wifi

Swiss mobile roaming experience significantly differs from the domestic one

Posted: May 12, 2023

In this new analysis, Opensignal has compared the roaming experience of our smartphone users on Switzerland’s mobile networks — Salt, Sunrise, and Swisscom, over the course of 180 days starting on October 1, 2022. We looked at the quality of roaming services seen by our Swiss users traveling abroad to neighboring countries — Austria, France, Germany, and Italy. We also analyzed the experience of roamers from these markets when they use their phones on Switzerland’s networks — and how it compares to the experience of Swiss domestic users.

Switzerland users get faster speeds and better video on 5G than on wifi

Posted: Jul 28, 2022

In Opensignal’s newest analysis, we looked at the network experience of our smartphone users in Switzerland, when they connected to 4G, 5G and Wifi. Our research demonstrates that our Swiss users saw much faster download and upload speeds connected to 5G than when using Wifi or 4G. Smartphone users also enjoyed a superior video streaming experience on their mobile phones on 5G, compared to Wifi.

5G beats Public Wifi for gaming as well as speed

Posted: May 11, 2022

For a long time, users have assumed that Wifi always offers a superior experience to cellular connectivity, when using the Internet on mobile devices, either at home or in public places. Improvements to mobile technology with the evolution to 5G mean that this is no longer the case.

mmWave 5G is almost thirty times faster than public Wifi, but with similar reach

Posted: Mar 31, 2021

When away from home or work, users have to choose what kind of connectivity best meets their needs. For years, users have connected to public Wifi at the first opportunity, under the assumption it was faster (and cheaper) than cellular. Opensignal’s latest analysis demonstrates that the arrival of 5G means this is no longer always the case in the U.S.

South Africa’s smartphone users experience faster download speeds on mobile than Wifi

Posted: Apr 11, 2019

Opensignal analyzed the download speeds that South African users experience when they connect to mobile networks compared to Wifi, and found that cellular technology provided faster download speeds at all times of the day. Opensignal's data shows our smartphone users on average enjoy 14.8 Mbps in download speed when they access the internet using cellular networks — which we measured by looking at all 3G and 4G readings — but only 8.8 Mbps in download speed when connected to Wifi.

 

Hong Kong mobile users’ time on Wifi peaked during Typhoon Mangkhut

Posted: Oct 22, 2018

Reliable communication is key during natural disasters

On Sunday 16 September, Hong Kong was battered by Typhoon Mangkhut, the strongest tropical storm to hit the city in recent decades, with strong winds up to 103 mph (166 kph) that smashed windows and teared off parts of buildings and roofs, leaving more than 100 people injured but thankfully no fatalities.

Time spent on Wifi in the US falls as users move to unlimited plans

Posted: Apr 19, 2018

Over the past year or so, unlimited data has really taken off in the U.S., with all four of the big players launching competitive plans to try to get a bigger piece of the market. But just because consumers are eating up more data via cellular, it doesn't mean they've stopped using Wifi – although we're seeing signs they're moderating their usage. It's been a year since our first look at the time U.S. consumers spent connected to Wifi, versus using data via their cellular networks.

Which US cities lean on Wifi the most?

Posted: Dec 14, 2017

When we talk about smartphone connectivity, we tend to focus on the big name cellular technologies like LTE and future 5G technologies. We often tend to forget that one of the most important mobile technologies out there isn't actually a mobile technology at all: Wifi. Despite all the progress the worldwide mobile industry has made in boosting mobile broadband speeds and reach, we still rely heavily on Wifi for a good deal of our data consumption. In some countries, consumers smartphones spend as much as 65% connected to a Wifi signal.