EE customers get 5G almost twice as often as Vodafone’s
Key Points
- EE customers found 5G in 85.35% of busy areas, against 46.39% for Vodafone customers.
- EE scored 77.02 overall on 5G, ahead of O2, Three and Vodafone.
- All four networks sat within a few points of each other on 4G.
- Vodafone finished last on both 4G and 5G coverage.
- O2 beat EE on 5G in Northern Ireland.
EE customers found 5G in 85% of busy areas, against 46% for Vodafone customers, nPerf’s latest data showed.
The French network measurement firm published the figures in its barometer of mobile coverage in the United Kingdom, which covers 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026.
O2 came second on 5G, with its customers finding a signal in 67.69% of areas, while Three came third at 58.02%.
This population figure weights each area by the number of devices nPerf saw there, so city centres and busy roads count for more than quiet countryside.
nPerf also measured geographic coverage, which gives every area the same weight regardless of how many people pass through it.
The gap between the top and bottom networks grew wider on this measure. EE customers recorded 5G in 68.69% of the areas they visited, compared with 28.56% for Vodafone customers.
O2 recorded 49.77% on geographic coverage, and Three recorded 41.10%.
nPerf averaged the two figures to produce an overall coverage score for each network.
EE scored 77.02, ahead of O2 on 58.73, Three on 49.56 and Vodafone on 37.48.
The four networks sat much closer together on 4G, where all of them cleared 95% on population coverage.
EE led again with a 4G score of 96.50, followed by Three on 94.13, O2 on 93.85 and Vodafone on 92.40.
Vodafone finished last on both 4G and 5G, while Three finished third on 5G.
Vodafone and Three UK began to merge their networks during the latter half of 2025, in a slow process spanning several years. ispreview
EE topped the 5G rankings in Scotland and Wales, while O2 won in Northern Ireland.
O2 scored 72.89 for 5G in Northern Ireland, narrowly ahead of EE on 70.83.
nPerf’s Android app gathered the measurements from real users as they went about their day, including indoors, in cars and on trains.
The firm scored each network only on data from its own customers, in the places those customers actually went.
The study excludes iPhone users because Apple does not give developers access to signal-strength data.
