Users can test their internet connection on all three Swiss mobile networks. Larger fixed network providers with more than 300,000 customers also provide this service.
Swisscom, Sunrise UPC and Salt worked together to develop the app, which has been available from www.networktest.ch and the various app stores since 1 September 2021. The www.networktest.ch website will also publish anonymised results starting in January 2022.
These tests measure the quality of:
the speed of the connection in both directions (upload and download)
the time required for a data packet to travel from its source to its destination and back again (round-trip time)
on mobile networks, the strength of the signal that the mobile phone receives from the mobile phone antenna.
These measurements enable customers to better assess whether the quality of their internet connection meets their expectations.
The Swiss testing app works in the same way as similar apps offered in many neighbouring countries. This also makes international comparison of internet quality easier and more reliable than in the past.
The specifications for these internet quality tests are set out in the telecommunications legislation that came into force on 1 January 2021 (Article 12a of the Telecommunications Act and Article 10e of the Ordinance on Telecommunications Services (OTS); available in German, French and Italian). Details are governed by the technical and administrative regulations on the publication of information about telecommunication quality of services, which OFCOM published on 18 November 2020 (available in German, French and Italian).
The dates from which this data will be measured and published are listed in Part III, paras 3 and 5 of the OTS revision of 18 November 2020 (AS 2020, p. 6203; available in German, French and Italian).
