It's amazing how much the world has changed in a quarter of a century. A few years ago, people received information from newspapers, books, radio and television broadcasting networks. Now all you have to do is walk to your computer and click on the browser icon to open a world-wide window. Moreover, even computers are no longer required to access the Internet. They are successfully supplemented (and in some cases replaced) by a smartphone.
What providers in Russia provide their users with Internet access according to the latest science and technology? The answer to this vital question is provided by Ookla's Speedtest web service. The service has a rich database - so far it has conducted 21,601,897,000 tests.
For determining the fastest mobile internet operators in Russia the company used the following method.
- First, the most influential providers of mobile Internet in the market were identified (3% or more market share).
- Then statistics of download and upload speed were compiled for them. The weighted averages were taken from 10%, 50% and 90% of the traffic speed, and then combined in a 1: 2: 1 ratio.
This is how the speeds are distributed among the four largest Russian mobile operators.
4. Beeline
Download speed - 11.63 Mbps
Data upload speed - 6.27 Mbps
Speed rating: 10,51.
For the "yellow-striped" operator, data travels over mobile networks as if in no hurry. We do not know the reasons for this, but the result is obvious - according to the rating, mobile Internet from Beeline lags behind the leader by more than two times. Interestingly, the latency for all four providers is approximately the same. Beeline practically does not differ from either MTS or MegaFon, and even shows better results than Tele2 (49, 49, 50 and 57 ms, respectively).
Recently "Beeline" entered into partnership agreements on network modernization with one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world - Huawei, so the situation may change for the better.
3. Tele2
Download speed - 13.83 Mbps
Data upload speed - 6.50 Mbps
Speed rating: 12,56
A telecommunications company operating in 65 constituent entities of Russia is slightly ahead of the fourth place in the rating.
Tele2 is constantly improving both its tariffs and data transmission capabilities. About a year ago, the operator began using several cutting-edge technical solutions such as the latest generation of self-optimizing and public access networks. And recently, together with Nokia Tele2, they tested 5G technology.
2. MTS
Download speed - 15.49 Mbps
Data upload speed - 6.96 Mbps
Speed rating: 13,85
While Tele2 is teaming up with Nokia for testing 5G, MTS is preferred by Ericsson. Most recently, both companies conducted field tests showing that it is possible to overclock mobile internet speeds up to 25 GB per second. Not bad, right?
Moreover, thanks to the optimization of its software, the use of new technologies, it is possible not only to increase the speed and coverage of the network, but also to reduce energy consumption. And this is both cheap and environmentally friendly.
1. MegaFon
Download speed - 24.68 Mbps
Data upload speed - 10.57 Mbps
Speed rating: 21,79
And the gold from Speedtest in the rating of the speed of Russian mobile operators in 2018 goes to MegaFon.His technicians managed to achieve an impressive result, almost double the next place on the list. The average download speed for MegaFon reaches an impressive 24.68 Mbps. It is surprising that MegaFon demonstrates this speed in old generation networks (2G, 3G and 4G). It is scary to think about what will happen in the new (5G) networks, but the company, like others participating in the rating, is testing new equipment. It is interesting that this testing is carried out by MegaFon in cooperation with the same Chinese telecommunications company Huawei as Beeline.
Even according to the results of the Speedtest research, it is clear that the mobile Internet works best in Moscow. There, the average speed of MegaFon is 37.36 Mbit / sec. But in other cities, the state of affairs is no longer so brilliant. Even St. Petersburg, which is considered one of the the most developed cities in Russia, the speed drops by almost a third and is only 23.18 Mbps.
Just 11 years ago, the number of mobile Internet users was a paltry 3% of the total population of the world wide web. Now, the volume of traffic transmitted over mobile networks has reached an impressive 52.4%. Russia was no exception. Although the overall Internet mobilization of the country still leaves much to be desired (our country occupies a modest 78th place, somewhere between Malaysia and Chile), it continues to grow and develop. The Internet is becoming not only more accessible, but also faster.