South Africa's biggest-ever mobile network quality test kicks off

MyBroadband has partnered with Analytico, Afristay and Keysight distributor Coral-i to conduct in-depth testing of Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, and Telkom’s networks across South Africa.

Mobile network quality is a key consideration for consumers when selecting a mobile network, especially with load shedding wreaking havoc among operators.

To determine which South African mobile network operator offers the best voice and data network quality, MyBroadband has launched a new network quality testing project.

For this project, MyBroadband partnered with three top South African companies:

• Coral-i: A distributor of Keysight's world-leading network testing platform.
  
• Afristay: One of South Africa's largest accommodation portals, with over 20,000 holiday homes, guest houses, BnBs, and villas listed.
  
• Analytico: Provides market research and network intelligence insights to South African IT and telecommunications companies.

This project uses Keysight's world-leading network testing platform, Nemo, to test a range of variables using high-end Samsung devices.

MyBroadband also worked with antenna and wireless communications specialist Poynting to design its test benches and testing vehicle.

Poynting is a global leader in the design and manufacture of cellular antennas. Professor Andre Fourie and Dr Derek Nitch assisted with the design.

Bigger and better

The 2023 mobile network quality testing project builds on previous MyBroadband projects focusing on mobile data performance.

This time around, MyBroadband will test a far more comprehensive range of network metrics, including:

• Call success rate and call drop rate.
  
• Call setup time average, minimum, and maximum.
  
• Audio quality mean opinion score average, minimum, and maximum/Audio quality average, minimum, and maximum.
  
• Download speed, upload speed, and latency.

Voice and data network quality tests will be conducted in all major cities and towns across South Africa, which has not been done before, as part of the project.

Analytico, in partnership with Coral-i, will then analyse this data to rank South Africa's mobile operators from best to worst.

The data will also be used to compare the performance of network vendors – Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, and ZTE – in South Africa.

Accommodation partner

To conduct speed tests across South Africa, our testing engineers must sleep in various locations – from big cities to small towns.

Afristay, which has properties across South Africa and is known for its excellent service, was therefore a great choice for MyBroadband as an accommodation partner.

Its accommodation portal makes it easy to organise your stay, from planning where you want to spend the night to booking, arrival, and departure.