Tutela, Mobile Experience Snapshot April 2022, information, data, Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C

Vodacom has reportedly ranked higher in its quality when compared to its competitors. Photo: owenaj / Flickr, @CellC and @MTNzaService / Twitter

Vodacom ranked best quality network in SA – Cell C, not so much…

A data company called Tutela revealed that Vodacom ranked higher than its competitors in relation to its quality for consumers.

Tutela, Mobile Experience Snapshot April 2022, information, data, Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C

Vodacom has reportedly ranked higher in its quality when compared to its competitors. Photo: owenaj / Flickr, @CellC and @MTNzaService / Twitter

A recent report by independent crowdsourced data company Tutela has ranked Vodacom higher than its rival networks MTN, Telkom, and Cell C in relation to quality. 

What is Tutela and its report?

Tutela aids the mobile industry by gathering useful information relating to mobile infrastructure. This information can then be used by mobile industries to optimise global networks. 

The Mobile Experience Snapshot April 2022 report utilised data based on various criteria. These criteria included mobile signal strength, mobile connection quality, and performance of different mobile apps in different locations. 

Vodacom topped two categories

Tutela categorised basic/core activities which are moderate to intense web browsing. This web-browsing includes social media applications and even standard video streaming. In this category of basic/core activities, Vodacom was the leader with a score of 83.1%. Coming in second best to this was Telkom at 76.5%.

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Another category that Tutela calls ‘excellent’ activities were also bagged by Vodacom which ranked a score of 71.5%. These activities include streaming 1080p videos, HD Skype video calling and multiplayer online games. MTN followed Vodacom with a meagre 64.4%.

There was one area where MTN beat the red mobile network

It seems that Vodacom may have topped all of these aspects, however, it didn’t rank as high in terms of the speed test. Vodacom had a download median speed of 20.3 Mbps while MTN’s download media speed was 24.3 Mbps.

Vodacom topped two categories in Tutela’s study. Photo: 5@2 Media / Flickr

How did Tutela collect the data?

Tutela revealed that it did not release figures on how many devices it used to complete its report. It did state that the list was based on data that was collected from the beginning of January this year to the end of March this year.

It added that the information that was collected was ‘anonymous at all times’. Tutela also spoke about gathering information from ‘common coverage areas’. These are areas where all the operators in the report provided coverage.

Business Insider reports that doing the above means the operators were not penalised for providing services in remorse or challenging locations where other operators did not provide a service that was comparable.