For the past 10 years, Downdetector® has provided critical insights on real-time status and outage information for all kinds of services. We’ve seen huge, widespread outages over the years and 2022 was no exception. While no outage in 2022 eclipsed the biggest outage we’ve ever seen, which Meta experienced on October 4, 2021 when Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram all went down, 2022 still saw some big worldwide outages. We put together a list of the 10 biggest global outages of 2022, so read on to learn how outages affected users:
5G is no longer a new technology, however, consumers in many countries are still waiting to see the full benefits of 5G (or even to connect to 5G at all). We examined Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q3 2022 Speedtest® results to see how 5G performance has changed since last year, where download speeds are the fastest at the country level, and how satellite technologies are offering additional options to connect. We also looked at countries that don’t yet have 5G to understand where consumers are seeing improvements in 4G LTE access.
Awarded in December 2010 to Qatar, this year’s FIFA World Cup is the first to take place in the Middle East, and the first to be supported by commercial 5G networks. Ahead of the event, we outlined the important role of the Qatar Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) and both Ooredoo Qatar and Vodafone Qatar in driving performance gains in the market. A competitive, pro-investment market environment has paid dividends, coupled with firm commitments from both operators to roll out commercial 5G networks in all densely populated areas and all venues associated with the FIFA World Cup.
Ookla® has exciting, fresh data from Q3 2022 for SpaceX’s Starlink, HughesNet, and Viasat in North and South America, as well as new Starlink markets we haven’t yet featured in our ongoing series on satellite internet. With accelerating competition on the horizon for 2023, we’ve been eager to see how Starlink continues to perform, especially as building new fiber connections continues to be costly around the world.
You’ve come to rely on the Speedtest Global Index™ for our ranking of internet performance in countries around the world. Today we’ve expanded that resource to include internet speed rankings for some of the world’s largest cities. Read on to find out which city has the fastest download speed, learn how to find the information you’re looking for, and view a sneak peek at our 34 latest Ookla Market Reports™.
Ookla® recently commented on the outcome of the 5G spectrum auction and how Indian consumers are ready to upgrade to 5G networks. We now have data from Speedtest Intelligence® to show early 5G performance across select cities as well as an indication of the growth of the number of 5G-capable devices.
Fixed broadband internet reached 86% of households at the end of 2021 in the U.K., and most customers have access to speeds of at least 30 Mbps. While seven large internet service providers (ISPs) dominate the United Kingdom fixed broadband market, the competitive landscape is vibrant, hosting dozens of alternative providers (AltNets). The U.K. fibre market also attracts new funding, which allows alternative providers to expand their fibre footprint. In fact, Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data reveals smaller providers are sometimes the fastest across a few cities and counties.
“A lot has changed” we wrote in our 2019 global roundup of internet speeds based on the Speedtest Global Index™. Little did we know how much was about to change. But two things remain the same: the internet is getting faster and the Speedtest Global Index is still a fantastic resource for tracking improvements on a global and country level (if we do say so ourselves). Today we’re taking a look back at how much internet speeds have increased over the past four years and which countries have seen some of the largest gains.
India has witnessed a rapid migration to mobile broadband services over the past five years, growing from 22.4%, of the more than 1 billion mobile connections in the country, on either 3G or 4G networks at the end of 2016, to over 70% by Q2 2021 according to GSMA Intelligence. Rapidly falling data prices, spurred by the arrival of Jio in the market, have contributed to strong increases in mobile data consumption. This trend has only accelerated as more video streaming services have targeted the market and as a result of recent COVID-19-related lockdowns.
Mobile operators are rapidly expanding 5G deployments across the globe, with 16,410 new 5G deployments across 109 countries added to the Ookla 5G Map™ in June 2021 alone. Huge investments in 5G are being made to increase performance, especially in major cities. We used Speedtest Intelligence® to see which world capitals have the best 5G speeds and availability, based on locations with commercially available 5G during Q1-Q2 2021. We’ve also created a white paper that highlights 5G performance in select cities around the world, including 5G performance at a provider level.
Italy is a 5G pioneer as the fourth European country to commercially launch 5G services; it is also a highly competitive market. TIM recently announced a 5G cloud network and WindTre extended 5G dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) to 93% of the country. Vodafone is partnering with Huawei on a 5G RAN network and Iliad has been looking to grow its customer base with aggressive pricing for 5G. We looked at Speedtest Intelligence® data from Q2 2021 to see if network performance is leading the way as well.
Roaming might seem like an unusual topic in a time when inter-country travel has been largely prohibited, but we wanted to build on our previous analysis to see how roaming performance and behaviors evolved over the past year. This analysis examines Speedtest data from Android devices in the European Union (E.U.) and the United Kingdom (U.K.) from Q1 2020 through Q1 2021. We’ve included the U.K. to maintain continuity with pre-Brexit reports.
Brazil has become increasingly reliant on the internet for banking, business, telecommunication and leisure during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the country ranked 49th in the world for fixed broadband speed and 74th for mobile speed according to April 2021 data from the Speedtest Global Index™. In fact, Brazil's fixed broadband speed has improved 69.2% year-over-year thanks to FTTH investments, moving the country up seven places from 56th in April 2020 to 49th in the Speedtest Global Index in April 2021.
Speedtest Global Index™ Market Analyses from Ookla® identify key data about internet performance in countries across the world. This quarter we’ve provided updated analyses for 21 markets about top mobile and fixed broadband providers as well as device and chipset manufacturers and some city-level data. Scroll through the article to learn about all 21 markets.
India has seen strong internet speed increases during a year when internet access has been crucial. 4G expansions are leading to mobile speed improvements, while fiber rollouts are driving jumps in fixed broadband speeds. Today we’re looking closely at how India’s improvements compare to other countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). We have also paired the internet speed performance of India’s top internet providers with data on consumer sentiment to shed light on how consumers view their operators.
As we previously covered, the iPhone 12 is finally allowing Apple enthusiasts to connect to 5G. We’re back with fresh data to see how user adoption and new 5G rollouts have affected performance worldwide. After the launch of various iPhone 12 models, the daily count of unique devices worldwide that are capable of connecting to 5G spiked significantly compared to the year as a whole.
“We’re experiencing problems” was a common phrase faced by users who encountered outages during Q4 2020. We are continuing our series tracking outages in online services using Downdetector® data from Q4 2020. Once more we have focused on seven categories: cloud services, email service providers, financial services, gaming, internet service providers, social media and streaming services.
Apple’s 5G-capable iPhone 12 is the latest step in the continuous cycle of new technical specifications, new network components, new (or refarmed) radio spectrums and compatible user equipment that aim to deliver enhanced 5G user experience.
There was major concern last year that the internet might fail under the pressure of increased use as COVID-19 drove unparalleled waves of remote work and schooling. We watched internet performance carefully using data from Speedtest Intelligence® as conditions changed in different areas of the world. Now we’re back to assess what happened during the year as a whole.
The United Kingdom has seen considerable advances in 5G during the past year, but access to this emerging technology continues to be uneven across countries of the U.K. Looking at Q3 2020, data from Speedtest Intelligence® and Ookla Cell Analytics™ reveals how 5G affected overall mobile speeds, which country had the fastest 5G and where access was lacking.
