How is your data connection? 3G network 30% worse in Brazil than world average

In early February, OpenSignal released a report pointing out that the Brazilian 4G is ahead of the Japanese 4G in speed, but coverage in the country is still lacking. Now, in partnership with the Brazilian Institute of Consumer Protection (IDEC), the same company has collected data detailing the signal quality of operators in Brazil. The situation is not good.

OpenSignal and IDEC compared Brazil's top carriers with regard to 4G quality, the study was divided into coverage, download speed and latency. In 3G networks were compared only latency and download speed.

The quality of 2G and 3G in Brazil 30% worse than the world average

Vivo came out ahead

Vivo was the operator that performed better, with 4G coverage and download speed on 3G and 4G. In second place was TIM, with emphasis on 4G coverage and latency. Claro had as a positive point the 4G coverage. Nextel is the latency in 3G. Oi was not featured in any of the items.

Although Vivo has the best average speed, the carrier suffers from high latency

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Hi no featured on any of the analyzed points / OpenSignal

In the period analyzed, Vivo surpassed Claro by last measure and had the best download rate in Brazil, with an average speed of 4G of 15.3 Mbps. Claro, in turn, had a sharp drop, from 17.8 Mbps to 11.4 Mbps on average.

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Claro recorded average download speed drop in 4G / OpenSignal

Although Vivo has the best average speed, the carrier suffers from high latency: 256ms for 3G networks; 192ms for 4G networks.

Study Details

The survey included a sample of more than 58,000 users between October 2015 and January 2016, with a total of over 110 million computed data. The information was sent by the users who have the OpenSignal application installed on their smartphones.




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4G is getting slower and slower

As more users migrate to 4G networks, the speed tends to be slower, as OpenSignal's analysis points out:

As Brazil's 4G market matures and LTE networks begin to load with more subscribers, we will continue to see a gradual decline in average speed.

This could get worse if operators do not invest in infrastructure in the future. Therefore, it will be increasingly difficult to see 4G with speeds of 30 ~ 60 Mbps as we see in some places today. Since the last August report, in addition to Claro's fall, Vivo's average speed has dropped by 1 Mbps. Oi and Tim remained relatively stable, with averages of 10.5 Mbps and 11.9 Mbps respectively.

2G and 3G are saturated

With data provided by OpenSignal, IDEC has made a cut to analyze the quality of 2G and 3G in Brazil, networks used by 75% of the population that connects by smartphone. As expected, the result is not encouraging.

In the country the average download rate is 1.97 Mbps

According to the report, the quality of 2G and 3G in Brazil is 30% worse than the world average. In the country, the average download rate is 1.97 Mbps. For comparison, in the United Kingdom the average is 6.1 Mbps. Also, according to IDEC researcher Rafael Zanatta, the performance of 2G and 3G networks tends to worsen from region to region:

This performance is even worse in the inner cities, according to OpenSignal data, which reinforces the high complaint rate in Procons across the country.

The consumer protection organization has also prepared a ranking of cities with the best download rates on 2G and 3G networks. Among the first ten, only one, Juiz de Fora, in the capital. Among the worst are So Lus, in Maranho, and Ribeiro Preto, in So Paulo, which on average does not reach 1 Mbps.

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Gois capital ranked first among 40 cities / IDEC
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Average 3G speed between carriers / OpenSignal

The disclosure of these data reveals to us the harsh reality experienced daily by us Brazilians. Although we pay – and expensive – to stay online, we almost never have quality in connection. For those who live in the countryside, the problem is even greater.

For now, 4G still maintains good download rates. But is it that in the future, when the mass starts to use the network, the quality will remain? That only time will tell.

Does your city already have 4G coverage? How is the quality of 3G where you live? Leave your opinion in the comments.

(tagsToTranslate) quality (t) networks (t) 2g (t) 3g (t) 4g (t) LTE