Report: EE named the UK’s best mobile network
February 4, 2026
Ookla has released the RootMetrics State of the Mobile Union report for the UK, covering mobile performance across all four nations and 16 major cities in H1 2025. Key takeaways include:
- EE has been named the UK’s best overall network for the 25th consecutive test period.
- EE secured the ‘Best 5G Experience’ award.
- EE remained the top performer in both nation-level testing and major cities, posting median download speeds above 100 Mbps in nearly every city tested.
- Virgin Media O2 increased its nation-level award total and nearly doubled its tally of metro awards while delivering faster speeds in major cities.
- Virgin Media O2 also improved its UK-wide Reliability RootScore ranking from fourth in 1H 2025 to second.
- Three delivered strong results in major metropolitan markets, posting median download speeds above 50 Mbps in all 16 markets we tested, with four cities clocking in at 100 Mbps or better.
- Vodafone metro speeds remained generally consistent, with median download speeds above 50 Mbps in 11 of 16 cities and above 100 Mbps in two.
- UK operator performance hinges more on aggregation strategy and 4G resilience than raw spectrum holdings. EE leads through aggressive multi-carrier 4G aggregation that cushions 5G fallback, while Three’s unmatched 140 MHz mid-band delivers peak speeds above 1.6 Gbps but suffers from a weaker 4G anchor. Virgin Media O2 is shifting from coverage-first to capacity-focused deployments with wider n78 configurations, and Vodafone is leveraging MOCN sharing with Three to overcome portfolio fragmentation with 140 MHz deployments.