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Glasgow Public and Private 5G Performance Dataset (2025): Acquisition and Comparative Analysis.
Ahren Hart1, Hamish Sturley2, Paul Mclean2
1Department of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, PA1 2BE, Scotland. Ahren.Hart@uws.ac.uk.
Scientific Data
|June 10, 2026
Summary
Real-world 5G performance in UK cities shows high variability, with suburban areas outperforming urban cores. This new dataset offers a benchmark for future urban connectivity assessments.
Area of Science:
- Telecommunications Engineering
- Computer Networks
- Urban Planning
Background:
- Fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology promises enhanced speeds and low latency for smart city applications.
- Real-world urban 5G performance data, especially from multiple providers at a neighborhood level, is scarce in the UK.
- Existing 5G deployments require comprehensive performance benchmarks for future network planning and development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a publicly accessible dataset of outdoor 5G measurements in a major UK city.
- To establish a real-world urban 5G performance benchmark for the Ayrshire 5G Innovation Region (5GIR) project.
- To provide a baseline for assessing future public 5G connectivity and for 6G benchmarking.
Main Methods:
- Collected 720 outdoor 5G measurements across 15 Glasgow neighborhoods over three days (April 6-8, 2025).
- Utilized all four major UK operators (EE, Vodafone, O2, Sky Mobile) and two consumer devices (Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel 9 Pro).
- Analyzed data for city-wide averages, individual measurement ranges, variability, and correlations between signal strength and throughput.
Main Results:
- City-wide average performance: 670.63 Mbps download, 165.05 Mbps upload, 21.62 ms ping, -77.85 dBm SS-RSRP.
- Individual download speeds varied widely (47.84 to 1248.95 Mbps), with a 45.7% coefficient of variation.
- Suburban neighborhoods outperformed the urban core; O2 showed the highest median download speed (744.9 Mbps); signal strength had minimal correlation with throughput.
Conclusions:
- Real-world urban 5G performance is highly variable, influenced by factors beyond signal strength.
- The dataset provides a valuable, openly available resource for urban propagation modeling, coverage prediction, and smart city planning.
- This 2025 benchmark is crucial for evaluating future 5G deployments and informing 6G research and development.
