Travel Tips

Is your 4G going to work overseas?

Reading time: 2 minutes

It only takes one time of wandering out of 4G coverage for you to never take your speedy connection for granted again. That said, you have a big trip coming up – one that is going to take you out of the country and into the unknown.

Did your palms just start to sweat underneath your smartphone a little? Well, fret not and wipe your hands before you drop your phone and crack the screen. It’s becoming a priority around the world to make 4G more accessible. Good news for travellers like yourself!

But what countries are the best of the best and is your destination going to have you covered? OpenSignal conducted a report to find out just that.

OpenSignal’s 4G availability report

Below you’ll find a chart indicating how consistently accessible 4G networks are in countries around the world. Specifically, it measured 77 countries, as OpenSignal’s availability metric tracks the proportion of time users have access to their particular network. We pulled out our top 10 travel destinations so you’d have information on your go-to holiday spot.

Destination Availability rank (out of 77) Availability (%)
Japan 2 94.11
United States 5 86.94
Singapore 9 84.56
Thailand 30 77.35
Bali (Indonesia) 39 72.44
Malaysia 40 71.97
United Kingdom 43 71.34
New Zealand 56 65.57
Italy 64 63.30
France 65 62.51

Let’s break this information down a little further and take a look at the availability compared to the speed. A country’s speed is dependent on several factors, such as the density/congestion of networks or the amount of spectrum that’s been given to LTE.

That said, here’s a break down of what you’re up against in each country.

Japan

Right now, Japan has some of the best 4G availability out of all the countries. However, OpenSignal has the speed ranking a little bit lower in comparison at 25.12 Mbps. It ranks 27th out of 77.

United Sates

You might expect the United States to have some of the fastest 4G out there, especially considering its availability is fifth overall. However, it only has 13.98 Mbps, and comes in 61st.

Singapore

Across the world from the states we find Singapore, and its speed is singing a different tune. This country might come in 30th for availability, but it’s first for speed with 46.64 Mbps.

Thailand

If you’re looking to really get away and slow things down, then Thailand is the place for you. Here, the 4G speed is only 9.40 Mbps – 72nd overall for speed.

Bali (Indonesia)

Bali isn’t far behind Thailand, however – in fact it’s in 73rd for a speed of 9.02 Mbps.

Malaysia

In 60th place, we have Malaysia with a speed of 14.17 Mbps – just barely better than the United States.

United Kingdom

The UK may have less availability, but it certainly makes up for it in speed. If you’re off to London, expect 4G speeds of about 22.01 Mbps.

New Zealand

Our Kiwi friends across the way have some speedy 4G service coming in at 33.23 Mbps. Its availability (30th) isn’t too bad either. So far, this is one of the best places you can visit for both availability and speed.

Italy

Now we’re starting to get into the European countries. Everyone’s favourite boot shaped country has some pretty decent 4G speed for it being on the lower end of the availability spectrum. It pulls up at a quick 25.48 Mbps.

France

And finally, we have France sitting pretty right in the middle of the pack with a 4G speed of 22.66 Mbps. It might have the lowest availability of our top 10 most visited countries, but at least it improves with speed.


Author

TID is an Australian online travel insurance company.

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