The mobile market in Italy, starting from mid-2018, entered a completely new phase with the debut of Iliad, a new provider that occupied the space created after the merger between Wind and Tre, the birth of “semi-virtual” operators such as Kena Mobile, ho. and Very Mobile, owned respectively by TIM, Vodafone and WINDTRE, and the arrival of increasingly advantageous offers from other virtual providers such as PosteMobile.
In these times, Italian users have many opportunities to choose the mobile rate to make the most of their smartphone. The sector, in fact, presents numerous alternatives and the opportunities for savings are many thanks to the various special offers of the providers that have started a real “price war”, which allows users to minimize the costs for mobile telephony.
To get a clear idea of the best mobile rates currently on the market you can consult at any time the comparator of SOStariffe.it dedicated to mobile phone offers. Thanks to the online comparison, in fact, it will be possible to identify, in a very simple way, which are the best rates to activate on the basis of their needs.
Among the protagonists of the mobile market we find the already mentioned Iliad, Kena Mobile, Ho., Very Mobile and PosteMobile. These operators are completely different from each other, in particular with regard to coverage, which guarantee considerable opportunities for savings, both for customers who have “basic” needs, and for those who need to have a rich bundle of Giga to surf on the move every month.
Individing the best among these five providers is a very articulated process that does not pass exclusively through the analysis of the costs of the rates but must, of necessity, also take into consideration other aspects, such as the signal coverage and the speed of the network, factors that can have a great influence on the final choice.
Following, we will analyze in detail the service offered by Iliad, Kena Mobile, ho., Very Mobile and PosteMobile with the aim of identifying the best solution to activate a new mobile offer according to your needs. The main aspects to consider when choosing the best operator are network coverage and browsing speed. A poor coverage or the presence of too stringent limits for the speed can represent very important elements, to which always pay attention.
Iliad
Iliad is the “youngest” operator of the Italian mobile market. Its official debut took place only in May 2018 and, at least initially, the provider did not have a proprietary network but completely “relied” on the Wind Tre network. Already in the first months after its debut, Iliad started to invest considerably on the expansion of its proprietary network, significantly increasing the number of antennas with the aim of offering an ever better service to its customers.
Coverage represents a fundamental parameter for an operator and Iliad can’t be an exception either. The provider had several technical problems in its first weeks on the market (mostly related to an infrastructure still immature), but the process of expansion and strengthening has continued over time to the point that today Iliad is able to cover 99% of the entire national territory.
Iliad’s performance: the latest OpenSignal report
The latest OpenSignal report, which took into consideration the period between January 1 and April 30, 2020, saw a slight advancement of Iliad compared to Vodafone, both in terms of download speed, equal to 22.3 Mbps (against Vodafone’s 21.6 Mbps), and upload speed, which reached 7.2 Mbps (against Vodafone’s 7.0).
Iliad’s 4G network availability is 88.7%, while the other operators all exceed 90%. Fourth place also for 4G coverage, which reaches only 7.7 points against TIM’s 9.1 and Vodafone’s and WINDTRE’s 9.2.
Basically, the gap between Iliad and the other operators has narrowed to the benefit of customers who can count on transparent rates and “locked” prices, two factors that have distinguished the provider’s work on the Italian mobile market since day one.
Iliad towards 5G
It should also be noted that Iliad plans to launch its 5G network in the coming months, thus joining TIM, Vodafone and WINDTRE that already offer their customers the possibility to access the next generation mobile network. Hardly, virtual operators like Kena, Ho. and PosteMobile will be able to count on 5G during the next years. As happened for 4G, 5G should also be accessible to virtual providers only several years after the actual commercial launch.
In parallel to the 5G network switch-on, Iliad confirmed its intention to continue to improve the coverage of its proprietary network (especially 4G) which, for the next few years, will continue to be able to count on the support of the Wind Tre network in compliance with the commercial and regulatory agreements that allowed the provider to debut on the Italian market.
Kena Mobile
Present on the Italian market for several months before the debut of Iliad, Kena Mobile is a virtual operator that, in fact, represents TIM’s answer to the new low cost operator. It is an economic provider that offers “no frills” and no hidden costs. Since its first months on the market, Kena Mobile has been very successful, attracting a good number of customers.
The coverage of the Kena Mobile network is, to all intents and purposes, the coverage of the TIM network. Kena customers have the possibility to access both the 3G network and the 4G network being able, therefore, to count on a widespread coverage of the national territory in a similar way to what happens for TIM customers. Those who choose Kena Mobile, therefore, will hardly have to deal with signal problems (the operator declares a coverage of 99.8% of the national territory).
To be noted, in any case, that the speed of the Kena Mobile network is very different from the speed of the TIM network, in particular with regard to 4G. Customers who activate a new Kena Mobile offer, in fact, can access the 4G network but with a speed limited to 30 Mbps download and 5.76 Mbps upload. TIM’s 4G network reaches up to 150 Mbps and is flanked by the 4.5G network that guarantees mobile connections up to a peak speed of 700 Mbps.
The speed limit, especially with regard to upload, is certainly a negative aspect of the service offered by Kena Mobile. Users interested in the offers of the virtual operator of TIM must, therefore, evaluate very carefully this aspect. In most cases, those who choose one of the offers Kena Mobile, in order to take advantage of a low price and the absence of hidden costs, is willing to settle, accepting willingly the limits to the speed of download and upload.
Customers who do not want to be limited so markedly may find it more advantageous to opt for another operator, thus avoiding having to deal with a reduced connection speed. Those who are looking for maximum coverage, even at the cost of sacrificing connection speed, can confidently bet on Kena offers.
ho. Mobile
ho. is the virtual operator launched by Vodafone a few months after the official debut of Iliad in Italy. For many months, the ho. offers have followed the Iliad offers (usually with the addition of an extra 1 Euro to the monthly fee) following a precise commercial strategy that has allowed the provider to establish itself as one of the reference virtual operators in the Italian market.
Ho. customers can count on the excellent coverage guaranteed by the Vodafone network, which works very well both for speed and for signal diffusion. Activating one of the ho. tariffs, therefore, you won’t run particular risks regarding the coverage that will be practically excellent on the whole national territory.
Also for ho., as for Kena Mobile, there is to analyze, with attention, the presence of a limit to the connection speed. The current offers of the operator, in fact, present a limit of 30 Mbps in download and 30 Mbps in upload to the connection under 4G network. In the past, however, some ho. offers have been proposed with a speed limit of 60 Mbps. It should also be noted that some ho. customers with a 30 Mbps limited rate are often invited to switch to a 60 Mbps limited rate but with a slightly higher price.
The upload speed limit is definitely less invasive than the one applied by Kena Mobile. Being able to count on more upload bandwidth guarantees the user the possibility to send a greater amount of data and, therefore, make mobile surfing easier.
Very Mobile
Very Mobile is a virtual operator that entered Italy in February 2020 and, not having its own network, relies on WINDTRE’s infrastructure.
The commercial strategy of Very Mobile has been based since the beginning on the launch of operator attack offers, that is to say, they can be activated by customers of other virtual operators, and they have been marketed at very low prices.
In terms of coverage and network speed, Very Mobile distinguishes itself for the same merits and defects of the other virtual operators. On the one hand it can count on the power of WINDTRE’s network coverage, which has 4G network availability on 91.4% of the national territory and a coverage equal to 9.2 points (it is in first place together with Vodafone)
When it comes to connection speed, however, things change: if WINDTRE, in fact, is the fastest network in Italy in terms of download speed (25.5 Mbps) and upload (9.1 Mbps), Very Mobile does not reach similar speeds. With the virtual operator it is in fact possible to surf at 30 Mbps, both in download and in upload.
PosteMobile
Among the main alternatives for those looking for a mobile offer with an excellent quality/price ratio there is PosteMobile, the virtual operator of Poste Italiane which, in recent years, has established itself on the Italian telephony market as one of the main reference points for millions of customers. Unlike Kena Mobile and Ho., PosteMobile does not have any direct link with a “real” operator.
The provider uses the WINDTRE network to deliver its mobile Internet and voice services. Those who choose one of the PosteMobile offers will be able to count, in any case, on a good network to surf both in 3G and 4G.
PosteMobile declares that its mobile network guarantees a coverage on 99% of the national territory and that the 4G network presents a maximum speed of 150 Mbps in download and 50 Mbps in upload. These data represent the maximum values to which the PosteMobile network can aspire. The actual values are, however, related to the actual coverage and congestion of the network in the area where the user makes the connection.
In areas of good signal coverage, the user will not have problems to exceed the peak speeds reached by Kena Mobile, Ho. and Very Mobile customers, which have a fairly low limit (especially with regard to the upload of Kena Mobile). The PosteMobile network coverage is more similar to the Iliad network coverage, obviously net of local differences that can be related, mainly, to technical factors.
Iliad, Kena, ho. and PosteMobile: which operator to choose?
Those looking for an affordable mobile offer will be able to evaluate the rates of these five operators. As seen above, Iliad, Kena, ho., Very Mobile and PosteMobile have very different characteristics among them even if they are united by the choice of proposing low cost offers, without hidden costs and particularly stringent constraints for users.
In addition to the necessary analysis of costs and bonuses included (always to be made in order to identify the offer that best suits your needs), in order to choose the best operator among Iliad, Kena, ho, Very Mobile and PosteMobile it is necessary to check carefully the network coverage, especially in the areas where you use your smartphone the most.