private LTE networks and coordinate with state officials on broadband prioritization initiatives.

A Major Convenience Store Chain: Ensuring Connectivity for POS Systems

A major convenience store and gas station chain with over 6,000 locations across the United States faced an increasingly common challenge among retailers: ensuring reliable connectivity for point of sale (POS) systems in all of their stores. While their primary operations run on wired internet, maintaining consistent connectivity requires dependable cellular backup. 

Using Cell Analytics, the company analyzed coverage from all major carriers at each store location, helping determine the optimal mobile operator for their mobile POS systems at every location. This allowed them to ensure business continuity even during primary network outages, protecting both revenue and customer experience.

Crowdsourced Data for Emergency Response Planning and Recovery

When disasters strike, cellular connectivity becomes a lifeline. Emergency management teams are using Cell Analytics to map coverage strengths and weaknesses across potential disaster zones, with a particular focus on evacuation routes. By precisely identifying areas where carriers provide inadequate service — or where no major mobile operators offer coverage at all — stakeholders can direct funding toward critical improvements before emergencies occur.

The Cell Analytics platform helps emergency planners identify optimal locations for new wireless infrastructure, track changes in network availability over time, and validate coverage along critical routes. Combined with controlled drive testing data that measures call quality and other key metrics, these insights ensure reliable connectivity for first responders and enable more efficient coordination of multi-agency response efforts. As communities work to leverage billions in available funding for improving emergency communications infrastructure, this data can be invaluable for making smarter decisions for improving network performance.

Mobile Network Operators: Data-Driven Network Improvements

Network operators use Cell Analytics to bring sophisticated insights to their network planning and optimization. With mobile data consumption growing exponentially and 5G networks expanding rapidly, operators face increasing pressure to optimize coverage and capacity efficiently. 

The Cell Analytics platform empowers operators to evaluate network performance, quality, and availability while quickly identifying areas for improvement. For instance, it highlights locations where high user density coincides with coverage gaps and pinpoints opportunities to expand capacity at existing macro cell sites.

Operators can use this information to strategically prioritize network optimization and align marketing efforts with coverage and demand. With a clearer understanding of performance metrics, they can enhance service quality, improve efficiency, and reduce operational costs.

Tower and Infrastructure: Smarter Real Estate and Engineering Investments

Infrastructure providers are revolutionizing their approach to real estate decisions using Cell Analytics. Modern tower companies need precise data about actual usage and coverage gaps to make informed investment decisions – data that directly impacts the success of multi-million dollar infrastructure investments. 

The Cell Analytics platform enables tower companies to evaluate potential land acquisitions based on detailed coverage needs and user density data. These insights help identify prime locations for new towers or rooftop installations in high-usage areas. Companies can also make more informed decisions about lease agreements by analyzing actual usage patterns and coverage requirements, ultimately reducing operational expenses. Learn more about Ookla’s solutions for Infrastructure and Tower Providers on our website. 

Conclusion

Mobile connectivity powers more of our world every day — from emergency services to education to basic retail operations and much more. Cell Analytics helps organizations understand and optimize the networks that support these critical connections, enabling enterprises to turn network data into actionable solutions that improve how we live, work, and communicate.

As our reliance on mobile networks continues to grow, the ability for enterprises to make smart decisions about coverage and connectivity becomes increasingly vital. The real-world examples we’ve explored show how Cell Analytics can help solve today’s connectivity challenges while preparing for tomorrow’s demands.

Ready to explore how Cell Analytics can transform your operations? Visit our product page or reach out to learn more about implementing these solutions in your organization.

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

Cell Analytics

About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| January 14, 2025

The Hidden Power of Speedtest: Ookla Enterprise Solutions in Action

Regulatory

Every day, millions of people rely on Speedtest® to get the most accurate, trusted view of their real-world internet performance. Whether streaming 4K content out and about, looking for a reliable connection to work remotely, or managing a smart home hub of devices, people need to know if their connection can keep up with their needs. 

But end users aren’t the only ones that benefit from accurate, real-world connectivity testing information. Businesses, universities, healthcare facilities, and even the leading Internet service providers (ISPs) all use Speedtest to optimize their own networks.

At Ookla®, we sit at the intersection between the service providers tasked with designing and optimizing networks and the consumers that make use of those networks every day. Our insights not only help people choose a mobile or Wi-Fi service provider, we help organizations of every type optimize the networks and services they provide.

Speedtest Powered™ bridges the gap between these two worlds. As part of the enterprise side of Speedtest that most users never see, it encompasses three solutions — Speedtest Custom, Speedtest SDK, and Speedtest Embedded. These tools allow organizations to leverage the trusted testing capabilities that have made Speedtest the global standard for internet performance measurement while maintaining their unique brand identity. Enterprises rely on these solutions to solve connectivity challenges and deliver reliable service across every network touchpoint.

Let’s take a look at how different enterprises are putting these tools to work!

Real-World Data Making a Real-World Impact 

From education to aviation, organizations are integrating Speedtest capabilities directly into their systems to solve critical connectivity challenges. Here’s how they’re putting Speedtest Powered tools to work:

Enhanced Customer Experience for Airline In-Flight Connectivity

Many airlines offer in-flight Wi-Fi as a way for passengers to work or just consume some entertainment during their journey. Some even offer upgraded experiences with faster speeds or longer durations at an additional cost. To ensure the highest level of customer experience, airlines use Speedtest Embedded to consistently monitor Wi-Fi performance across their entire fleet. This solution enables real-time performance tracking and SLA verification, ensuring passengers receive the connectivity they expect (and at many times, pay for) at 35,000 feet. Airline IT teams can quickly identify and address connectivity issues, while flight crews have immediate visibility into network performance.

Remote Testing Solutions for Schools and Enhanced Work-from-Home Efficiency

A school district in a major city integrated Speedtest SDK into their student devices to support remote learning initiatives. With this capability, IT teams can monitor student connectivity without requiring manual testing, ensuring educational continuity and compliance with federal remote learning programs. The solution also helps the school district quickly identify and address connectivity challenges, enhancing both student success and operational efficiency. Similarly, enterprises use Speedtest Embedded to monitor connectivity performance across their remote workforce, enabling both automatic and on-demand testing to their private servers to ensure reliable work-from-home experiences.

Healthcare Innovation

A major healthcare system integrated Speedtest solutions across their operations to ensure reliable connectivity for critical medical services and remote staff. By implementing Speedtest Custom in their facilities, medical teams can verify network performance for bandwidth-intensive tasks like medical image transfers. Healthcare providers also use Speedtest Embedded to monitor connectivity for remote employees, ensuring their IT infrastructure supports seamless operations whether staff are on-site or working from home. This approach helps maintain operational efficiency while supporting the high-performance network demands of modern healthcare delivery.

5G Network Optimization 

A major 5G provider integrated Speedtest SDK into their customer-facing mobile app to gain comprehensive insights into network performance. The solution enables periodic measurements across consumer devices while allowing both customers and support teams to run on-demand tests. This allows the provider to collect over 200 data points — including device information, Wi-Fi details, connection metrics, and location data — helping optimize their 5G network deployment and identify areas needing coverage improvements.

Customer Care Evolution

Relaying experiential information to a customer care rep can be challenging for invisible mediums like cellular and Wi-Fi services. Terms like “slow,” “stuttery,” “sometimes not great,” are instantly cleared up with a simple Speedtest. A leading ISP integrated Speedtest Custom into their support workflow, empowering customers to verify their connection speeds while providing valuable data to internal support teams. This has reduced the need for on-site technician visits and enhanced customer satisfaction through more efficient problem diagnosis and troubleshooting.

Telecom Compliance and Optimization 

A mobile operator in Europe integrated Speedtest SDK into their mobile and web platforms to meet new regulatory requirements for subscriber speed reporting. The solution enabled users to test and report their speeds while providing the operator with comprehensive network performance insights. This breadth and depth of data — including device types, connection quality, and location information — helps the operator optimize their network, diagnose customer issues efficiently, and provide stakeholders with actionable information while meeting regulatory requirements.

Conclusion 

Speedtest isn’t just the tool millions use to check their home internet speeds — it’s also powering network measurement and optimization behind the scenes across multiple industries. 

Through Speedtest Powered solutions — Speedtest Custom, SDK, and Embedded — organizations can integrate trusted performance testing directly into their platforms while maintaining brand consistency. The result? Better data, better insights, and better customer experiences. 

Ready to bring the power of Speedtest to your organization? Visit our product page for a deeper look into our solutions, or reach out to learn more! 

 

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

Regulatory
enterprise
Speedtest

About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| December 19, 2024

Global Broadband Development: Using Ookla Data to Bridge the Digital Divide

Global Speeds

The global digital divide continues to widen. While nearly a quarter of consumer broadband subscribers in developed markets now use gigabit plans – projected to reach 50% by 2029 – developing countries often struggle to keep pace. This emerging “digital divide 2.0” represents not only a gap in access to basic connectivity, but also in the quality of broadband infrastructure. With pioneering countries like Singapore implementing nationwide 10-gigabit strategies, advanced markets are rapidly deploying high-speed fiber networks, whereas emerging markets often struggle to maintain even basic connectivity standards.

To better understand these disparities, comprehensive network data can offer valuable insights into connectivity performance. The Fiber Development Index (FDI) – a collaboration between Ookla, the World Broadband Association (WBBA), and Omdia – benchmarks fiber development across 93 countries by analyzing infrastructure development, market trends, and quality of experience measurements. Using median download and upload speeds, latency, and jitter data from Speedtest Intelligence, the FDI provides crucial insights into actual broadband performance and availability worldwide.

In this article, we’ll examine the current state of global broadband development, explore what sets market leaders apart, and analyze some key challenges facing U.S. broadband expansion. For deeper insights into these topics, including expert analysis from Ookla, the WBBA, and Omdia, watch our full webinar!

Global Broadband Trends

The demand for high-speed broadband continues to surge, with fixed broadband growing at a remarkable rate. Between 2020 and 2023, fixed broadband saw 20% growth compared to just 5% for mobile broadband, and similar growth is projected over the next few years. Three key factors drive this increased demand for gigabit and multi-gigabit connectivity:

  • Connected devices: The number of connected devices per household typically doubles every five years, with projections showing an average of a staggering 45 devices per household by 2030.
  • High-bandwidth applications: Modern applications demand increasingly higher speeds, from 50 Mbps for 4K video to 300 Mbps for 8K content, with next-generation XR applications requiring speeds up to 1 Gbps.
  • Cloud shift: Usage patterns are rapidly evolving from primarily saving files locally to accessing cloud-based services for storage and computing, a transition accelerated by XR and AI applications.

Looking ahead to 2028-2029, about half of all fixed broadband connections worldwide are expected to be gigabit-capable. This shift to fiber networks, which enable both higher speeds and improved latency, is necessary to support these evolving demands.

Fiber Development Index (FDI) Findings

The Fiber Development Index provides unprecedented visibility into global broadband development, analyzing 93 countries across multiple metrics including investment patterns (infrastructure funding, market incentives, regulatory policies) and real-world performance data. 

To enable meaningful comparisons between markets at different stages of development, the FDI organizes countries into three distinct clusters:

  • Cluster One – Advanced Markets: These highly developed fiber broadband markets – such as Singapore, the UAE, and Qatar – demonstrate the impact of strong government support and clear national strategies. Singapore highlights cluster one success stories, with its nationwide fiber initiative.
  • Cluster Two – Transitioning Markets: Markets with developed broadband infrastructure actively expanding their fiber adoption. France, Chile, Switzerland, Australia, and the Netherlands have all improved their FDI rankings through expanded fiber coverage and improved performance metrics.
  • Cluster Three – Emerging Markets: Regions with low overall broadband penetration often face fundamental connectivity challenges. However, success stories like Peru, which jumped 11 spots in the FDI rankings, show how targeted investment and regulatory improvements can accelerate development.

This clustering approach shows that successful fiber deployment isn’t only about current performance; it’s also about the trajectory of improvement and the policies enabling that growth. For example, while Switzerland and Hungary show similar fiber penetration rates, Switzerland’s higher FDI ranking reflects its continued investment in core networks – illustrating how infrastructure commitment can shape a country’s development path.

Solutions and Best Practices

Understanding what drives success in leading markets can help guide countries working to close their own digital divides. From Singapore’s comprehensive strategy for fiber deployment to Peru’s improvements in regulatory policy and infrastructure investment, successful countries share a few key characteristics in their regulatory approaches and usage of data-driven decision making:

  • Effective Regulatory Framework: Leading markets implement detailed national broadband plans with specific targets and timelines. They streamline municipal approvals, promote infrastructure sharing, and provide financial incentives through universal service funds.
  • Data-Driven Planning: Speedtest Intelligence metrics provide granular data on network performance – including speeds, latency, and jitter, among other KPIs – revealing where networks are underperforming against FCC broadband speed standards. These insights help operators target infrastructure investments for maximum impact.
  • Market-Specific Strategies: Success looks different across markets. For example, while Singapore pursues its nationwide 10-gigabit fiber service, other countries are focused on expanding basic fiber coverage. Speedtest Intelligence metrics can help countries set realistic goals based on their current development stage.

U.S. Broadband Progress

To see how these global trends and challenges play out in a specific market, the U.S. presents a unique example of broadband development, with significant variations across states in both coverage and performance. In early 2024, the FCC raised its minimum broadband speed standard from 25/3 Mbps (25 download/3 upload) to 100/20 Mbps (100 download/20 upload), setting a higher bar for adequate connectivity. 

Speedtest Intelligence data from the first half of 2024 reveals how service providers, regulators, and state governments are both making progress and facing persistent challenges in meeting these new standards.

  • State Leadership: New Jersey leads the nation with 66.4% of Speedtest users achieving FCC minimum standards of 100 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed, followed by Connecticut, North Dakota, and Maryland.
  • Urban-Rural Divide: The gap between rural and urban connectivity access varies dramatically by state. Washington state in particular shows a stark urban-rural divide, with 61.1% of urban residents having access to the FCC’s minimum broadband standards, compared to just 28.7% of rural residents. Delaware demonstrates more equity, with 69.2% of urban residents and 66.8% of rural residents having access to these same standards.
  • Infrastructure Challenges: Geographic and terrain factors significantly impact deployment costs and feasibility. States like Alaska face unique challenges with frozen ground and vast distances between population centers, making traditional fiber deployment particularly complex and expensive. Data-driven approaches can help identify where alternative solutions might be more practical.

Breaking Down the Digital Divide
Percentage of urban and rural Speedtest users in each state with access to broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps.

To learn more about connectivity performance in U.S. states, check out our recent analyst report looking at broadband speeds across the 50 states. 

Future Outlook 

The path toward closing the digital divide requires a multi-faceted approach that combines strategic infrastructure investments, supportive regulatory policies, and data-driven decision making. While fiber remains the gold standard for future-proof connectivity, a hybrid approach incorporating fixed wireless access and satellite technology may offer interim solutions for challenging deployments.

Looking ahead, the industry faces several key developments:

  • Accelerating Gigabit Adoption: The shift from basic broadband to gigabit connectivity will continue, with projections showing 50% of connections reaching gigabit speeds by 2029.
  • Investment Priorities: BEAD funding and similar initiatives worldwide will shape deployment strategies, particularly in underserved areas.
  • Technology Integration: Markets will likely adopt hybrid approaches, using a mix of fiber, fixed wireless, and satellite technology to ensure complete coverage. 

Understanding this evolving landscape requires comprehensive network intelligence. Ookla’s complementary datasets – combining Speedtest’s crowdsourced performance metrics, RootMetrics’ controlled drive testing data, and Downdetector’s service outage monitoring – provide stakeholders with the complete picture needed to make informed decisions about broadband development.

For a deeper dive into global broadband development, including detailed analysis of the Fiber Development Index and expert insights from WBBA and Omdia, watch our full webinar on demand!

 

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

Global Speeds
broadband

About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| November 17, 2024

iPhone 16 5G Performance: How Does Apple's Latest and Greatest Compare to Previous iPhones and Samsung Galaxy Flagships?

Consumer

The latest iPhone 16 family of smartphones launched on September 20, and with Black Friday approaching, many potential buyers are considering upgrading to a new iPhone model. But a key question remains: Is it worth it? To help answer that question, we’ve analyzed how the iPhone 16 family of devices measures up against its predecessors in terms of 5G speed and latency during its first several weeks on the market. 

Looking at Speedtest® data from 11 select countries around the world from September 20 – October 20, 2024, we examined whether the iPhone 16 lineup — comprising the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max models — outpaced Apple’s earlier iPhone 14 and 15 families for 5G speed and latency performance. We’ve also compared the 5G speeds and latency of iPhone models with Samsung’s most recent offering, the Galaxy S24 family, including the S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra.

It’s important to note that device performance metrics can vary significantly from one country to another. Factors such as the performance of networks themselves in each country, government and mobile operator investments in 5G infrastructure, spectrum allocations, and the extent of 5G network deployment all contribute to speeds and variations across countries. 

Key takeaways:

  • The Apple iPhone 16 lineup showed a statistically significant lead for median 5G download speeds in five out of 11 countries in this study. 
  • At the slower end of the scale, the Apple iPhone 14 offered the slowest median 5G download speeds in 7 out of 11 countries. It’s worth noting, however, that speed differences between the devices were relatively minor in some of the countries analyzed (see the charts below for details). 
  • The Samsung Galaxy S24 family recorded the lowest (and, therefore, best) median 5G multi-server latency in 8 countries, whereas the iPhone 16 lineup led for 5G latency in one market. 
  • The Galaxy S24 family led on median 5G upload speeds in 8 of 11 countries, while iPhone 14 and 15 devices typically showed the slowest upload speeds. 

To learn more about what speeds mean in real-world terms, check out our article looking at how much speed users need for a variety of daily mobile activities.

Take me straight to the data!

Asia Pacific | Europe | Latin America | North America 

New chipsets and modems in the iPhone 16 lineup 

When investing in an expensive new smartphone, consumers naturally want to know if the upgrade will be worth it. While the iPhone 16 lineup includes various new upgrades and features, let’s look at the components that impact connectivity performance, specifically the chipsets and modems across our study’s devices:

  • iPhone 16 base model and 16 Plus use the Apple A18 system on a chip (SoC), while the Pro and Pro Max models feature the A18 Pro, with all iPhone 16 devices incorporating the Snapdragon X75 5G modem.
  • iPhone 15 base models use the A16 Bionic chipset and Pro models run on the A17 Pro, and both are paired with the Snapdragon X70 5G modem
  • iPhone 14 and 14 Plus models are equipped with an A15 chipset, and the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max feature the A16 Bionic chip. All iPhone 14 devices use a Snapdragon X65 5G modem
  • Samsung Galaxy S24 devices also utilize the Snapdragon X75 5G modem

Do you own one of these devices? See how your speeds compare by taking a quick Speedtest! 

Digging into the data: Where does the Apple iPhone 16 lead its earlier iPhone and Samsung counterparts around the world?  

Early findings from Speedtest Intelligence® show that the latest iPhone 16 family outperformed its predecessors in terms of 5G performance across several of the markets we analyzed. While the performance differences between device families were minimal in some countries, iPhone 16 models demonstrated major speed advantages over previous generation Apple and Samsung devices in markets like Canada, France, Taiwan, and the United States.

Does that mean users in those locations should upgrade immediately? Not necessarily. The decision to upgrade depends on factors other than network performance, from price to new features and plenty of other things. However, our initial data on the 5G capabilities of the iPhone 16 series is encouraging in its early days of release.

Read on to see our complete analysis of all 11 countries in this study or select a region below to dig into more localized results.

Asia Pacific | Europe | Latin America | North America 

Asia Pacific 

“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: India
“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Philippines
“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Taiwan

iPhone 16 shows modest lead in 5G speeds in India

In India, all device families posted strong 5G results, with speeds ranging from 231.94 to 261.57 Mbps. The iPhone 16 lineup posted a median 5G download speed of 261.57 Mbps and the lowest median 5G multi-server latency at 44 ms. The Galaxy S24 family followed closely at 251.17 Mbps for downloads and claimed the top spot for 5G upload speeds at 19.69 Mbps. The iPhone 15 and 14 families trailed but still delivered solid speeds above 230 Mbps, with median 5G upload speeds of roughly 14 Mbps each.

Bottom line: Current iPhone 14 users might be tempted by the 30 Mbps advantage seen with the iPhone 16 lineup in this study. While 5G speeds were excellent across all device families in India, early adopters who want the latest and greatest might find the iPhone 16’s performance edge helps justify that upgrade itch.

Galaxy S24 family leads the Philippines for 5G speeds, while iPhone 16’s show modest advantage over previous iPhones

Speedtest Intelligence data revealed the Galaxy S24 family leading the Philippines market with a median 5G download speed of 158.47 Mbps and the lowest median 5G multi-server latency at 32 ms. The iPhone 16 lineup showed relatively minor improvement over its predecessors, posting a median 5G download speed of 125.68 Mbps, a tick above the iPhone 15 and 14 families (both registered speeds of about 120 Mbps).  

Bottom line: While the iPhone 16 showed slight improvements over previous iPhone generations, the Galaxy S24 family offered the strongest 5G performance in the Philippines, with a roughly 33 Mbps advantage in 5G download speeds.

iPhone 16 lineup leads Taiwan for 5G speed, with impressive performance across all devices

5G speeds were excellent across the board in Taiwan, with median 5G download speeds ranging from 287.83 to 342.37 Mbps. The iPhone 16 lineup led the market with a median 5G download speed of 342.37 Mbps. The Galaxy S24 family followed at 313.96 Mbps and matched the iPhone 16’s 5G upload performance at around 38 Mbps. The iPhone 15 and 14 families trailed the 16 lineup but still impressed with speeds above 287 Mbps.

Bottom line: The iPhone 16 lineup led Taiwan’s impressive 5G speed landscape by roughly 30 Mbps. However, with all device families delivering median 5G download speeds of at least 287 Mbps, users should experience excellent 5G performance regardless of which phone they choose, making the decision to upgrade a bit tricky and potentially more about the new model’s features than about speed.

Europe 

“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Belgium
“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: France
“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Germany

For users in Belgium, the iPhone 16 is worth a look

Speeds in Belgium were strong across the board, with the iPhone 16 lineup clocking a median 5G download speed of 237.37 Mbps. The iPhone 14 and 15 lineups trailed, posting median 5G download speeds of a little over 170 Mbps each. Latency was also impressive in general, with all four device families registering median 5G multi-server latency of 40 ms or better.

Bottom line: The iPhone 16 family’s current speed advantages over its predecessors in Belgium suggest an upgrade might be worth considering for users focused on 5G performance. That said, all devices in the market delivered good speeds that should provide users with quick downloads and strong connectivity overall. 

Upgrading to an iPhone 16 may be appealing for France users

In France, the iPhone 16 lineup led the way for 5G speed with a median 5G download speed of 279.29 Mbps, offering a speed advantage of nearly 60 Mbps compared to older iPhones. The Galaxy S24 family placed second at 242.34 Mbps and posted the lowest median 5G multi-server latency at 38 ms.

Bottom line: With the iPhone 16 lineup clocking 5G download speeds significantly faster than both previous iPhone generations and the latest Samsung devices, users seeking faster speeds may want to consider a new iPhone.

German users could see 5G speed gains with an iPhone 16 

The iPhone 16 lineup led the pack in Germany with a median 5G download speed of 172.69 Mbps, more than 40 Mbps faster than iPhone 14 and 15 models, which delivered speeds of roughly 130 Mbps each. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 series trailed in download speed, but it registered the lowest median 5G multi-server latency in the market at 34 ms.

Bottom line: If you’re using an older iPhone in Germany, the iPhone 16’s speed advantage over previous models – and Galaxy S24 devices – could make it an appealing upgrade option.

Latin America

“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Brazil
“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Colombia

No compelling reason to upgrade just yet in Brazil

All devices in our study showed outstanding 5G speeds in Brazil, with speeds ranging from the iPhone 14’s median 5G download speed of 444.29 Mbps to the Galaxy S24’s 482.95 Mbps. The iPhone 16 and 15 families posted similar speeds of 468.11 Mbps and 465.75 Mbps, respectively.

Bottom line: Brazil was home to the fastest 5G speed on an iPhone in our 11-country study, with even the “slowest” speed in the market outpacing the top performers in other markets by over 100 Mbps. With all device lineups performing exceptionally well, the decision to upgrade in Brazil might come down to features rather than speed.

Galaxy S24 outpaces the iPhone 16 lineup for 5G speed in Colombia

The Samsung Galaxy S24 family had a performance edge in Colombia, with its median 5G download speed of 246.05 Mbps coming in about 50 Mbps faster than its iPhone competitors. Its median 5G upload speed of 35.66 Mbps also led the market. All three iPhone lineups posted median 5G download speeds ranging from 181.27 Mbps to 195.25 Mbps.

Bottom line: The Galaxy S24 series led for 5G performance in Colombia, but when deciding whether to get a new device, raw speed isn’t always everything. Apple enthusiasts might consider the iPhone 16’s complete feature set and strong 5G speeds (even though they trailed those of the Galaxy S24 family), while current S24 users in Colombia will likely stand pat with the knowledge that their devices offer strong 5G performance in the market.

North America

“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Canada
“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: Mexico
“> Chart of iPhone 16 Family vs. Legacy iPhones & Galaxy S24: United States

iPhone 16 lineup in Canada faster than its predecessors

The iPhone 16 lineup showcased strong performance in Canada with a median 5G download speed of 182.43 Mbps, about 45 Mbps faster than those of earlier iPhone models. The Galaxy S24 family placed second at 155.61 Mbps and achieved the lowest median 5G multi-server latency at 34 ms, while iPhone 14 and 15 models trailed with still-strong speeds of 124.64 Mbps and 137.54 Mbps, respectively.

Bottom line: For Canadians looking for top-notch 5G performance, the iPhone 16 lineup makes a strong case with its lead in speed over older iPhone models. While all device families in Canada delivered good 5G speeds, for users who want both top performance and the latest features, the iPhone 16’s speed advantage might help justify that upgrade you’ve been considering.

No clear speed advantage in Mexico for the new iPhone 16 

The latest iPhone devices showed remarkably close 5G speeds in Mexico, with speeds varying by just a few megabits per second across the different iPhone families. While the iPhone 14 family had a median 5G download speed of 191.31 Mbps, the iPhone 15 and 16 lineups performed similarly well, clocking in at 185.88 Mbps and 185.79 Mbps, respectively. The Galaxy S24 family followed at 173.70 Mbps.

Bottom line: Users in Mexico considering an iPhone upgrade might want to weigh factors beyond 5G performance, as our data shows minimal speed differences between recent iPhone generations. The choice to upgrade likely depends more on desired features and other device capabilities than network performance alone. 

iPhone 16 offers a strong choice in the United States

In the United States, our results showed the iPhone 16 lineup reaching a median 5G download speed of 324.23 Mbps, well ahead of both the Galaxy S24 family at 287.35 Mbps and older iPhones at 244.48 Mbps (iPhone 15) and 220.76 Mbps (iPhone 14). All device families provided solid latency performance below 53 ms.

Bottom line: While all devices in our study provided good speeds in the U.S., the iPhone 16’s standout performance is hard to ignore and makes a strong case for upgrading, particularly for users seeking the fastest 5G.

Ookla will continue monitoring how devices are performing 

We’ll continue to check in on device performance as new models enter the market, so stay tuned for further insights into mobile and fixed broadband performance in countries around the world. 

If you’ve recently made the switch to a new iPhone, make sure you’re getting the speeds you need (and pay for) by downloading the Speedtest app for iOS or Android.

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

Consumer

About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| November 6, 2024

The Path to "Full" 5G: Challenges and Opportunities in Standalone 5G Deployment

5G

5G technology has been making headlines for years, but the transition to standalone 5G (5G SA) has been slower than many expected. While non-standalone 5G (NSA) uses 5G radio technology alongside existing 4G core networks, 5G SA represents a complete transition to an independent 5G network with its own core. Think of SA 5G as “pure” or “real” 5G, with 4G LTE removed entirely from the equation. This evolution promises notable improvements in network performance and capabilities, yet its deployment has faced obstacles.

Our recent webinar, “The Slow Road to 5G Standalone: What’s Delaying Deployment?” explored the challenges and opportunities in 5G SA deployment and implementation. Featuring experts from Ookla and T-Mobile, the discussion provided comprehensive insights into the current state and future potential of this technology.

In this article, we’ll explore key takeaways from the webinar, including the benefits, challenges, emerging use cases of 5G SA, and we’ll also take a look at T-Mobile’s aggressive approach to 5G SA. For a deeper look at these topics, including expert analysis and detailed performance data, watch the full webinar! 

Key benefits and technical improvements of 5G SA

5G Standalone (SA) technology promises to deliver significant advantages over its predecessors, opening new possibilities for consumers and industries alike. But the transition to 5G SA involves more than just upgrading cell towers—it requires the implementation of an entirely new core network. This core acts as the “brain” of the system, managing data connections, handling security, and enabling advanced features.

To fully realize the potential of 5G SA, several technological innovations have been introduced to enhance network performance and user experiences. These include better management of network resources and more efficient data transmission. A standalone 5G core is essential to unleash these developments, setting 5G SA apart as “real” 5G and enabling capabilities that were impossible with 4G-dependent networks.

The result is better use of available spectrum, faster data speeds, and extended coverage in challenging environments like indoor spaces or rural regions. Key benefits for users include:

  • Improved upload speeds: Faster upload speeds for activities like social media sharing, file uploads, and cloud services.
  • Better coverage in more places: Improved connectivity in areas previously underserved by mobile networks, enhancing user experiences in more locations.
  • Lower latency: Near-real-time responsiveness for applications like gaming and augmented reality.
  • Increased network efficiency: Operators can serve more users with improved quality of service, leading to a smoother and more reliable mobile experience.

Beyond these immediate improvements, 5G SA also paves the way for transformative technologies like network slicing, which we’ll explore in later sections.

Challenges to 5G standalone deployment

While 5G SA promises significant advancements in mobile technology, our webinar discussed a perhaps surprising reality: the deployment of 5G SA has been slower than many industry experts anticipated, with only about 12% of 5G networks worldwide utilizing SA technology. This gap between the technology’s potential and its current adoption raises important questions about the obstacles facing network operators and the future trajectory of 5G technology. Several challenges have contributed to this slow adoption:

  • Technical complexity and core network upgrades: Transitioning to a fully independent 5G core network presents significant hurdles, requiring extensive and costly upgrades to the core infrastructure, which is both technically challenging and time-consuming.
  • Transition hurdles: Operators must carefully manage the transition from NSA to 5G SA to minimize disruptions to existing services while gradually introducing SA capabilities. This process requires coordinating changes across the network infrastructure, device ecosystem, and service offerings simultaneously.
  • Unclear ROI: Some operators are hesitant to invest heavily in 5G SA without a clear return on investment.
  • Lack of a widely recognized “killer use case”: While applications like network slicing and enhanced Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) show promise, some operators are still waiting for more compelling use cases that clearly demonstrate the need for SA capabilities before making the leap.
  • 5G SA ecosystem compatibility and availability: Ensuring all network components, devices, and applications are SA 5G-compatible presents a significant challenge, and the limited availability of SA-compatible devices in the market can slow down adoption.

Despite these industry-wide challenges, some carriers have chosen to forge ahead with 5G SA deployment, recognizing its long-term potential. T-Mobile, in particular, has taken a bold approach to 5G SA implementation.

T-Mobile’s aggressive approach to 5G SA

While many mobile carriers have been cautious in their approach to 5G SA, T-Mobile has taken a decidedly different path. The company recognized early on that to truly differentiate its 5G offerings and introduce new features, a full transition to 5G SA was necessary. T-Mobile has since positioned itself as a leader in 5G SA, providing valuable insights for the industry into both the challenges and benefits of this technology.

T-Mobile viewed 5G SA as a pathway to improved network performance, advanced features, and more efficient use of its spectrum assets. Central to this vision was T-Mobile’s recognition that a dedicated 5G core network was essential to achieve superior performance beyond what NSA 5G could offer. The carrier’s approach has thus far yielded promising results:

  • Enhanced coverage and capacity: Broader network reach and ability to serve more users, especially in densely populated urban areas
  • Advanced features: Early implementation of network slicing and Voice over New Radio (VoNR), enabling new service possibilities
  • Improved uplink performance: Faster upload speeds and better coverage, benefiting applications like live streaming and large file transfers

While T-Mobile and its users have clearly benefited from this technology, the carrier’s journey hasn’t been without challenges. T-Mobile had to navigate issues such as ensuring device compatibility across its customer base, optimizing network performance during the transition, and educating customers about the benefits of 5G SA.

Emerging use cases for 5G SA

The true measure of SA 5G’s value lies in the new applications and services it enables. While many mobile operators are still cautious about immediate 5G SA deployment, this technology represents the future of 5G. As carriers inevitably move in this direction, they’re looking to both enhance existing services and enable entirely new possibilities. 

Our webinar delved into three key areas where 5G SA is already making an impact and showing its transformative potential: Network Slicing, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), and Voice over New Radio (VoNR). 

Network slicing is a capability unique to 5G SA that allows operators to create virtual network segments tailored to specific use cases or customers. This enables the allocation of dedicated network resources to ensure optimal performance for critical services. T-Mobile has leveraged this capability to launch T-Priority, the world’s first network slice for first responders. Key benefits of network slicing include:

  • Better prioritization: Up to 5x higher network resource prioritization for critical services
  • Customized performance: Ability to optimize network parameters for specific applications or user groups
  • Improved reliability: Dedicated resources to ensure consistent performance for essential services

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) uses 5G technology to provide home internet services, competing directly with traditional broadband options. 5G SA’s expanded capacity and performance make it particularly well-suited for this application. T-Mobile has identified FWA as a major growth opportunity, setting an ambitious target of 12 million FWA customers by 2027-2028. Key advantages of 5G SA for FWA include:

  • Expanded wireless capacity: Ability to serve more home internet customers in a given area compared to previous wireless technologies
  • Competitive performance: Offers speeds and latency that can rival or exceed traditional home broadband options in many areas, providing consumers with more choices
  • Simplified and cost-effective deployment: Implementation is faster and more cost-effective than laying traditional broadband infrastructure

Voice over New Radio (VoNR) represents the next evolution in mobile voice technology. By enabling voice calls to be carried entirely over a 5G network, VoNR promises improved call quality and lower latency compared to existing voice services. (We’ll explore VoNR in more detail in the next section.)

With T-Mobile’s T-Priority in use, we’re already seeing the real-world impact of 5G SA. As other applications continue to develop and mature, we can expect 5G SA’s influence to expand across various industries and services.

Voice over New Radio (VoNR): the next evolution in mobile voice

As 5G SA networks mature, they’re not just improving data services—they’re also revolutionizing voice communications. Voice over New Radio (VoNR) represents a significant leap forward from its predecessor, Voice over LTE (VoLTE). This technology enables voice calls to be carried entirely over a 5G network, potentially offering superior call quality and reduced call setup times. 

T-Mobile has been at the forefront of VoNR deployment, providing valuable insights into its real-world performance and benefits. Key aspects of T-Mobile’s VoNR deployment and performance include

  • Nationwide reach: VoNR is now enabled for over 300 million people in the U.S.
  • Controlled rollout: T-Mobile implemented VoNR market-by-market, ensuring performance met specific metrics before enabling the service.
  • Device compatibility: A large portion of T-Mobile’s device base is either VoNR-capable or can be enabled for VoNR.
  • Promising performance: Call failure rates for VoNR are comparable to, and in some cases better than, VoLTE.
  • Rapid adoption: VoNR’s share of calls has increased threefold from the second half of 2023 to the first half of 2024.

As more devices become VoNR-capable and coverage expands, more and more users should enjoy a seamless voice experience that fully leverages the capabilities of 5G technology.

Measuring 5G SA performance: Complementary datasets from Speedtest and RootMetrics

As mobile operators deploy 5G SA, measuring its real-world impact is crucial for understanding the technology’s true benefits and challenges. Ookla’s complementary datasets—combining RootMetrics’ controlled testing methodology with Speedtest’s crowdsourced data—provide a comprehensive view of network performance from both controlled and real-world environments. 

Data from RootMetrics testing across 125 of the largest metropolitan markets in the U.S. revealed several notable findings about 5G SA performance:

  • Network usage patterns vary significantly between operators: While T-Mobile extensively uses 5G SA when available, other carriers often default to LTE for lighter data tasks such as loading apps or webpages.
  • Latency improvements are task-dependent: RootMetrics testing showed that latency benefits become more pronounced with complex tasks like video streaming, which requires multiple network interactions.
  • Urban deployment focus: 5G SA availability and usage is currently more prevalent in metropolitan areas than in more rural areas. 

RootMetrics’ real-world performance data provides quantitative evidence of 5G SA’s benefits across various network scenarios and use cases, offering valuable insights for mobile operators as they plan their 5G SA deployments.

 If you’d like to see Ookla’s tools in action yourself, reach out to our team! 

The Road Ahead: 5G Advanced and Beyond

As 5G SA networks continue to evolve, the industry is already looking toward the next phase of development. Our webinar provided insight into the future of 5G technology, including the upcoming 5G Advanced standard and early considerations for 6G. These developments promise to further optimize network capabilities and open up new possibilities for innovation. Some key points about the future of 5G include: 

  • 5G Advanced: The next evolution of 5G, focusing on improving network efficiency and user experiences. 
  • 6G planning: Initial discussions and research into 6G technology have begun, with a focus on creating new value and revenue streams beyond enhanced mobile broadband. 
  • Spectrum refarming: Carriers are actively shifting spectrum from LTE to 5G, aiming to improve network efficiency and overall 5G performance.
  • Industry applications: The industry is expanding Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) capabilities and exploring new use cases for network slicing across various sectors, aiming to harness the full potential of mature 5G networks.

The evolution from 5G SA to 5G Advanced and early 6G research signals the industry’s commitment to continuous innovation. These developments aim to refine existing capabilities and create entirely new value propositions, potentially reshaping various aspects of technology and society in the coming years.

Conclusion

The journey to widespread 5G SA adoption is complex, but the potential benefits are immense. As we’ve seen, early adopters like T-Mobile (and its users) are already reaping the rewards of their investment, from improved network performance to innovative services like network slicing and enhanced FWA offerings.

To dive deeper into the intricacies of 5G SA deployment, including expert insights and real-world examples, watch our full webinar on demand!

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

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About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| October 4, 2024

The Power of the Crowd: How Downdetector’s User-Generated Reports Identify Website Outages in Real Time

Downdetector

Picture this scenario: Your company’s internal monitoring tools haven’t detected an issue with your website, but users are flooding social media and Downdetector® complaining that your site is down. You’re left wondering, “How did our users notice a problem before we did, and what can we do about it now?” This scenario highlights a key gap in traditional monitoring approaches — the disconnect between internal metrics and real-world user experiences.

Downdetector offers a powerful solution to this common challenge. By harnessing crowdsourced data from its global user base, Downdetector and its commercial counterpart Downdetector Explorer™ provide real-time insights into service disruptions across millions of services spanning myriad industries. The platform’s continuous stream of user-submitted outage reports allows Downdetector to identify issues often before the affected service providers themselves are aware, enabling faster response times and more proactive problem-solving. 

In this article, we’ll explore how enterprises can use Downdetector Explorer to identify service disruptions, resolve issues faster, and provide better customer support. We’ll share insights from disruptions at major companies like AT&T, WhatsApp, and PlayStation, demonstrating Downdetector’s impact in real-world scenarios.

For a deeper dive into Downdetector and its role in service outages, don’t miss our webinar “Is It Just You? Leveraging Downdetector to Identify Service Disruptions.”

Downdetector: How it works & why it matters

What if you could tap into the experiences of millions of users around the world to detect website or service disruptions in real-time? Enter Downdetector Explorer. Users submit problem reports as they encounter issues, effectively creating a worldwide network of website outage detectors. This crowdsourced approach complements internal monitoring systems, offering insights that can reduce response times and improve service quality for enterprises. 

With real-time status information for over 20,000 services across more than 45 Downdetector domains representing over 45 countries, Downdetector has become the go-to platform for service disruption insights. Here’s the short version of how it works (and here’s the longer version) along with some of its key benefits: 

  • User-generated reports: Consumers report issues they’re experiencing through Downdetector’s mobile app, website, or through the Speedtest® app. Downdetector also monitors and analyzes indicators from social media platforms and other sources around the web to automatically detect incidents and service disruptions. The ability to rapidly detect service disruptions, often before internal monitoring tools identify a problem, is vital in managing service disruptions effectively. 
  • Real-time analysis and anomaly detection: Downdetector’s systems analyze and validate reports in real-time, distinguishing between genuine service issues and isolated incidents. For example, an incident is identified when the number of problem reports for a service is significantly higher than its baseline or average. This can trigger a “danger state” that alerts businesses to potential issues, allowing them to quickly identify problems and diagnose whether incidents are caused by internal issues or external services like CDNs, cloud hosting providers, or other sources. 
  • Third-party service monitoring: A key feature of Downdetector Explorer is its ability to monitor outages for services beyond a company’s own infrastructure. This includes CDN providers like Akamai, various OTT services, and cloud hosting platforms. By providing visibility into these interconnected services, Downdetector Explorer enables companies to better understand the root cause of outages, even when they originate outside their own infrastructure

The following sections explore how companies across various industries have benefited from Downdetector’s capabilities, demonstrating its value across multiple real-world scenarios. To see more of these benefits in practice, be sure to watch our recent webinar. 

Illustration of how Downdetector works.

Identifying root causes: The AT&T outage 

Imagine waking up one morning to find your phone has no signal. No calls, no texts, no mobile data. Frustrating, right? That’s exactly what millions of AT&T customers experienced one morning. But here’s where the story gets interesting –- and where Downdetector shined.

During this widespread service disruption, Downdetector became a critical source for real-time insights, showcasing how crowdsourced data can be a game-changer in understanding and addressing large-scale outages. Here’s how Downdetector helped make sense of this digital disruption:

  • Early detection: Downdetector observed a significant spike in AT&T-related reports, quickly highlighting the widespread nature of the issue. The collective experiences of users provide Downdetector with a unique, consumer perspective on service disruptions, offering insights into the full scope and impact of an outage.
  • Nationwide impact: Downdetector logged almost two million unique user reports about AT&T services, with reports submitted from affected users across multiple cities and regions. This clearly indicated a severe, nationwide issue rather than isolated or localized incidents.

Line Diagram showing AT&T Outage. AT&T has up to 80k user reports between 12pm and 4pm, feb 22, 2024. AT&T dwarfs T-Mobile and Verizon user report lines on the chart.

  • Comparative analysis: Downdetector’s data revealed a significant disparity in user user-generated reports between AT&T and its competitors. While Verizon and T-Mobile experienced an increase in reports, their volumes were substantially lower than AT&T’s, helping identify AT&T as the primary source of the problem. Interestingly, many of the reports for Verizon and T-Mobile were likely “sympathetic” in nature — their customers submitted reports after failing to connect with AT&T users, mistakenly (but understandably) attributing the issue to their own provider. 
  • Root cause indication: The pattern and distribution of reports across AT&T’s services suggested an internal root cause rather than an external factor affecting multiple providers.
  • Timely information: Downdetector provided these insights within the first few hours of the outage, while it took AT&T approximately 16 hours to make a public announcement confirming the internal cause.

This example illustrates how Downdetector Explorer can provide crucial context and insights that can help cut through the confusion that often accompanies major outages. For service providers, having access to real-time, user-generated data enables more informed decision-making about the scope and source of issues, guides targeted troubleshooting efforts, and supports clearer and quicker communication with customers

Early alerting and filling gaps in internal testing: the WhatsApp outage

As our reliance on digital communication grows, even a brief disruption to a popular communication app can cause serious frustration, impacting our ability to connect with people and even conduct business. That’s exactly what happened when WhatsApp, a platform used for messaging, calling, and sharing media, experienced a service outage. As users began experiencing and reporting issues, Downdetector immediately began collecting and analyzing user-generated reports, providing real-time information into the developing situation.

This event showcased Downdetector’s unique ability to provide insights into application-level issues that might not be immediately apparent through traditional monitoring tools. Let’s explore how Downdetector helped illuminate this digital disruption:

  • Rapid global detection: Downdetector quickly identified a surge in WhatsApp-related reports from multiple countries, signaling a widespread issue. The ability to pinpoint where users are experiencing problems is especially important for service providers with international user bases.
  • Real-time, app-specific insights: When reporting disruptions on Downdetector, users select from a predefined list of problem indicators, helping narrow down the issue. This structured reporting system provides real-time visibility into the specific issues users are experiencing. For the WhatsApp outage, the pattern of these reports helped quickly identify the nature, scope, and geographic spread of the problems within the WhatsApp service.
  • Outage duration tracking: Downdetector’s continuous monitoring allowed for accurate tracking of the outage’s duration, from initial spike to resolution.

Line diagram of WhatsApp outage. Whatsapp shows over 800,000 user reports at approx 6:30pm UTC, 2024-04-03

The WhatsApp outage demonstrates Downdetector’s unique ability to detect and monitor issues that may slip through the cracks of traditional testing tools. By tapping into real-world user experiences, Downdetector offers a level of monitoring that can alert companies to problems faster and provide a more comprehensive view of service disruptions.

Diagnosing multi-service issues: The PlayStation Network outage

When your favorite online game stutters or crashes, is it the game itself, the gaming platform, or your internet connection? This complexity is exactly what makes outages in the gaming industry particularly challenging to diagnose. The gaming ecosystem’s intricate nature, with its multiple layers of services, can create a perfect storm for confusion during outages.

In an outage affecting users of the PlayStation Network, EA, and popular games like FIFA, Downdetector’s insights proved invaluable in unraveling a web of interconnected services. Its ability to collect and analyze data across various platforms simultaneously provided a clear picture of the situation. Here’s how Downdetector helped unravel this dilemma:

  • Comprehensive service monitoring: Downdetector received user reports across multiple services simultaneously, including the PlayStation Network, EA’s servers, and individual games like FIFA.
  • Identifying the root cause: A spike in reports for PlayStation Network, significantly higher than those for EA or individual games, pointed to the source of the problem.
  • Global impact: Downdetector’s data revealed that the issue affected PlayStation Network users worldwide, ruling out localized problems.
  • Connecting the dots: Downdetector’s data revealed a correlation between increased reports for the PlayStation Network and reports for specific games like FIFA. This highlighted the interconnected nature of gaming services, showing how issues with a platform like PlayStation Network can coincide with perceived problems in individual games.
  • Real-time data collection and analysis: Downdetector continuously collected user reports throughout the event, providing a real-time view of the issue’s scale and geographic spread. By tracking report volumes for the PlayStation Network alongside those for games and other related services, Downdetector offered insights into how the situation evolved over time.

Line diagram of Playstation Network Outage showing approx 3,200 user reports on March 21, 2024

Downdetector’s holistic view of the gaming ecosystem enabled a quick identification of the PlayStation Network as the primary source of the problem. The ability to rapidly diagnose issues is crucial in an industry where even a second of downtime can lead to a spike in customer service outreach and potential revenue loss. It can also potentially mean the difference between winning and losing for millions of gamers

The bottom line 

In our digital landscape where just a few minutes of downtime can have significant impacts, the ability to quickly detect and understand service disruptions is more critical than ever. As we’ve seen through the case studies above, service disruptions can have far-reaching consequences across various sectors. 

These examples highlight a common challenge facing service providers: the discrepancy between what internal monitoring systems report and what users are actually experiencing and reporting when faced with service outages or issues. Downdetector bridges this gap by using the power of crowdsourced data, offering a unique perspective that complements traditional monitoring tools. Downdetector Explorer empowers businesses with the tools they need to stay ahead of outages, improve customer communication, and ultimately deliver a better user experience.

Webinar title image: Is It Just You? Leveraging Downdetector to Identify Service Disruptions. Resolve issues faster and provide better customer support with real-time insights.

To learn more about how Downdetector can benefit your organization and to dive deeper into these and other case studies, including an insightful analysis of a Bank of America outage, watch our recent webinar, “Is It Just You? Leveraging Downdetector to Identify Service Disruptions.” For more on how Downdetector works, visit our methodology page.

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

Downdetector

About the Author

Dave Andersen

Ookla Research™ Articles
| July 18, 2024

Why Customer-Centric Companies Turn to Crowdsourced Service Disruption Management

Downdetector

The reliability of online services has become more important than ever as service providers face the constant challenge of maintaining a seamless user experience across an expanding array of websites, applications, and cloud-based platforms. 

All it takes is a little bit of downtime for sites like YouTube or Facebook to turn into national headlines. For end users, the source of the issue is irrelevant; if the video isn’t playing on Facebook, it’s a Facebook issue. For businesses, internal tracking systems may not trigger if a downstream service like a contracted Content Delivery Network (CDN) experiences a service disruption. Scenarios like those mean that user-reported issues become the key to identifying the correlation and restoring connectivity.

Service Disruption Management (SDM) has emerged as a crucial tool for addressing these challenges, and Ookla is at the forefront of this approach with its two Crowdsourced Service Disruption Management (CSDM) solutions: Downdetector Explorer™ and Downdetector Connect™.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how these solutions work together to help service providers quickly identify and manage service disruptions, enhance customer experiences, reduce operational costs, and lower churn. 

For a deeper look into how service disruption management solutions have benefitted providers, check out our detailed white paper, How to Increase Customer Lifetime Value with Crowdsourced Service Disruption Management Solutions. 

What is Service Disruption Management or SDM?

Service disruption management (SDM) is a solution that enables service providers to identify, diagnose, resolve, and communicate service outages and other issues quickly and efficiently. In this context, the term “service provider” refers to a broad range of organizations, including ISPs, mobile carriers, telecommunications companies, and digital service providers like Netflix, Reddit, and scores of others. Traditionally, SDM has been implemented through various internal tracking tools and systems, such as network monitoring and fault management solutions. 

However, these internal systems can be enhanced by integrating them with crowdsourced service disruption management (CSDM) solutions, such as Downdetector Explorer and Downdetector Connect. CSDM tools leverage the collective intelligence and feedback of millions of users to help service providers prioritize issues that matter most to their customers. 

By integrating CSDM with existing network management systems, service providers can gain a more comprehensive view of their performance and take swift action to mitigate the impact of service disruptions on end users. 

Ookla’s solutions: leading the Crowdsourced SDM charge

Ookla has taken SDM to the next level with Downdetector Explorer and Downdetector Connect. These innovative platforms work together to provide service providers with a comprehensive approach to managing service disruptions.

Downdetector Explorer leverages the power of crowdsourced data on Downdetector.com to identify outages and disruptions in real-time for various online services, such as websites, apps, and cloud services. It harnesses the collective input of millions of users worldwide to provide real-time status and outage information for thousands of services, giving service providers valuable insights to resolve issues quickly and efficiently.

A key feature of Downdetector Explorer is its ability to monitor outages for third-party services that an ISP or mobile carrier doesn’t own, such as CDN providers like Akamai or various OTT services. This unique capability allows service providers to better understand the cause of an outage, even if it’s not directly related to their own infrastructure.

Downdetector Connect complements Downdetector Explorer by providing a custom-branded and official service disruption detection platform that incorporates digital customer engagement channels, advanced analytics to direct engineering efforts where needed, and customer messaging capabilities for personalized communication. It also incorporates a mobile SDK that collects connectivity information to provide insights into the customer’s experience.

Together, these solutions help service providers understand disruptions to vital services by using unbiased, transparent user reports and problem indicators from around the web. The Downdetector platform tracks over 14,000 services around the globe, from your favorite social media and gaming websites, to banks and internet service providers and more. It receives more than 25 million monthly reports from users, real-time analysis, and verification of outage reports, empowering network operations centers and customer care teams when an issue happens.

Chart of Capabilities of Ookla's SDM Solutions

Ookla’s CSDM solutions in action: real-world success stories

The effectiveness of Ookla’s CSDM solutions has been demonstrated through their successful implementation by several tier-1 operators worldwide. These operators have integrated Downdetector Explorer and Downdetector Connect into their network management strategies, achieving significant improvements in key performance indicators (KPIs) and customer satisfaction.

For example, an operator from the Asia Pacific region leveraged Ookla’s CSDM solutions to offer a highly personalized customer experience and reduce the costs of credits for issues unrelated to service disruptions. The platform delivered the following benefits:

  • Achieved a 65% resolution rate for service issues
  • Reduced service-related contacts by 17%
  • Decreased credits for non-service-related issues by 51%
  • Improved its Net Promoter Score (NPS) — a key performance indicator of customer experience — from -13 to +34.8, indicating a substantial boost in customer loyalty

Another operator, this one in Western Europe, increased its transparency and digital engagement while improving its customer acquisition process. By using Ookla’s tools, the operator achieved:

  • A 400x increase in digital engagement
  • A 40% reduction in support calls
  • An 80% decrease in support calls during major outages
  • One of the highest NPS scores in their market, showcasing the platform’s impact on customer satisfaction

Service providers can now proactively identify and resolve network issues, leading to improved customer experiences, increased loyalty, and reduced operational costs. As more and more providers adopt and integrate crowdsourced SDM tools into their service management strategies, we expect to see similar success stories and industry-wide improvements going forward. 

Downdetector Explorer screenshot

The Future of CSDM 

As the complexity of online services and the demand for their reliability continue to grow, the importance of crowdsourced service disruption management will only continue to increase. The emergence of new technologies and new use cases will further drive the need for advanced CSDM solutions that can quickly identify and resolve service disruptions and keep customers happy.

One area of huge potential in the CSDM space is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies into CSDM solutions. These technologies have the potential to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of service disruption detection and resolution, allowing service providers to stay ahead of the curve in ensuring the reliability of online services and maintaining customer satisfaction. 

AI- and ML-powered CSDM solutions can analyze vast amounts of data from multiple sources in real-time, identifying patterns and anomalies that may indicate potential service disruptions. Integrating AI and ML into CSDM solutions would allow providers to proactively identify and address potential problems before they occur, significantly improving outage resolution times and enabling the prediction of future disruptions based on historical data.

Conclusion 

The reliability of online services is paramount in our increasingly digital world, and crowdsourced service disruption management has emerged as a game-changer for online service providers. CSDM solutions leverage the power of crowdsourced data, enabling providers to quickly identify service disruptions and respond more effectively. This protects them from potential reputational damage and financial losses.

As CSDM continues to advance, service providers that adopt these crowdsourced solutions will be better equipped to reduce downtime and provide excellent customer experiences. With improved issue detection and more rapid responses to disruptions, service providers will also be able to foster long-lasting customer relationships and maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly demanding market.

Image of Ookla White paper | How to Increase Customer Lifetime Value with Crowdsourced Service Disruption Management Solutions

To learn more about how CSDM solutions like Downdetector Explorer and Downdetector Connect can transform your service disruption management strategy, reach out to our team. 

And for a more in-depth exploration of how SDM can help service providers maximize Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and support the different stages of Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM), read our comprehensive white paper, How to Increase Customer Lifetime Value with Crowdsourced Service Disruption Management Solutions. 

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

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Services

About the Author

Dave Andersen