How many times have you stared at the screen while the video freezes, or wait endless seconds for a page to load? It’s not always the fault of your home connection: often, your mobile operator is responsible. To clarify, Altroconsumo conducted monitoring that lasted an entire year, involving almost 10 thousand users throughout Italy. The result is a detailed ranking of who truly offers the fastest mobile network — and who lags behind.
The ranking: who wins and who loses
The data, collected from January 1 to December 31, 2025 through tests of 9,376 users via the app CheBandadraw a clear hierarchy.
Vodafone takes the top spot with 81,643 points, confirming itself as the best on all fronts: browsing speed, streaming and download quality. Behind him he places himself Fastweb in second place, followed by Tim to the third. The last two positions belong to WindThree And Iliad.
It is worth focusing on the head-to-head between Fastweb and Tim: the two operators switch depending on the network technology. In 4G Fastweb has the upper hand, while in 5G Tim prevails. Two different profiles, which adapt differently depending on where and how you surf.
5G vs 4G: the numbers speak for themselves
One of the most eloquent data from the survey concerns the gap between the two technologies. The average download speed in 5G is approx three times higher compared to 4G — and this applies to all tested operators.
| Operator | 4G downloads | 5G downloads |
|---|---|---|
| Vodafone | 84Mbps | 201Mbps |
| Tim | 42Mbps | 110Mbps |
| Fastweb | 47Mbps | 102Mbps |
| WindThree | 35Mbps | 92Mbps |
| Iliad | 30Mbps | 63Mbps |
5G, in the meantime, is advancing decisively: if in the previous monitoring it represented 30% of total tests, today it has reached almost 38%. Leading the ranking for 5G use is Fastweb (48% of tests), followed by WindTre and Tim. In the queue, however, Vodafone and Iliad.
How the investigation was conducted
The monitoring was carried out via CheBandathe free app developed by Altroconsumo that allows anyone to measure the quality of their mobile connection in real time.
During 2025, the 9,376 participating users evaluated four key metrics: download speed, upload speed, video streaming quality (startup times, interruptions, errors) e browsing speed. For each user, the average of all the tests carried out in the different locations was calculated, with automatic detection of the available technology – 4G or 5G – based on the coverage at the time.
