RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Opensignal released a new report about the quality of 3G and 4G networks in Brazil: Claro ranked first for download and upload speed, as well as offering the best experience in video streaming and VoIP calls via WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
Meanwhile, TIM has the highest availability of 4G signal and less latency in cell phone internet.
The Opensignal report takes into account the 5.16 billion measurements taken by users on four million devices between September and November 2019. It focuses on the four major operators – TIM, Vivo, Claro and Oi – but also examines the quality of regional companies Nextel and Algar Telecom in 36 of the largest cities in Brazil.
Claro was the Brazilian operator with the fastest download, both in 3G and 4G. On average, it reached speeds of 21.5 Mb/s, well ahead of Vivo (15.1 Mb/s) and TIM (12.4 Mb/s). Oi was in last place with only 8.9 Mb/s.
For upload speed, Claro also wins in 3G and 4G. According to Opensignal, the operator had average speeds of 7.6 Mb/s, surpassing Vivo (5.4 Mb/s) and TIM (5.1 Mb/s). Oi again came in last, with 3.3 Mb/s.
Having the fastest download and upload speeds, it’s no surprise that Claro also has the best video experience. It got 61.6 points in Opensignal’s evaluation, against 59.8 points for TIM and 59.3 points for Vivo; the three operators are classified as “good” in this category. Oi was the only one to finish in the “reasonable” category with 50.2 points.
Video experience measures the quality of video streaming on mobile networks. Opensignal uses factors like load time, video resolution and chokes in 3G and 4G networks to assign a score from 0 to 100.
For the first time, Opensignal reported the quality of VoIP calling experiences, the technology used for calls via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype.
Once again, Claro came in first with 79.9 points; it almost reached the “good” category (from 80 to 87 points), but ended up only meeting the “acceptable” classification with TIM (75.1 points) and Vivo (74.5). Of the four big operators, Oi was the only one in the “poor” category, with 72.7 points.
Claro was victorious in speed metrics, but TIM dominated the rankings of lower latency and higher availability. Let’s start with latency: TIM had an average of 57.4 milliseconds, less time than Claro (58.4 ms) and Vivo (61.4 ms). Oi had the worst average latency, with 68.4 milliseconds.
Opensignal noticed that Brazilian operators still have a lot to improve when it comes to latency: developed countries reach levels below 40 ms.
TIM offers the best 4G availability, which means its users managed to spend more time connected to 4G, as opposed to 3G.
The Italian operator’s clients were connected to 4G 85.7 percent of the time compared to 77.7 percent for Claro and 77.3 percent for Vivo. Oi came in last place because it doesn’t offer 4G in the 700 MHz frequency, released after the end of analogue TV, which allows better signal penetration.
Opensignal also measures something called 4G coverage experience: it analyses where the clients of a network operator received 4G signal, and compares it with the places visited by users of all operators. This is summarized in a score ranging from 0 to 10. TIM got 6.2 points, the highest score, ahead of Vivo (6.1), Claro (5.7) and Oi (4.3). Vivo has faster video streaming in nine cities.
The numbers above take the whole of Brazil in to account, but we know that the quality of operators varies depending on location. That’s why Opensignal also released specific scores for 36 different cities, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, Curitiba, Recife, Fortaleza and Manaus.
These were the overall results:
Download speed: Claro came in first place in 22 cities and tied with Vivo in 11 other cities
Upload speed: Claro came first in 23 cities and tied with another operator in 13 other cities
Latency: TIM was first in 9 cities, Vivo in 6, Oi in 5, Claro in 4, and Algar Telecom in one city (Uberlândia)
4G availability: TIM came first in 30 cities and tied with another operator in the remaining 6 cities
Video streaming experience: Vivo came first in 9 cities and tied with TIM or Claro in 5 more cities; Claro came first in 7 cities
VoIP calling experience: Claro took first place in 24 cities and tied with other operators in the remaining 12 cities