It's not just in the tunnels that the signal cuts.
While the quality of service of telecoms networks has increased overall in the heart of cities and in rural areas in 2021 - thanks to the commissioning of new relay antenna sites - not all operators have made the same progress in transport and on the main roads.
In the 22nd edition of its annual survey enriched by a million measurements, Arcep, the telecoms gendarme, distributed its report cards on the quality of 2G, 3G and 4G networks by focusing on the transport axes where to have a good connection can be essential in everyday life.
Arcep measured the quality of voice calls by taking into account “the call rate maintained for 2 minutes and call rate maintained for 2 minutes without audible disturbances” during tests carried out with two SIM cards from the same operator.
For mobile Internet, mainly in 4G, the regulatory authority compares competitors based on the rate of web pages loaded in an area in less than 10 seconds but also in less than 5 seconds.
Orange dominates the trains
On the main roads, ie all the highways and around twenty secondary roads, 93% of calls made with Orange are not affected in any way compared to 91% at Bouygues Telecom, 88% for SFR and 84% for Free Mobile.
The differences are much narrower on Internet connections: a web page is displayed in less than 10 seconds at Orange in 97% of cases, followed by Bouygues Telecom (95%), SFR (94%) then Free Mobile (93 %).
In TGV, the incumbent operator Orange has made a good breakthrough on voice calls with 79% of calls maintained for 2 minutes, ie a lead of 13 points over Bouygues Telecom, 15 over SFR and 16 over Free Mobile.
Often mocked by users, the Internet connection in trains is progressing but this remains national data, the experience of each can obviously vary and be frustrating. On board TGVs, Orange 4G and its network of relay antennas along the rails also seem to make the difference with 85% of web pages displayed in less than 10 seconds, an annual increase of 4 points. Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile follow by far (72%) and SFR brings up the rear (71%).
The difference in the quality of the mobile network is less marked in the Intercités and the 50 TER lines analyzed.
For calls, Orange is still in the lead with 72% of calls maintained for 2 minutes.
Bouygues Telecom and Free are no different (65%) and SFR remains just behind (64%).
On the mobile Internet, the former France Telecom retains good "stats" with 83% of web pages displayed in less than 10 seconds against 76% at Bouygues, 74% at Free and 73% for SFR.
The Arcep study is the result of tens of thousands of measurements.
The study also looked at local public transport, particularly in the Paris region in the RER and Transiliens.
Bouygues Telecom and Orange are neck and neck (90%) on maintained calls and SFR (85%) exceeds Free by a tiny point.
For the consultation of social networks and applications on the Internet, Orange (95%) widens a minimum gap of 6 points on the other operators: Bouygues Telecom (89%), SFR (88%) and Free Mobile (87%).
Finally, Arcep sent its specialists to the Lille, Paris, Lyon and even Rennes metro tunnels.
The differences are small between the operators on the calls as for the Internet.
The quality of mobile networks in Ile-de-France transport has been quantified.
Orange shows 89% of calls maintained, SFR (87%), Bouygues Telecom (86%) and Free Mobile complete the picture with 85%.
For 4G and internal mobile broadband, Orange and Bouygues provide the best rate with 95% of the pages displayed as fast as an Olympic 100m.
But they are well followed by SFR (94%) and Free Mobile (92%).
