Austria's Mobile Giants Put to the Test: A1 Defends Top Spot in Close Race
Austria remains a paradise for mobile phone users. In a large network test overall, all three major domestic providers achieved very good results. But while A1 narrowly defended its title, the analysis also reveals an Achilles heel: network stability on long-distance trains.
The headquarters of the mobile phone company T-Mobile Austria in Vienna. In front of the Vienna Southeast Tangent motorway. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons; Ninanuri, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
This year's network test by CHIP in collaboration with NET CHECK once again confirms the above-average quality of the domestic infrastructure. With overall grades of 1.19 for A1, 1.21 for Magenta, and 1.30 for Drei, all three network operators are in the “very good” range. But behind the facade of consistently positive grades, an exciting competition is emerging, characterized by technological nuances and a growing challenge in rail transport.
The neck-and-neck race at the top
The former state-owned company A1 remains the benchmark. With a razor-thin lead over Deutsche Telekom subsidiary Magenta, A1 secures victory. The decision was made primarily in the disciplines of internet performance and telephony. A1 impresses above all with its sheer speed: with a threshold value of 874 Mbit/s for the fastest ten percent of downloads, A1 underlines its role as a “high-speed high-flyer” in German-speaking countries.
Magenta remains an extremely strong challenger and excels in particular in upload speeds, where the network achieves the best value for every speed threshold – from 1 Mbit/s to 20 Mbit/s.
Three completes the trio with an equally impressive score of 1.30. The company is pursuing its own strategy by focusing more strongly on 5G Standalone (5G SA). While A1 and Magenta primarily rely on the proven but LTE-dependent 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) technology, Drei offers an infrastructure that enables telephony directly via the 5G data channel (VoNR).
5G: The new standard in everyday life
The rollout of the fifth generation of mobile communications is almost complete in Austria. In the cities surveyed, general 5G availability for all three operators is between 96 and 98 percent. A particularly important indicator is the 3.6 GHz (n78) frequency band. Only this band enables peak speeds of over 1 Gbit/s.
Here, the providers are close together: A1 with 91.70% availability (in cities), Drei with 91.45% availability (in cities) and Magenta with 90.64% availability (in cities). While 5G is becoming a matter of course in urban areas, Drei is particularly ambitious and leads the special ranking for 5G availability.
The downside: the problem on long-distance trains
Despite the generally excellent results, there was one significant downside in this year's analysis: network quality on long-distance trains has declined compared to last year. All three operators suffered losses.
The testers at NET CHECK attribute this to specific disruptive factors, including sections of track with poor network coverage (such as between Bad Gastein and Spittal) and short-term diversions to secondary lines during the test runs. The result ist the reliability of phone calls on trains fell below 93 percent for Drei. In terms of data transmission, A1 and Magenta only achieved success rates of just over 96 percent, while Drei remained below the 93 percent mark. By comparison, outside of trains, the success rate for standard tasks such as website visits or WhatsApp calls is almost 100 percent for all providers.
Methodology: How the tests were conducted
The results are based on comprehensive data collection by CHIP’s partner NET CHECK. A total of 6,830 kilometers were covered throughout Austria – from Lake Constance to Burgenland. Twenty-seven Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus smartphones were used, which provided measurements both in test vehicles and by means of backpack systems on trains and on foot in the five largest cities (Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Linz, Salzburg). To ensure a realistic user experience, AI-supported processes were used to sort out samples that did not meet the high quality requirements.
Recommendations and conclusion
Austria's mobile communications market has stabilized at an extremely high level in international comparison. Whether you choose A1, Magenta, or Drei depends less on basic service coverage, which is excellent with all three providers. Instead, customers should pay attention to the price and specific tariff details, especially 5G availability, when switching providers.