25.11.2020
CHIP network test 2020:O2 network catches up with competition thanks to 4G rollout offensive
Strong performance in the CHIP network test 2020: Thanks to the comprehensive network expansion offensive, the O2 network makes the biggest quality leap (+25 percent) across all network operators this year and is catching up closely with the competition. O2 again receives an overall "good" rating, but improves it to a strong 1.59 (after 2.3 in the previous year). The network thus missed the leap to "very good" (from 1.50) by a hair's breadth – a motivation for further network expansion and the coming year. Especially pleasing for O2 customers: The CHIP network test certifies the O2 network a very good network quality for mobile calls and data usage as well as a good 4G availability – also in rural areas and along train routes.
O2 network with best basic mobile phone reception in Germany
Mallik Rao
"As part of our network expansion offensive, we have made every effort to offer our customers throughout the country an even better O2 network. I am all the more pleased that this progress is also reflected in significantly better ratings of our network quality in the current CHIP network test," says Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer of Telefónica Deutschland / O2. "Our O2 network is in a state of change. We will continue to invest extensively in our network in the coming months to provide our customers with an even better 4G network and a high-performance 5G network".
O2 with very good network quality for mobile telephony and data usage
The O2 network offers customers a very good network
The O2 network offers customers a very good surfing experience. 99.24% of all Downloads were successful in the CHIP network test. Besides 99.5% of the YouTube Streams were successful, whereby O2 is the second best provider in this sub-category. Also the average data rate is impressive: On average the testers used Download data rates of approximately 45 Mbit/s in the O2 network. This means that all digital applications can be used smoothly.
Positive message for all frequent callers: CHIP also assesses the voice quality in the O2 network as very good. 99.31% of all calls were successful. With the clearly more challenging telephone calls over WhatsApp even 99.62% of all calls were successful. The O2 network shares this best-in-class value with Telekom.
O2 with very good network in German metropolises
The CHIP network test states that O2 offers a very good network to its customers in large cities. For the network quality in the cities Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Duesseldorf and Frankfurt O2 always receives a “very good” rating by CHIP.
Enormous improvements in 4G availability thanks to network expansion offensive
The network expansion program has also improved mobile phone coverage along freeways and railway lines.
The enormous progress of the O2 network expansion not only improves the daily user experience of the customers. They are also reflected in significantly better network test ratings for 4G availability. With a grade of 1.93 ("good"), the O2 network has performed significantly better this year than last year (grade 4.0). One of the reasons for this are the more than 6,000 4G stations for better 4G area coverage which O2 has setup across Germany since the beginning of the year. As a result, O2 has provided over 7 million people with 4G for the first time.
The network expansion program has also improved mobile phone coverage along freeways and railway lines. That does not remain unnoticed in the CHIP network test: With the grade 1.79 the O2 network significantly improved again compared to the previous year (grade 3.6) and is on eye level with the competition. Those who would like to stream YouTube as continuously as possible during a train journey, should stream in the O2 network. Because with 98.5% successfully played YouTube streams during the train ride, the O2 network scored better than the competition in this sub-category.
In the CHIP network test also points for 5G were included this year for the first time. Since the 5G start in the O2 network in October 2020 already took place during ongoing network test measurements, the new mobile phone standard at O2 was not yet fully considered in the test. Otherwise, the result for the O2 network could have improved even further.
In the coming weeks and months the O2 network engineers will continue to implement their expansion program. In addition to an ever-increasing 4G availability, the provider will expand the new 5G standard in large steps in the coming year, thereby bringing 5G to more and more cities and regions.