Mobile communications in Germany The Network Test ... - P3 Group

16 

Mobile communications 

connect 12/2012 

Mobile 

communications 

in Germany 

The Network Test 

2012 

The smartphone boom 

has truly turned up the 

heat for network operators. 

In Germany’s largest 

network test, connect 

finds the answers 

to who has data speeds 

and voice quality under 

control – and who 

doesn’t.

Fotos: © Peter Fenyvesi (15) / © unkreativ, © Teia, © Davor Pukljak, © Pixel Europe, © Sergey Kamshylin – shutterstock.de 

T 

Gentlemen, start your engines: 

The P3 communications 

measurement vehicle fleet. 

he year 2012 has been a true turning point for 

mobile communications in Germany: More 

and more people are opting for the smartphone – 

which in turn makes data traffic skyrocket. And 

this causes problems: because traffic runs through 

mobile networks whose UMTS technology is now 

already fully exhausted. Although transfer speeds 

have increased from what used to be an upper limit 

of 384 kbit/s to 42 Mbit/s, with the introduction of 

UMTS in 2004 demand has risen even faster. 

Voice quality and data services on the test bench 

So things have become crowded on Germany‘s 

mobile data highway. And the fast lane is called 

LTE, which offers considerably higher speeds but 

is still in its infant phases. There are neither sufficient 

sites available nor is the number of LTE-capable 

smartphones high enough to merit any fundamental 

relief of established networks. Things 

should start moving along no earlier than 2013. For 

this reason, the connect Network Test 2012 predominantly 

deals with GSM and UMTS networks. 

As always, our measuring partner was P3 communications 

– with their 600 members of staff, the 

Number One in Germany and Europe when it comes 

to the analysis of mobile networks. As in the 

previous year, the more than three-week measuring 

test drive was once again conducted with two test 

vehicles. The benefit of this is that telephone calls 

can be assessed between two smartphones at different 

locations - for the network operator, this is a 

much greater challenge than mobile phone calls to 

fixed network lines (you can read up on the results 

of the telephony tests on page 18). Plus testers can 

measure data speeds with smartphones (page 20) 

and with USB sticks on notebooks (page 22) independently 

from one another, as each device category 

places entirely different requirements on networks. 

You can read about measuring techniques, 

which besides the driver of the vehicle also calls 

for a specialist technician to monitor the measurement, 

on page 26. 

This time around we have expanded the test route: 

Unlike before, we not only toured Germany‘s 

most significant metropolises, Berlin, Hamburg, 

Cologne and Munich, the P3 vehicles also included 

small and medium-sized cities in five German regions. 

LTE measurements unrivalled 

At select locations known for their good LTE coverage, 

a third measurement vehicle was used that 

took random samples from the new 4G network. 

Whether or not juicy advertising claims promising 

up to 100 Mbit/s can actually be translated to the 

real world is revealed on page 32. BErnd ThEiss 

17

E-mails are downloaded on 

smartphones while voice-quality 

measurements take place 

at the same time. Telephony 

and data services running simultaneously 

increase complexity, 

which comes very close to 

real-life situations. 

Conclusion 

18 



There is no way around Telekom when 

it comes to reliability and voice quality. 

It operates a nationwide HD voice 

network that is seldom prone to error. 

O2 also provides high reliability and 

good articulation in the cities. In terms 

of sound, Vodafone closes in on Telekom. 

E-Plus is at eye level with O2, 

however in the cities but struggles 

with error rates twice as high as that 

of the Bonn and Munich-based companies. 

Telekom sustains comparatively 

few losses on the difficult highways. 

O2 manages to keep up a bit, 

whereas Vodafone and E-Plus loose 

out with error rates of more than 7 

percent. 

Telephony 

Voice connections are an absolute must that any network operator 

must command. Wishful thinking or reality? 

Tougher conditions for network operators: 

Whereas the Network Test 2011 concentrated 

on Germany‘s metropolitan cities boasting 

more than one million inhabitants, this year‘s 

test also covers cities inhabited by some 

100,000 residents. To adapt the situation in 

2012 even more to the increasing requirements 

of smartphone users, the parallel to voice connections 

and e-mail transfer was expanded 

considerably. Simultaneous voice and data 

connections are used by all smartphones nowadays 

to load e-mails, weather forecasts, 

maps and other data while making a phone 

call. Technological progress has also taken its 

toll on measurement methodology in 2012; 

with high-definition-capable measuring technology, 

networks providing clearly superior 

voice quality were finally able to demonstrate 

their competitive edge. With this, we address 

our readers who frequently lament in their letters 

to us the poor audio quality of common 

mobile networks. Of course, the main criterion 

will not be the audibly superior HD voice quality, 

more than two-thirds of the points will 

also be given for reliability. 

Cities and their surroundings 

Despite more difficult conditions in the cities 

and their surroundings, connection stability 

was not any worse than it was in 2011. With 

98.4 successfully completed calls, Deutsche 

Telekom was able to increase its results in contrast 

to the previous year. O2 also had pleasant 

results to report: Although Germany‘s smallest 

network operator took the bottom position 

in 2011 in terms of inner-city success ratios, a 

fact much discussed in the forums, O2 managed 

to take the lead this year with Telekom in 

the reliability class. E-Plus also improved 

noticeably in the cities, and with 97 percent 

successfully completed calls, finishes even 

ahead of Vodafone. The error rates for the two 

TelefoNie 

latter operators are generally acceptable for 

private individuals, many business people 

however lose their patience with considerably 

lower error rates. When it comes to voice quality, 

Telekom with an average of 3.2 points of 

5 on the Mean Opinion Score Scale has once 

again come out on top. This hardly comes as a 

surprise. After all, the company from Bonn is 

the only network operator that, with its nationwide 

HD voice upgrade, offers a suitable 

basis for modern smartphones with this technology. 

Yet Telekom not only impresses with 

its average values, 90 percent of the calls score 

a sufficiently comprehensible 2.8 MOS value, 

its voice quality is largely high. 

Vodafone shows that similar good results 

can be achieved without HD voice. The Düsseldorf-based 

operator falls behind Telekom 

by just two-tenths in voice quality measurement 

averages and is an average of one second 

faster than its competitors when it comes 

to call establishment. O2 and E-Plus fall 

a bit behind in voice quality measurements. 

The fact that more than 10 percent of the voice 

samples from Vodafone, O2 and E-Plus 

are below 2.7 MOS points shows that callers 

often have to perk up their ears. 

highways 

The quality of telephone connections on highways 

tends to naturally decrease. Telekom, 

with 96 percent successfully completed calls, 

won out in this category as well. O2 also did 

quite well in terms of reliability outside city 

limits with a 94-percent success, and thus consolidating 

its second place slot in the telephony 

category. Vodafone beats out E-Plus outside 

the cities, but should by no means be satisfied 

with a 7-percent error rate. In terms of voice 

quality, Telekom once again is victorious with 

a royal lead, followed by the three other network 

operators at similarly low levels. 

Provider 

TelePhoNy (ciTies aNd surrouNdiNgs) 

deutsche 

Telekom 

vodafone o2 e-Plus 

Success ratio/call establishment time (%/s) 98,4 / 5,8 96,8 / 5,0 98,4 / 5,9 97,0 / 6,2 

Voice quality/10% poorer than (MOS-LQO/MOS-LQO) 

TelePhoNy (highways) 

3,2 / 2,8 3,0 / 2,6 2,9 / 2,6 2,9 / 2,5 

Success ratio/call establishment time (%/s) 96,2 / 6,3 92,9 / 5,7 94,1 / 6,9 91,9 / 6,9 

Voice quality/10% poorer than (MOS-LQO/MOS-LQO) 3,1 / 2,6 2,9 / 2,4 2,9 / 2,5 2,9 / 2,5

industrial PCs used to control 

the smartphones are inserted 

in so-called blades in 

flat, upstanding insert casings. 

There are two blades 

per vehicle, two of which are 

used for control and data 

capture. 

Conclusion 

20 



Ultimately, Deutsche Telekom has a 

slight lead in terms of smartphone 

data services. The two-point difference 

to Vodafone is very low; both 

offer quick connections and high reliability. 

Vodafone is top scorer in Internet 

surfing in the cities, whereas Telekom 

makes up for time with upload 

and download rates. On highways, 

Telekom demonstrated a somewhat 

higher degree of reliability, and Vodafone 

to a certain extent in speed. O2 

and E-Plus have clearly caught up: 

With success ratios of 97 percent and 

more, with the exception of YouTube 

in the cities, they offer a sound basis 

for mobile Internet. This was definitely 

not the case last year. 

Data via smartphone 

Smartphones do not require record-breaking data rates. Information 

from the Internet should be visible on the display quickly and reliably. 

High reliability and acceptable minimum 

speed levels are far more important for smartphones 

than the occasional high-speed data 

rate. Last year, some networks had to deal 

with substantial losses in speed; most likely 

as a result of difficulties in coming to terms 

with the increasing number of smartphone 

users. 


This year once again the wheat is separated 

from the chaff in terms of data usage via 

smartphones. In the cities, Telekom and Vodafone 

fought neck and neck. This started with 

the task of loading the four typical websites, 

for which Telekom took 38 seconds with 

a success ratio of 97.7 percent. Vodafone took 

a hardly noticeable half-second longer, yet 

nearly reached a perfect score with a success 

ratio of 98.6 percent. O2 and E-Plus encountered 

difficulties in about 3 percent of the 

measurements, whereby E-Plus is overall a 

mere 10 seconds slower, whereas O2 needed 

almost 20 seconds more for loading. In the 

file download test, Telekom leads in terms of 

speed and error rate. Vodafone and O2 also 

finished with high success ratios and in 90 

daTeN Per smarTPhoNe 

percent of the measurements stood out with 

values of 1 Mbit/s or more. E-Plus results on 

the other hand fell considerably. During uploads, 

Telekom and Vodafone once again manage 

to show what they‘re made of, E-Plus 

disappoints in terms of speed and O2 in terms 

of reliability. YouTube videos are rendered 

most reliably with Telekom and O2, closely 

followed by Vodafone. 

highways 

Smartphone measurements showed that Telekom 

sets the benchmark on highways. No 

other network operator was able to keep up 

with their 93.5-percent success ratio for Internet 

surfing. Vodafone did come in closely 

behind and even turns out to be a bit faster. In 

the data download and upload category, Telekom 

even reached the 99 percent mark to offer 

a better user experience in terms of speed 

than E-Plus does in the cities. Vodafone closely 

follows the top dog and manages to 

shine on its own with high data download 

speeds. The YouTube performance by Telekom, 

Vodafone and O2 on highways is considerable. 

Provider 

deutsche 

Telekom 


daTa smarTPhoNe (ciTies & surrouNdiNgs) 

iNTerNeT websiTe loadiNg 

Success ratio (%) 97,7 98,6 97,1 96,9 

Session time website 1-4 

file dowNload 

(s) 38,1 38,7 56,9 47,7 

Success ratio (%) 99,6 99,3 99,3 98,4 

Average session duration (3 MB)/data rate (TE*) (s/kbit/s) 11,4 / 2211 14,4 / 1746 17,2 / 1452 21,8 / 1143 

90% faster than 

file uPload 

(kbit/s) 1160 942 1017 572 

Success ratio (%) 99,8 99,8 97,6 98,6 



youTube (sd) 

(kbit/s) 709 619 520 331 

Success ratio (%) 96,1 94,7 96,0 85,1 

Uninterrupted participation/start time 

daTa smarTPhoNe (highways) 


(%/s) 94,5 / 5,6 93,6 / 6,4 95,4 / 6,2 83,7 / 9,2 

Success ratio (%) 93,5 90,7 82,5 85,7 


file dowNload 

(s) 46,4 43,4 63,9 52,5 

Success ratio (%) 99,2 94,8 90,1 91,0 



file uPload 

(kbit/s) 574 724 664 360 

Success ratio (%) 99,0 93,9 87,1 92,2 

Average session duration (1 MB)/data rate (TE*) (s/kbit/s) 12,2 / 685 15,4 / 540 17 / 480 19,6 / 425 


youTube (sd) 

(kbit/s) 367 214 220 200 

Success ratio (%) 82,9 82,8 82,5 74,8 


* Time equivalent 

(%/s) 81,3 / 10,3 81,5 / 9,1 82,5 / 9,5 72,4 / 11

Although the test setup may 

appear to be very technical, 

each industrial PC used for 

the UsB data sticks is equipped 

with Windows 7 and the 

dashboard software for the 

stick provided by the network 

operator. 

Conclusion 

22 



In terms of mobile broadband, Telekom 

leads the race with often breathtaking 

speeds and is the provider of 

choice for those not willing to compromise. 

Vodafone‘s performance also 

managed to meet the needs of the 

more challenging user; O2 customers, 

and to an even greater extent E-Plus 

customers will have to be less impatient. 

Whereby the networks of both 

small providers have improved sensationally 

since 2011. One noteworthy 

aspect is the fact that the E-Plus data 

network which is currently being expanded, 

supports the data transfer 

rates necessary for HD videos in 50 

percent of the cases. If this expansion 

continues like this, E-Plus may very 

well surprise us next year. 

Data via notebook 

Mobile broadband measurements show what a network is capable of 

and how busy the network actually is. 

Mobile broadband measurements show that a 

typical smartphone still does not exploit modern 

mobile networks to the full extent. They 

demonstrate the data rates and download speed 

that can be achieved by a modern notebook with 

the latest USB data sticks from the offering 

of the respective network operator. In contrast 

to smartphone measurements, we do not attempt 

to simulate situations typical to buildings 

using interpose attenuators. The networks can 

therefore show what they are capable of under 

favorable conditions. 


Hourly stationary measurements at locations 

in the cities predominantly took place at highly 

frequented areas. This is where the networks 

are busiest. Deutsche Telekom gave no indication 

of this. With 17.8 seconds, it managed to 

reduce the smartphone values for website loading 

(Google News, Wikipedia, Leo, ETSI) via 

mobile broadband by nearly half. Reliability 

scored 99 percent. 

Vodafone was almost able to keep up in 

terms of speed, however websites loaded about 

two seconds longer than with Telekom. If they 

were loaded, that is. Download of the four typical 

websites failed in more than 5 percent of 

the attempts. E-Plus achieved similar failure 

daTeN Per NoTebook 

rates and required 4 seconds more for loading. 

O2 was slower but more reliable. 

Telekom and Vodafone attained top data 

download speeds of 27 Mbit/s. Dual Carrier 

HSPA+ with two parallel frequency channels 

is reality here. Overall the network operators 

displayed good performance and high reliability, 

only O2 results declined somewhat in the 

upload category and E-Plus in downloads and 

uploads. The established order is once again 

determined for data transfer speeds with clear 

distances: Telekom leading, followed by Vodafone, 

O2 and E-Plus. O2 was not very convincing 

when it came to YouTube in HD quality, 

E-Plus all the same succeeded in more than 50 

percent of the attempts in this exercise, which 

required about 5 Mbit/s. 

highways 

Telekom is more than twice as fast as Vodafone 

with regard to download speeds on highways. 

Vodafone on average finishes well ahead of O2 

and E-Plus, the operator from Munich however 

looks better at the 90% value, which is an indicator 

for more consistent deployment in the 

wide area. Telekom took a considerable lead in 

the upload category, while E-Plus lagged far 

behind at the rear. 

Provider 

deutsche 

Telekom 


daTa mobile broadbaNd (ciTies & surrouNdiNgs) 


Success ratio (%) 99,0 94,4 97,9 94,8 


file dowNload 

(s) 17,8 20,1 29,2 24,5 

Success ratio (%) 97,8 98,3 98,8 93,5 



daTei-uPload 

(kbit/s) 4817 2354 1097 1104 

Success ratio (%) 97,8 97,7 93,1 91,7 



youTube (sd) 

(kbit/s) 1047 868 868 392 

Success ratio (%) 98,4 97,7 84,2 89,8 


youTube hd 

(%/s) 96,7 / 2,6 95,5 / 2,9 69,8 / 3,2 85,9 / 3,1 

Success ratio (%) 87,3 85,2 22,2 51,7 

Uninterrupted participation/start time (%/s) 86 / 2,6 81,5 / 3,1 17,3 / 3,6 41,7 / 3,4 

daTa mobile broadbaNd (highways) 

dowNload 

Average data rate (kbit/s) 10686 4245 2477 1915 


uPload 

(kbit/s) 1282 418 465 290 

Success ratio (%) 97,3 87,3 84,9 87,4 

Average data rate (TE*) (kbit/s) 959 830 906 475 


* Time equivalent 

(kbit/s) 638 492 582 271

24 


Subscription rates & SIM cards 

In order to be able to measure maximum available data transfer rates, 

SIM cards need to be exchanged more frequently. 

For a network test it is not simply enough to use 

SIM cards with various types of flat rates in test 

smartphones and data sticks. Maximum transfer 

rates of the respective subscription have to 

be taken into consideration, which are restricted 

for many inexpensive subscriptions. If network 

and data stick offer up 42 Mbit/s, the subscription 

should not have a lower limit, otherwise 

you may just very well be measuring how 

good the subscription is and not the network. 

Fair Use Policy 

Furthermore, during the network test it must 

taken into consideration that each subscription 

is associated with „fair use policy“ restrictions. 

If more data is transferred than agreed 

upon, the network operator reduces the transfer 

speed. This of course may not happen during 

the network test. After all, quality and speed of 

the network should be measured and not that of 

an active restriction. This is why the network 

testers in the vehicles always replace the SIM 

card before reaching the respective volume provided 

by the subscription. A total of 50 SIM 

cards ensured that the network measurement 

Everything about data transfer 

Maximum data transfer rates are not just highly popular when it comes 

to selling DSL connections. But what do they actually tell us? 

If UMTS, LTE or DSL are being purchased, 

data transfer rates are usually what‘s focused 

on. Yet when transferring data, the speed at 

which a website is loaded or how long it takes 

to upload a photo to Facebook is decisive, 

whereas transfer times can be translated to data 

transfer rates and vice versa. During a network 

test, measurement conditions should be 

chosen to reflect the user experience in the 

best possible way, which is why P3 communications 

and connect have begun to mainly 

measure session times. It should be mentioned 

that these times measured encompass an entire 

cycle - from the initial query or login to the 

servers to the transfer of the very last bits. 

Whereas most people have a sense of how 

long it should take for a website to load, this 

is not the case for file transfers. In practice it 

is difficult to tell whether ten seconds is slow 

or fast for downloading a typical 5 MB MP3 

file. This is why the network test measures 

downloads largely as session times, but reflects 

them as data rates; these measurements 

are called a time equivalent (TE). The time 

equivalent enables a direct comparison with 

values, with which the DSL providers have 

been using for advertising purposes, as well as 

now also an increasing number of mobile 


subscriPTioNs used for The TesT 

communications providers. For those who 

compare ad slogans with measurements we 

advise caution. Specification of up to 42 

Mbits/s refer to gross data rates. Due to the 

transmission protocols, they are always higher 

than the net transfer rates, which are more interesting 

for the user. Our measurements also 

take times for login, query and the like into 

consideration. In practice, these times also 

count and the network should keep them as 

short as possible. Then only after the actual 

download or upload starts is the network able 

to demonstrate its full speed potential and 

show how many bits it can transfer per second. 

One more thing on averaging: several 

thousands of transfer times are averaged to 

arrive at a mean data transfer rate. The advantage 

is that a network operator cannot overcompensate 

for gaps occurring at one place 

with extremely high transfer rates at another. 

A network operator that provides 2 Mbits/s 

for 2001 measurements and for 2000 no connection 

at all, would fare better than one who 

could always provide 1 Mbit/s, although the 

customer would most likely prefer the latter. 

Yet averaging transfer times has the drawback 

that one single incomplete transfer makes the 

average endless. This may not happen and this 

could be made at all times and at full speed. 

Whether or not the frequent exchange of SIM 

cards was beneficial in making it more difficult 

for network operators to track the position of 

the test vehicle is irrelevant. After all, the network 

test is far too fast for any provider to actually 

intervene manually. 

Provider 

deutsche 

Telekom 


Telephony subscription Complete Mobile XL Superflat Internet Allnet o2 Blue L Base + Internet Flat XL 

Price / incl. vol. 89,95 €/2 GB 89,95 €/2 GB 59,99 €/2 GB 30,00 €/5 GB 

Data rate smartphone 

Complete Mobile XL + Speed 

Option LTE 

Superflat Internet Allnet + 

Mobile Internet Flat 21.6 

o2 Blue L Base + Internet Flat XL 

Price / incl. vol. 89,95 € + 10 €/4 GB 89,95 € + 49,95 €/12 GB 59,99 €/2 GB 30 €/5 GB 

Date rate / mobile broadband Mobile Date XL Eco Mobile Connect Flat 50,0 o2 Surf Flat XL Base + Internet Flat XL 

Price / incl. vol. 69,95 €/30 GB 49,95 €/10 GB 34,99 €/7,5 GB 30 €/5 GB 

is why transfer times that exceed predefined 

values are marked as faulty. Therefore, a network 

operator whose measured values frequently 

exceed the threshold value has a high 

error rate. In the average data transfer rate he 

can therefore be better than another operator 

as so many of its poor values are not counted. 

When interpreting measurement values it is 

therefore not desirable to just have high speeds 

without the low error rate. 

To provide information as to how dense and 

busy the networks of the individual operators 

are, connect also determines the date transfer 

rates that are at least reached in 90 percent of 

all measurements. If this number is very low, 

this means that the conditions for a good Internet 

experience were inadequate in 10 percent 

of the measurements. High values on the other 

hand show a broad expansion and cell utilization 

that was not too high during the measurements. 

High values in this measurement however 

cannot rule out the fact that every network 

operator has areas with poor coverage.

26 


This is how connecT TesTs 

P3 communications, the connect 

measurement partner, sent a minimum 

of two test vehicles to take to 

the road. After all, a sufficient 

number of locations have to be recorded 

in order to arrive at statistically 

sound statements. A network 

test scheduled for three-and-a-half 

weeks with one vehicle alone will 


hardly do the trick. Plus two test 

vehicles make it possible to measure 

realistic mobile-to-mobile calls 

from various locations. Mobile-tomobile 

calls are nowadays the standard, 

but also tend to be much more 

error prone than calls from mobile 

phones to fixed network lines. 

Also independent data transfers 

The measuring routes went 

through several cities 

which were divided into 

five larger 

clusters. 

with smartphones on the one side 

and PCs with data sticks on the 

other requires the use to two separate 

measuring vehicles. Of course, 

a magazine such as connect cannot 

bear the load of such logistics and 

technological outlay on its own. 

Since 2001, connect‘s partner P3 

communications, the leading European 

specialist in network measurement 

technology, has been conducting 

what is probably the 

world‘s largest independent network 

test on behalf of connect. 

The test vehicles containing proprietary 

measuring systems are 

part of the vast P3 communication 

fleet of vehicles used throughout 

all of Europe. One vehicle uses 

eight HTC mobile phones for 

measuring, two spare devices are 

also on board. Four HTC Sensation 

XE smartphones were used to measure 

voice telephony. The advantage 

of this smartphone is that it 

supports the new HD voice standard 

and can therefore fully benefit 

from the quality assets of state-ofthe-art 

mobile networks. The latest 

valuation algorithm wideband 

POLQA is used to assess voice 

quality. Since 2011, the previously 

used PESQ standards are no longer 

up to date due to the modern wideband 

codecs. It is also worth noting 

that during the telephony measurements, 

the smartphones were also 

performing 100 kB mail transfers. 

This so-called multi-RAB operation 

(Multi Radio Access Bearer) 

takes into consideration that smartphones 

can also transfer data while 

a call is being made, e.g. to update 

an e-mail inbox or other data services. 

Four further HTC Sensation 

XE smartphones in vehicle 1 were 

used for data measurement purposes. 

To this end, the smartphone‘s 

software was only adapted to enable 

the automatic measurement of 

the data transfer. The preinstalled 

browser automatically loaded four 

typical and highly frequented web- 

P3 communications measures transnationally: 

magnetic „measuring vehicle“ 

signs in several European languages. 

Meticulous: Measuring systems are 

installed in the vehicles at the P3 communications 

workshops.

28 


sites (Google News, Wikipedia, 

Leo, ETSI) one after the other. The 

mobile phone‘s operating system 

automatically triggered file uploads 

and downloads, the installed 

video player was used for the You- 

Tube test in standard resolution. 

A fully equipped industrial PC 

controls each of the eight smartphones 

used for measuring. There 

were two spare PCs here as well, 

and a further PC was used to control 

the overall system and for data 

capture. The antennas of the eight 

actively used HTC Sensation XE 

smartphones were in an external 

roof box. Attenuators with 12 dB 

reduction ensured that the situation 

for the mobile phones was typical 

to that found in homes. This way 

indoor-like situations could be 

measured without having to put up 

with the respective inconveniences. 

An enhanced onboard power 

supply system with two generators 

and battery provided uninterrupted 

power supply to the smartphones 

and the industrial PCs in the E class 

Mercedes. 

With the exception of one detail, 

the second test vehicle was configured 

like the first one. During telephony 

measurements however no 

parallel multi-RAB data transfers 

were performed. Instead of using 

smartphones restricted to data 

measurements of 14.4 Mbit/s 

downloads and 5.76 Mbit/s uploads 

the best data sticks from the offe- 


ring of the respective network operator 

were used here. They were 

run on the industrial PCs with Windows 

7 and the dashboard software 

of the network operator. Instead of 

typical smartphone values, these 

mobile broadband measurements 

should provide values ideally 

achieved on a well-equipped notebook 

in the network of the respective 

operator. As much more is required 

from notebooks in terms of 

data connections than is the case 

with a smartphone, vehicle 2 also 

rendered HD YouTube videos in 

addition to the standard resolution. 

On the highways, the network operators 

could show which data rates 

they were capable of for classic uploads 

and downloads. Besides the 

two E class station wagons, a third 

measuring vehicle was used for 

LTE data measurement only, under 

stationary conditions along the 

route. More on page 32. 

The test route encompassed 27 

cities distributed among five clusters. 

The cities in alphabetical order 

were: Bamberg, Berlin, Bochum, 

Braunschweig, Bremen, 

Chemnitz, Cologne, Darmstadt, 

Dortmund, Dresden, Düsseldorf, 

Erlangen, Essen, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, 

Halle, Hamburg, Hannover, 

Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Magdeburg, 

Mainz, 

Munich, Nuremberg, Wiesbaden, 

Wolfsburg and Würzburg. 

In the cities, the first vehicle so- 

lely equipped with the smartphone 

configuration was permanently on 

the go, whereas the second vehicle 

with the data sticks focused on 

well-covered, but heavily frequented 

locations in order to test how 

well resources are shared between 

concurrent users. A total of 80 inner-city 

hotspots were recorded in 

this manner. 

The cars drove separate routes in 

cities and on highways as far as this 

was possible. 

Once Germany‘s largest network 

test, which took place from September 

17 to October 10 was completed, 

the cars had covered a distance 

of nearly 17,000 kilometers. 

Each vehicle was occupied by a 

driver and a specialist with a notebook 

who ensured that the measurements 

were being conducted properly 

and that no network operators 

are thwarted out because e.g. SIM 

cards used for testing reached their 

max. speed limit (also see page 

24). 

All in all, P3 communications 

and connect spared no expense in 

once again testing E-Plus, O2, Vodafone 

and Telekom for you in 

Germany‘s largest network test. 

not very often do the ten P3 communications 

vehicles for mobile network 

measurements stop at one single location 

to have their picture taken. 

Germany’s largest 

network test: 

The P3 communications 

measuring vehicles 

covered some 

17,000 kilometers. 

Zwei Autos vollgestopft mit 

speziell für netztests konzipierter 

Elektronik – das bietet 

viel diskussionsstoff für P3- 

und connect-Mitarbeiter.

30 


Telekom 

For a second time in a 

row, the network test 

shows there is no way 

around Telekom. 

The quality of a mobile network 

is always a matter of financial 

resources available for 

the technology used. Yet 

coaxing out all there is to get 

from a complicated infrastructure 

ultimately comes down to 

management with strategic farsightedness 

and a sense of fine 

detail. 

And this is exactly what the 

CTO of Deutsche Telekom, 

Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, and his 

team have proven. In the telephony 

test, Telekom is far superior 

to its competitors, O2 comes 

close at most, but only in 

the cities. 

Yet the good results cannot 

only be attributed solely to the 

improved voice quality of HD 

Voice, it was much more the 

high degree of reliability that 

O2 

During the Network Test 

2011, O2 fell prey to its 

own success. 

In 2012, O2 is back. 

Winning second place in the 

Network Test 2009, O2 showed 

us that a network operator can 

make the leap forward. Yet in 

the year to follow, the smartphone 

revolution with 

the iPhone and a host of datahungry 

Android phones overran 

the small provider from Munich. 

The network succumbed 

to the increased load like no 

other. Also in terms of 

voice quality, O2 slipped 

from first to last place, the forums 

were running hot. But a 

lot of data traffic also means a 

lot of income for a network 

operator, which also provides a 

chance to adjust the network to 

the increased traffic. O2 has apparently 

made use of this opportunity 

and in 2012 is once 

again a force to be reckoned wi- 


The network operators 

made the difference. 

Telekom also shines in terms 

of its data network with a virtually 

perfect success ratio of 

around 98 percent, the Bonnbased 

company was just a bit 

below in some of the cases with 

YouTube. Telekom always takes 

a leading position when it comes 

to speed, usually first place 

and often with a clear lead 

ahead of the competition. 

Is Telekom perfect always 

and everywhere? No. No mobile 

communications provider can 

render top performance everywhere. 

But Telekom customers 

simply benefit from better and 

more reliable services where 

other network operators had to 

fold. 

connect rating 

Very good (441 points) 

th in the battle 

for the customer. 

In the telephony 

class, O2 even 

managed to finish 

second before Vodafone. 

In the 

cities, the Munich company 

tied with Telekom in terms of 

reliability, only in 

Voice quality Telekom was 

ahead. For smartphone data 

transfers in the city, the O2 customer 

had to wait an average 

one-third longer for completion 

than the Telekom user, depending 

on the service. This can be 

tolerated, if the price is right. 

Those who can live with minor 

transfer deficiencies in the 

country, will find a reliable and 

good network in O2, which is 

currently once again in an upwind. 


good (381 points) 

Vodafone 

Once again, Vodafone 

had to make do with second 

place, and the distance 

to 

Telekom has even grown 

in 2012. And this is not 

the only reason the result 

is worrisome. 

If you ask business people 

which mobile provider they have, 

most of them will say Telekom 

and Vodafone. The two 

major players on the German 

market can basically attribute 

this to the good reputation of 

their voice networks. Yet in 

2012, Vodafone achieved a success 

ratio of barely 97 percent 

in the cities and surroundings 

and on highways at times encountered 

problems in seven 

out of 100 

calls. This puts 

Vodafone at third 

place after O2 

in the „Tele- 

E-Plus 

E-Plus has made 

a name as an inexpensivetelephony 

provider. 

In 2012, the company 

made a big leap forward 

with data. 

E-Plus can substantiate its reputation 

as a reliable voice provider 

in the cities. With a 97-percent 

success ratio, and errors in 

three from 100 calls, even Vodafone 

is not more reliable. E-Plus 

loses ground in terms of sound 

quality and outside cities - this is 

definitely where some catching 

up needs to happen. The E-Plus 

data network is still in its infant 

stages - a fact which is confirmed 

when accurately analyzing 

the test data. In terms of smartphone 

data services, the overall 

sound performance of E-Plus is 

on average just slightly behind 

O2. When it comes to the more 

demanding mobile broadband 

class, the distance to the Munich 

phony“ category and is bound 

to displease business customers. 

After all, for financially strong 

clientele, the telephone is often 

their most important work instrument. 

Nevertheless: In terms of 

used data services per smartphone, 

Vodafone manages to 

sovereignly defend its second 

place spot from the previous 

year. With just a hint of two 

points to Telekom, mobile Internet 

is exceptionally fast on a 

smartphone with a Vodafone 

SIM card. 

The same applies to notebooks 

with a data stick, with the 

exception of highways. Telekom 

may be faster at times, yet 

Vodafone also provides the 

speed for a good user experience. 


good (397 points) 

company grows considerably. 

Yet the results arrived at through 

averaging reveal only half of the 

truth. After all, an average result 

can consists of many average values 

or it may consist of half 

above-average, half below-average 

values. E-Plus appears to be 

very good in many cases, as is 

shown by the more than 50-percent 

success ratios for the bandwith-hungry 

YouTube HD measurements 

in the cities. This was 

not the case at other measuring 

locations, where expansion is 

still due. If E-Plus can master 

this challenge in the next year, 

the Network Test 2013 may turn 

out quite differently for the little 

network operator from Düsseldorf. 


satisf. (334 points)

32 


LTE 

To evaluate the potential of LTE, P3 communications and connect sent 

out a third test vehicle.. 

It would not have made any sense to include 

LTE in the Network Test scores. With the 

scanty, regional coverage, minor changes in 

the route would have led to major discrepancies 

in the result. And with the low prevalence 

of LTE-capable end devices, the network results 

would not have reflected the typical user 

experience. 

Nevertheless, the speed advantage LTE offers, 

despite the marketing claims, is of course 

still interesting. Therefore P3 communications 

and connect sent out a third measuring vehicle 

to repeat the mobile broadband measurements 

at locations with LTE coverage with the latest 

4G modems offered by the network operators. 

The fact that the success ratios are usually 

close to 100 percent cannot be ascribed to the 

merits of LTE. This can rather be attributed to 

the fact that, instead of freely selected routes, 

locations known to have good coverage were 

selected. The loading of websites consisting of 

several individual loading operations displays 

the low latency which is frequently mentioned 

in marketing this standard. It is a benchmark 

as to which delays occur during the communication 

between the end device and the server 

providing the data, i.e. how fast e.g. queries 

are sent to the respective web server. Very fast 

apparently, as the extremely short loading 

times of the four websites in the well-covered 

DC-HSPA+ Telekom network are reduced by 

some 33 percent with LTE. On average, each 

of the typical websites is fully established in 

about three seconds - this is breathtaking. 

Average file download speeds are equally 

breathtaking, in which Telekom leads with an 

average of about 33 Mbit/s. On a transmission 

path shared with others, this is not too far off 

from the theoretically possible 100 Mbit/s. Telekom 

impresses even more so when it comes 

to uploads. With an average of up 17 Mbit/s 

high-resolutions images are uploaded in a 

matter of seconds and even home videos are 

uploaded extremely fast. Despite the fact that 

O2 introduced LTE later and did not have 

lTe 

resulTs NeTwork TesT germaNy 2012 

Provider 

deutsche 

Telekom 


Smartphone telephony max. 170 143 121 133 114 

City and surroundings 120 87% 75% 84% 73% 

Highways 50 77% 62% 65% 55% 

Smartphone data (city and surroundings) max. 140 129 128 119 108 

Internet website loading (city and surroundings) 56 89% 92% 80% 83% 

File download (city and surroundings) 28 98% 95% 95% 88% 

File upload (city and surroundings) 28 97% 97% 85% 87% 

YouTube (city and surroundings) 28 87% 81% 85% 46% 

Smartphone data (highways) max. 30 25 24 20 20 

Internet website loading (highways) 12 85% 82% 61% 71% 

File download (highways) 6 93% 87% 77% 73% 

File upload (highways) 6 93% 80% 67% 75% 

YouTube (highways) 6 57% 62% 62% 45% 

Mobile broadband (cities and surroundings) max. 130 117 106 91 79 

Internet website loading (city and surroundings) 52 93% 74% 82% 72% 

File download (city and surroundings) 26 88% 89% 76% 55% 

File upload (city and surroundings) 26 87% 85% 61% 42% 

YouTube SD (city and surroundings) 20 95% 93% 54% 72% 

YouTube HD (city and surroundings) 6 68% 62% 37% 37% 

Mobile broadband (highways) max. 30 27 18 18 13 

File download (highways) 15 100% 81% 77% 70% 

File upload (highways) 15 78% 38% 40% 15% 

rating 

score max. 500 

441 

very good 

397 

good 

381 

good 

334 

satisfactory 


Provider 

mobile broadbaNd lTe 


deutsche 

Telekom 

vodafone o2 

Success ratio (%) 99,6 99,9 100,0 


file dowNload 

(s) 11,0 11,9 13,8 

Success ratio 100,0 100,0 100,0 

Average session duration (20 MB)/data rate (TE*) (s/kbit/s) 5,2 / 32463 11,5 / 14466 18 ,0/ 9177 


file uPload 

(kbit/s) 20108 11236 6742 

Success ratio (%) 100,0 100,0 87,6 

Average session duration 10 MB)/data rate (TE*) 4,9 / 17021 7,4 / 11190 10,8 / 7701 


youTube sd 

(kbit/s) 13507 9561 4377 

Success ratio (%) 100,0 100,0 100,0 


youTube hd 

(%/s) 100 / 2,3 100 / 2,6 100 / 2,2 

Success ratio (%) 95,9 100,0 97,7 


* Time Equivalent 

(%/s) 95,9 / 2,4 100,0 / 2,9 97,7/ 2,3 

much time to optimize, 90 percent of the upload 

transfers were faster than 4 Mbit/s. This 

ought to bring tears to the eyes of DSL users. 

With such high and reliable speeds it comes as 

no surprise that the YouTube download in HD 

is as reliable as never before. So let‘s look forward 

to the further expansion of this new mobile 

standard. 

conclusion 

Bernd Theiss, 

connect-Editor 

Benefits of LTE:: 

it’s not just the 

extreme upload 

data rates that 

will bring tears 

to the eyes of 

many dsL users. 

First the bad news: good 

quality calls can only be 

made with Deutsche Telekom 

and O2. Vodafone and 

E-Plus provide overall just 

satisfactory results. Some good news for all mobile network customers 

in Germany is the fact that O2 has managed to catch up after 

its slump in 2011 and E-Plus has generally done well in making up 

for deficits in terms of mobile Internet. E-Plus now also has a sound 

offering for online use in cities. O2 and to an even greater extent 

Vodafone and Telekom are clearly ahead of E-Plus. On highways and 

outside city limits, one is well advised to stick a Telekom or Vodafone 

SIM card into their smartphones, if it is good data services you are 

looking for. The same applies to anyone seeking to get the most out 

of their data sticks. On highways we even recommend Telekom. Anyone 

who has such excellent command of their network and can 

offer state-of-the-art mobile communications technology with its 

widespread availability of HD Voice and DC-HSPA+ deserves to win 

the Network Test 2012.

Mobile communications in Germany The Network Test ... - P3 Group

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