Broadband: providers deliver more power - but often not what you pay for

The Federal Network Agency has reported progress in the annual results of broadband measurements carried out by users using the regulator's official app. According to the latest 9th relevant report, 86.5% of fixed network users received at least half of the contractually agreed maximum data transfer rate for downloads. This relates to the period from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. In the previous year's period 2022/2023, the figure was 85.5%. This speed was fully reached or exceeded by 45.2% of users – compared to 43.5% in the 8th report –.

The analysis indicates that there are differences between urban and rural areas. In urban areas, 62.6% of users achieved at least 90% of the marketed data transfer rate, in semi-urban areas 59.1% and in rural areas 58%. Across all bandwidth classes and providers, 90.7% of users (2022/2023: 88.8%) received at least half of the contractually agreed maximum upload speed in the current reporting period. For 43.5% of users (2022/2023: 41.8%), the corresponding promises were fully met or exceeded.

At 79.6%, most customers were also satisfied with the performance of their broadband connection in the current reporting year and awarded grades between 1 and 3. However, 10% of customers again rated their internet connection as a 5 or 6. Overall, the report is based on 276,081 measurements in the fixed network sector, compared to 305,035 previously.

5G drives the results for mobile communications

Mobile communications performed notoriously poorly in recent years until mid-2022. At that time, only three percent were able to enjoy the full contractually agreed data transfer rate on the mobile internet. This has changed fundamentally with the expansion of 5G. The fifth generation of mobile communications makes it possible to “achieve very high data transfer rates”, it is said. In some cases, these “significantly exceed the respective contractually agreed estimated maximum of the tariff”. For the majority of tariffs on the market, this is still based on the speeds potentially achievable with 4G. For Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica in particular, this means “that they do not limit the achievable data transfer rates, but instead open up the tariffs 'upwards' for 5G use”.

According to the report, the proportion of 5G measurements has now risen again – and significantly –. In the current period, this amounted to around 44% of all measurements considered, compared to just 28.5% previously. A total of 562,305 valid measurements were considered for mobile broadband connections.

Of these, 315,974 were 4G and 246,331 were 5G. Around 83.5% of the 5G measurements are in the very high bandwidth classes of 200 Mbit/s to less than 500 Mbit/s and 500 Mbit/s. For 4G, however, the results in terms of achieving the contractually agreed estimated maximum data transfer rates in the three upper bandwidth classes were worse.

The Federal Network Agency separated 4G and 5G for the first time. A comparison with the previous year's results is therefore not possible. According to the regulator, an evaluation of the contractually promised services in interactive map form will only be carried out for the fixed network. In the area of mobile telephony, the measured data transmission rates for the respective mobile network will be the focus in the future. Klaus Müller, President of the Federal Network Agency, was pleased that more and more mobile customers were benefiting “from the very high speeds” thanks to the expansion of 5G.

(mho)