Arcep has just published the results of its latest annual survey on the quality of mobile services in France. A valuable barometer which allows you to know which are the best telephone operators of the moment.
The Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (Arcep) unveiled the results of its latest annual survey on the quality of services of mobile operators, which is based on the analysis of more than a million measurements in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G in all metropolitan departments, from mid-May to mid-August 2023. All aspects were scrutinized: quality of calls, SMS exchanges, speeds, video streaming, file sharing, etc. Note that, to best reflect new uses, Arcep has integrated voice quality measurements for the first time through an instant messaging application. It appears that, even if it is closing little by little, the digital divide is still there. Users who live in highly urbanized cities benefit from much better service than people living in rural areas.
And it is Orange, for the 13th consecutive year, which has established itself by far as the best operator on the market! However, its rivals were not discouraged – as evidenced by their press releases – and were sometimes rewarded for their clear progress compared to the 2022 results (see our article). Jean François Fallacher, Deputy Managing Director, CEO of Orange, is proud of these results: “this first place […] demonstrates our expertise in meeting the needs of the French in their everyday lives. But also our ability to manage major events such as the Rugby World Cup France 2023 which is coming to an end or even the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024.”. For its part, Free Mobile welcomes its “good progress on the majority of indicators retained by Arcep”.
Arcep 2023 survey: Orange once again voted best operator in France
Three downstream speed thresholds have been defined by Arcep: 3 Mbit/s for Web browsing, 8 Mbit/s for video viewing, and 30 Mbit/s for more demanding uses such as collaborative tools. Orange largely dominates its competitors in all residential areas combined, while Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile and SFR are neck and neck. Although Bouygues Telecom offers performance equivalent to Orange in dense areas, it is, however, the least efficient operator in rural areas.
In terms of Web browsing, Orange allows Internet pages to be displayed in dense areas in less than 10 seconds in dense areas in 97% of cases, followed very closely by Bouygues Telecom (96%), SFR (94%) then Free Mobile (93%). In rural areas, Orange still dominates (84%), followed this time by Free Mobile (78%) and SFR (77%). As for Bouygues Telecom, it is dead last (75%). Concerning the quality of voice calls in dense areas, Orange also presents the rate of calls held for two minutes and “without audible disturbances” the highest (96%), followed by Bouygues Telecom (95%), far ahead of SFR and Free Mobile (92%). The classification is the same in intermediate and rural areas. We note a real improvement among all operators compared to last year. In terms of video viewing in 2G/3G/4G/5G, Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR all four display a rate of 97% of videos viewed in perfect quality in dense areas – again, this is a nice improvement. In rural areas, Orange is far ahead of its competitors (89%), with SFR (85%), Free Mobile (84%) and Bouygues Telecom (82%) lagging behind. Finally, all operators allow you to receive an SMS in less than 10 seconds with a high level of performance: Free and Orange are first ex aequo (97%), followed by Bouygues Telecom and SFR (95%).
Concerning communications via an instant messaging application, a new criterion introduced by Arcep this year, the four operators offer a very good level of connectivity with a success rate of 97% for Orange, 95% for SFR, 94% for Bouygues Telecom and 93% for Free Mobile, all uses and all strata combined. However, for calls with perfect quality, gaps widen with 92% success rate for Orange, 86% for SFR, and 82% for Bouygues Telecom. Free, on the other hand, is completely left behind, with only 54% success.
Arcep 2023 survey: what quality for transport axes?
Arcep also looked at the quality of Internet service on the roads. This remains high for road routes, with nearly 92% of web pages displayed in less than 10 seconds, but is average on rail routes, with a rate of 70% for TGVs, Intercités and Intercity network trains. the TERs. On the other hand, the rate reaches 85% for the RER and Transiliens, and 96% for the metros. Here again, Orange unquestionably dominates, while SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom find themselves far behind overall. Concerning the quality of calls on the roads, Orange is still first with 95% success, followed by SFR (92%), Bouygues Telecom (90%) and Free (85%). The gap is widening for TGVs, Intercity network trains and TER, with 78% for Orange, 68% for Bouygues Telecom, and 65% for Free and SFR. On the RER and Transiliens network, Orange with 86% and Bouygues Telecom with 84% are ahead of SFR (80%) and Free Mobile (78%). Finally, in the metros, Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR come out on top, with 98 and 97% respectively, followed by Free Mobile with 95%.
Please note, as Arcep points out, these measures are not intended to push users to choose an operator. Before making a decision, it is essential to check the coverage of the places where you are used to it, as with the tool My mobile network.