Tag: Estonia

Ookla Research™ Articles
| August 1, 2023

European Vacation: Your Guide to Roam Like at Home Performance this Summer

Consumer

Summer is here and with it the August vacation season that most of Europe has been waiting for. We’re here with fresh data from Speedtest Intelligence® to help you know in advance if your phone will be a help or a hindrance on your travels. We’ve examined results from Android devices in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (U.K.) during Q2 2023 and included data on 5G performance to see if “Roam Like at Home” is living up to its promise.

5G boosts European roaming speeds but latency varies 

Speed and latency are two important indicators of online performance. Speed will have a greater effect on streaming content while latency will affect gaming and video chatting. Both come into play while browsing online maps for that hot new gelato place your friends told you about. 

While the EU extended “Roam Like at Home” regulations until 2032, our previous analyses demonstrated that mobile speeds are usually slower when roaming than when exploring your home country. The actual speeds vary dramatically based on roaming agreements between mobile operators, something you can’t really control unless you’re prepared to do the research then shop for a whole new plan before your trip. What you can control is whether you spring for 5G before your big trip. The data below represents the local speeds and multi-server latency for each country as well as those experienced by residents of the named country while roaming in the EU or the U.K. during Q2 2023.

Roaming speeds can’t live up to local performance

Median Mobile Roaming Performance in Europe
Speedtest IntelligenceⓇ | Q2 2023
Country Local Download (Mbps) Roaming Download (Mbps) Local 5G Download (Mbps) Roaming 5G Download (Mbps)
Austria 59.28 42.77 161.00 80.51
Belgium 48.00 59.86 157.23 124.64
Bulgaria 78.27 48.97 252.75 93.24
Croatia 73.65 47.86 184.29 124.38
Cyprus 56.93 40.83 197.22 64.24
Czechia 46.50 31.96 104.36 72.26
Denmark 118.48 51.74 206.95 115.82
Estonia 64.99 77.51 * *
Finland 78.00 53.43 217.13 106.54
France 61.64 43.46 187.42 95.56
Germany 46.30 39.54 114.07 84.27
Greece 57.41 66.17 143.26 153.28
Hungary 40.44 48.28 85.12 132.98
Ireland 34.49 36.10 98.70 85.38
Italy 36.97 37.68 130.85 99.38
Latvia 59.73 65.13 220.51 146.15
Lithuania 64.70 53.04 * *
Luxembourg 74.86 46.88 * *
Malta 44.56 48.11 109.97 110.80
Netherlands 96.77 37.61 128.04 87.84
Poland 42.14 34.23 78.82 99.51
Portugal 57.86 39.91 212.95 79.88
Romania 43.34 59.59 153.35 99.84
Slovakia 43.16 41.53 139.53 85.16
Slovenia 52.73 49.86 145.83 95.50
Spain 32.33 35.77 85.75 116.48
Sweden 84.00 51.24 160.93 129.43
United Kingdom 40.74 48.06 108.74 98.92

Although EU residents can roam call, text, and surf without additional charges, a drop in speed is an issue while roaming according to Q2 2023 data. Residents from 17 countries showed faster local download speeds than roaming speeds when considering results over all technologies during Q2 2023. The 11 exceptions were Romania (which was much faster roaming), Belgium, Hungary, Estonia, the U.K, Greece, and Spain, which all showed faster roaming speeds, and Latvia, Malta, Ireland, and Italy which showed only slightly improved speeds.  

While roaming speeds varied widely based on country of origin, every country on this list saw much higher median download speeds when roaming on 5G than roaming on all technologies. Despite this uplift, 20 countries showed faster local 5G download speeds than roaming 5G speeds during Q2 2023. The exceptions were Hungary, Spain, and Poland, which all saw faster 5G roaming than locally, while Greece had marginally better 5G roaming than at home, and people from Malta didn’t really see any major difference. Estonia, Lithuania, and Luxembourg did not have enough 5G samples to qualify for analysis.

Latency suffers awfully when roaming

Median Mobile Roaming Latency in Europe
Speedtest IntelligenceⓇ | Q2 2023
Country Local Multi-server Latency (ms) Roaming Multi-server Latency (ms) Local 5G Multi-server Latency (ms) 5G Multi-server Latency (ms)
Austria 32.19 91.24 30.96 111.08
Belgium 36.51 84.96 31.89 67.61
Bulgaria 31.72 125.60 26.41 124.63
Croatia 39.03 85.25 35.96 80.37
Cyprus 27.90 200.18 23.52 184.68
Czechia 34.72 80.18 30.77 78.72
Denmark 29.47 94.77 28.08 81.85
Estonia 33.10 87.00 * *
Finland 33.67 102.84 32.16 99.14
France 46.97 92.61 44.39 87.49
Germany 41.78 87.19 39.07 77.57
Greece 38.16 137.29 34.63 132.91
Hungary 36.27 85.39 35.06 77.26
Ireland 36.21 116.62 31.70 118.47
Italy 50.87 100.20 49.96 93.87
Latvia 29.88 101.91 26.28 94.70
Lithuania 34.03 107.79 * *
Luxembourg 33.45 67.70 * *
Malta 47.44 146.57 38.69 135.43
Netherlands 33.24 83.25 31.17 79.81
Poland 42.41 108.69 40.25 100.36
Portugal 35.98 123.05 31.62 126.54
Romania 40.65 122.91 34.22 121.21
Slovakia 30.47 80.28 26.39 70.96
Slovenia 30.61 76.68 27.70 75.27
Spain 51.53 112.81 47.11 102.94
Sweden 37.52 114.69 32.97 99.48
United Kingdom 50.45 111.01 46.04 107.59

Residents of every country surveyed had a much higher multi-server latency when roaming during Q2 2023. This is because roaming signals are routed through a user’s home network, making latency a significant issue for Europeans when traveling. The difference was smallest in Italy and France where locals had about a 97% higher latency when roaming compared to at home. On the other end of the scale, residents of Cyprus saw over a 615% higher latency while roaming compared to at home. A high latency means a long response time for any request you send over the internet, perhaps adding more frustration to your vacation than you would want.

The results were similar over 5G with Italy showing the smallest difference between latency while roaming and at home (about 88% greater) and Cyprus having the largest difference (about 685%). Surprisingly, 5G did not reliably improve multi-server latency. 

What this data tells you is that it’s worth upgrading to 5G before a trip if speed is your main concern. Whether 5G will help you with your latency will depend heavily on which country you are traveling from. Regardless, you should expect a high latency while roaming. Plan ahead accordingly.

Outbound roaming speeds vary dramatically

As discussed above, roaming speeds depend heavily on where you are traveling from, where you are traveling to, and what agreements your home mobile operator has with operators in the country you’re visiting. That said, it’s fun to look at what’s possible, so we looked at the very best and very worst roaming speeds in Europe during Q2 2023.

Fastest roaming speeds in Europe

Customers from Italy roaming in Portugal saw one of the fastest median roaming download speeds over 5G in all of Europe during Q2 2023 at 317.94 Mbps. Estonians roaming in Finland saw a 278.69 Mbps median 5G download speed, and Finns in Sweden experienced a median 5G download of 252.57 Mbps. 

Looking at the highest results from all technologies combined, Latvians roaming in Finland experienced a median download speed of 137.49 Mbps, while Greeks saw median download speeds of 129.75 while roaming in Bulgaria and 125.83 Mbps while roaming in Austria.

Slowest roaming speeds in Europe

On the other end of the scale, Slovakian visitors to Poland had one of the slowest median download speeds over all technology while roaming during the same time period at 10.82 Mbps. Polish roamers saw a median download speed of 13.27 Mbps in the U.K. and 14.78 Mbps in Romania. Ten of the 20 slowest roaming speeds on our country-by-country list for all technologies were for Europeans roaming in the U.K. This means that travelers going to the U.K are not only seeing poorer performance, they could also be paying more for the privilege as they do not benefit from “Roam Like at Home” regulations.

Germans in Italy had the slowest median 5G download speed on our list during Q2 2023 at 33.64 Mbps. Austrians in the U.K. saw a median download speed over 5G of 41.57 Mbps, and Portuguese roamers in Spain experienced a median download speed over 5G of 44.18 Mbps.

Whether you choose to roam, pick up a local SIM or eSIM, or simply spend less time online, we hope this information helps you make the most of your vacation. If you have an extra minute between activities, take a Speedtest® to see how your performance compares. 

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

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| February 20, 2019

An Expansive Analysis of European Mobile Roaming Speeds and Behaviors

Global Speeds

Last year we took a look at how free roaming was working out for EU citizens in terms of speeds and latency. This year we’ve expanded our analysis to all European countries and included data on Wi-Fi roaming behavior. We’ve also added a little insight into how roaming might affect download speeds for visitors to Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona from February 25- 28, 2019.

Except where noted, this analysis is based on Speedtest data from Android devices on 4G LTE cellular connections during Q3-Q4 2018. We included data on any country with greater than 30 samples in all categories.

Most Europeans experience slower downloads while roaming

Roaming traffic is subject to deals struck between individual mobile operators on how that traffic will be prioritized, so roaming speeds can depend not only on the country of origin but also the country of destination and the plan a subscriber has selected.

Consider the following table where an Albanian experiences a mean download speed of 54.56 Mbps at home and then 38.47 Mbps while roaming elsewhere in Europe. This is expected as a roamer does not usually have a direct relationship with the mobile operator handling their data and calls abroad.

Mean Mobile Download Speeds in Europe
Speedtest Data | Q3-Q4 2018
Country Local Speed (Mbps) Roaming Speed (Mbps) % Difference
Austria 38.23 35.78 -6.4%
Belarus 16.15 19.49 20.7%
Belgium 52.58 35.42 -32.6%
Bulgaria 47.28 32.35 -31.6%
Croatia 43.83 43.60 -0.5%
Cyprus 37.13 20.58 -44.6%
Czech Republic 44.91 13.43 -70.1%
Denmark 48.83 34.89 -28.6%
Estonia 36.43 38.98 7.0%
Finland 39.33 38.20 -2.9%
France 39.94 34.97 -12.5%
Germany 33.77 28.57 -15.4%
Greece 41.35 38.08 -7.9%
Hungary 49.57 28.19 -43.1%
Iceland 69.27 35.58 -48.6%
Ireland 28.23 31.49 11.6%
Italy 32.18 43.12 34.0%
Kazakhstan 22.93 13.80 -39.8%
Latvia 30.88 33.79 9.4%
Liechtenstein 56.48 36.66 -35.1%
Lithuania 41.49 33.43 -19.4%
Luxembourg 50.91 25.08 -50.7%
Malta 56.34 34.27 -39.2%
Montenegro 45.45 49.97 10.0%
Netherlands 56.06 33.86 -39.6%
Norway 68.49 38.69 -43.5%
Poland 28.74 29.71 3.4%
Portugal 32.06 36.95 15.3%
Romania 36.64 30.74 -16.1%
Russia 20.91 20.47 -2.1%
Serbia 43.41 21.64 -50.1%
Slovakia 33.47 31.80 -5.0%
Slovenia 35.51 36.41 2.5%
Spain 36.07 22.37 -38.0%
Sweden 44.87 34.59 -22.9%
Switzerland 47.59 30.36 -36.2%
Turkey 38.19 28.77 -24.7%
Ukraine 26.07 25.48 -2.3%
United Kingdom 30.84 38.76 25.7%

Residents of the Czech Republic will face massive speed disappointment when roaming through the rest of Europe. Other countries with much better speeds at home than abroad include Luxembourg, Serbia, Iceland and Cyprus.

In ten European countries, citizens experience faster mobile downloads while roaming than they do at home. These include: Italy, the United Kingdom, Belarus, Portugal, Ireland, Montenegro, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Slovenia. Most of these are among the slowest countries on this list, so it would make sense that their citizens would experience better speeds elsewhere in Europe than they do at home.

Europeans are connected to Wi-Fi most of the time

Customers sometimes try to get better speeds and avoid roaming fees (for those outside the E.U.) and data overages by connecting to Wi-Fi. The following table compares the percentage of time spent on Wi-Fi by a resident of a country with that of a visitor to the country.

Percentage of Time Spent on Wi-Fi in Europe
Speedtest Data | Q3-Q4 2018
Country Local Customers Visitors % Difference
Albania 61.9% 59.8% -3.4%
Andorra 73.6% 69.0% -6.2%
Armenia 61.5% 68.1% 10.7%
Austria 65.6% 36.7% -44.1%
Azerbaijan 67.0% 70.7% 5.5%
Belarus 63.9% 58.3% -8.9%
Belgium 71.1% 32.9% -53.7%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 71.9% 66.0% -8.2%
Bulgaria 65.2% 46.8% -28.2%
Croatia 66.1% 41.0% -38.0%
Cyprus 70.9% 58.4% -17.7%
Czech Republic 75.1% 38.9% -48.1%
Denmark 70.4% 52.9% -24.9%
Estonia 61.2% 45.6% -25.4%
Finland 56.6% 47.1% -16.7%
France 60.2% 43.1% -28.5%
Georgia 61.4% 62.2% 1.3%
Germany 72.2% 42.4% -41.3%
Greece 73.5% 52.2% -28.9%
Hungary 71.9% 35.0% -51.3%
Iceland 65.7% 58.2% -11.4%
Ireland 67.2% 52.4% -22.0%
Italy 64.1% 48.9% -23.7%
Kazakhstan 57.7% 64.7% 12.3%
Latvia 60.9% 43.8% -28.1%
Liechtenstein 71.7% 58.2% -18.9%
Lithuania 66.8% 43.3% -35.1%
Luxembourg 63.6% 26.0% -59.1%
Macedonia 65.3% 52.9% -18.9%
Malta 74.3% 58.0% -22.0%
Moldova 67.2% 67.3% 0.2%
Montenegro 63.6% 65.2% 2.5%
Netherlands 73.0% 42.5% -41.7%
Norway 74.7% 59.7% -20.1%
Poland 62.5% 48.1% -23.1%
Portugal 69.1% 54.7% -20.9%
Romania 62.4% 48.7% -21.9%
Russia 58.8% 65.9% 12.2%
San Marino 66.8% 39.7% -40.6%
Serbia 68.6% 61.2% -10.7%
Slovakia 69.6% 35.1% -49.6%
Slovenia 63.3% 26.4% -58.3%
Spain 70.8% 53.0% -25.2%
Sweden 71.8% 44.9% -37.4%
Switzerland 62.4% 47.2% -24.4%
Turkey 61.7% 73.0% 18.4%
Ukraine 61.5% 62.4% 1.5%
United Kingdom 71.3% 54.0% -24.3%

Finland showed the lowest time spent on Wi-Fi by residents at 56.6%. Kazakhstan was second at 57.7% followed by Russia (58.8%), France (60.2%) and Latvia (60.9%). The Czech Republic showed the highest time spent on Wi-Fi by residents at 75.1%. Norway was second at 74.7% followed by Malta (74.3%), Andorra (73.6%) and Greece (73.5%).

When it comes to time spent on Wi-Fi by visitors, Luxembourg had the lowest percentage at 26.0%. Slovenia was second at 26.4% followed by Belgium (32.9%), Hungary (35.0%) and Slovakia (35.1%). Turkey showed the highest time spent on Wi-Fi by visitors at 73.0%. Azerbaijan was second at 70.7% followed by Andorra (69.0%), Armenia (68.1%) and Moldova (67.3%).

Luxembourg saw the largest difference in time spent on Wi-Fi between residents and visitors with visitors using Wi-Fi 59.1% less than residents. Slovenia was close behind at 58.3%, followed by Belgium (53.7%) and Hungary (51.3%). On the other end of the spectrum, visitors to Turkey were on Wi-Fi 18.4% longer than residents followed by Kazakhstan (12.3%) and Russia (12.2%).

Roaming dramatically increases latency in Europe

Because roaming signals are routed through a user’s home network, latency is always an issue in roaming. Speedtest data shows that latency while roaming is a much larger issue for residents of some countries than it is for others.

Comparing European Latency In-Country and Abroad
Speedtest Data | Q3-Q4 2018
Country Local Latency (ms) Roaming Latency (ms) % Difference
Austria 24 83 245.8%
Belarus 32 75 134.4%
Belgium 24 81 237.5%
Bulgaria 24 126 425.0%
Croatia 32 86 168.8%
Cyprus 20 194 870.0%
Czech Republic 24 86 258.3%
Denmark 24 98 308.3%
Estonia 23 78 239.1%
Finland 26 104 300.0%
France 42 87 107.1%
Germany 33 87 163.6%
Greece 27 137 407.4%
Hungary 22 94 327.3%
Iceland 18 163 805.6%
Ireland 34 114 235.3%
Italy 52 116 123.1%
Kazakhstan 35 164 368.6%
Latvia 24 94 291.7%
Liechtenstein 40 90 125.0%
Lithuania 26 108 315.4%
Luxembourg 23 73 217.4%
Malta 18 141 683.3%
Montenegro 18 42 133.3%
Netherlands 26 81 211.5%
Norway 36 109 202.8%
Poland 33 104 215.2%
Portugal 27 102 277.8%
Romania 26 131 403.8%
Russia 42 161 283.3%
Serbia 22 76 245.5%
Slovakia 30 69 130.0%
Slovenia 21 69 228.6%
Spain 45 118 162.2%
Sweden 30 118 293.3%
Switzerland 26 75 188.5%
Turkey 26 115 342.3%
Ukraine 35 116 231.4%
United Kingdom 37 107 189.2%

Residents of Cyprus saw an average latency of 194 ms while roaming in Europe. The country with the second highest latency for residents roaming abroad was Kazakhstan at 164 ms, followed by Iceland (163 ms). Russia (161 ms) and Malta (141 ms). In contrast, Montenegro had a lower latency for residents roaming abroad than Italy did for residents using their mobile phones locally.

Roaming performance at MWC

MWC, the largest mobile conference in the world, has Barcelona teeming with visitors from across the globe all trying to connect to their home networks. During February 2018 we saw an average download speed of 34.31 Mbps while roaming in Barcelona and a mean latency of 201 ms. Visitors from the U.K. saw an average download speed of 49.00 Mbps and a mean latency of 111 ms, while those from Italy averaged a download of 32.88 Mbps and a latency of 128 ms.

What will the performance look like at this year’s conference? Schedule a meeting or come see us in Hall 2 at Booth 2i25 to learn more about our roaming 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.

Global Speeds

About the Author

Isla McKetta

Ookla Research™ Articles
| November 30, 2021

5G in Europe: EU Targets Require a Rethink

Global Speeds

Monitoring progress of the EU’s Digital Decade

We recently attended the European 5G Observatory’s workshop, “5G in the Digital Decade,” which provided an overview of progress towards the EU’s 5G Action Plan targets and also looked ahead to the new targets as set out in the EU Digital Decade. The European Commission presented its vision of the region’s Digital Decade in March 2021, providing targets (the Digital Compass) for the digital transformation of Member States by 2030. Progress towards these targets is measured through the existing Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), a key component of which focuses on connectivity. The relevant 2030 goals here are to provide Gigabit access to all EU households and 5G coverage in all populated areas.

The connectivity component of DESI is made up of a mix of demand and supply-side factors, including fixed and mobile broadband coverage and take-up, 5G spectrum availability and broadband pricing. The latest iteration was published in November using 2020 data, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain securing the top three spots for connectivity, and Greece and Bulgaria the bottom two.

ookla_desi_eu_markets_1121-01

As 5G evolves, so should the Commission’s 5G targets

The Commission’s DESI has evolved from its inception in 2014 to now track the Digital Compass’ targets. However, 5G is a rapidly evolving technology, and it was clear from the discussion during the Observatory’s workshop that there will be a need to review the actual targets and by implication the measurement criteria. The key concern lies in the “5G everywhere” target, both from a coverage and a performance perspective. As the end goal is the digital transformation of Member States, 5G coverage should be extended beyond the current target of all populated areas, to provide greater geographical coverage — in particular to support emerging vertical industry needs, for example in agriculture or logistics.

In terms of 5G performance, the ITU’s IMT-2020 requirements are for a user-experienced data rate of 100 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload. However, not all 5G networks are created equally. The increasing use of dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) means that operators can boost 5G coverage and capacity by using existing spectrum formerly dedicated to other generations of mobile technology. As a result, network performance will vary widely based on the bands used. There are also differences in 5G rollout, with initial 5G radio equipment tending to be deployed on existing tower infrastructure, and the coverage of higher capacity C-band spectrum will be limited relative to that of lower frequency bands as result.

ookla_median-download-speeds_europe_1121-01

Divergence between the DESI and end-user internet speed

What’s also interesting are the outliers and how their performance differs from their position within the DESI. Bulgaria (which came second to last in the connectivity portion of the DESI), does lag behind the European average on fixed broadband speeds, but is significantly faster on mobile speeds. Bulgaria’s median mobile download speed of 83.71 Mbps makes it the seventh fastest market globally. The reverse is true for Spain, which came third in the DESI, and where median fixed download speeds of 118.25 Mbps are well above the European average, putting it in 11th place globally, but where mobile speeds of 34.63 Mbps lag well behind the European average, and place it 51st globally. Other examples of divergence between the DESI and actual internet speeds on the ground include markets such as Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia and Lithuania.

To support Member States, the Commission has proposed a “Path to the Digital Decade”, a governance framework which in addition to the development of roadmaps at a Member State level and regular reporting on progress, will also include a framework to address progress shortfalls and support for multi-country projects. Member States have been encouraged to make use of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, an EU-wide fund of EUR 723.8 billion designed to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, from which they are required to devote at least 20% of their allocation to digital projects. As of October 2021, digital investment plans totalled 26% of the fund, of which 11% is dedicated to connectivity. With such significant public funds directed at improving connectivity, and the digital services that it underpins, the Commission must ensure that its targets and measurement methodology keep pace with the evolution of network technologies.

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

About the Author

Mark Giles