EE launches 150Mbps '4G+' in the heart of London Mobile operator EE has announced that higher speed LTE-A is now available in select areas. This will give speeds of up to 150Mbps. While EE has had “double speed” LTE for some while and Vodafone has recently launched a similar service, the new LTE-A uses a lot more spectrum and so gives much higher speeds. Specifically it is …
Totally agreed - whatever saving seems on the table from buying EE rather than any other data service, its' not worth it, I promise you: I've got an EE 4g dongle and data sim and it will NOT give ANY data in central London. None. N.o.n.e.
It is so much worse than flaky - even something flaky is non-flaky sometimes. This isn't.
A business launches an expensive service in the place where there are lots of people willing to pay high prices for it and the underlying infrastructure is in place to support the back-end network needed.
I can't for the life of me imagine why they didn't launch it in the Isles of Scilly or the Outer Hebrides instead.
"I can't for the life of me imagine why they didn't launch it in the Isles of Scilly or the Outer Hebrides instead."
Some of us just want a signal of any kind. Not even 50 miles from London where the cockney wankahs are enjoying their petabit/s Facebook status updates.
but that's about it.
I was on EE for a good few years and migrated from 3G onto their 4G.. It's nice to have the little icon at the top of your screen, but a smug speed-test aside, never really needed it.
Switched to 3 not so much for the network performance (which I'm perfectly happy with), but for the nicer package - simple stuff like not charging me for 0800 numbers outside of my bundle, not charging me more if I want to ever connect to 4G and the free roaming.
Would I like 150M? Of course I would - but as there's no real (or affordable use) for this, I really fail to see the point. Maybe I'm missing something - but I can see no consumer need for anything over a high-def streaming video.
This speed bump is all very well, but it seems a bit crazy when data caps do not increase at the same rate. If you have a 1GB data plan it is now possible to burn through your entire month's allowance in under 54 seconds. And then pay through the nose for connectivity for the remaining 2.7 million seconds.
FANTASTIC!
Fast access speed isn't important if what you really want is shed loads of data. If your done in under 60 seconds just buy more data allowance don't blame the access speed. It's like complaining about the size of the tank in a veyron when using it on the autobahn flat out and you'd rather cover the same distance flat out in a blue motion polo instead because it'll take you longer to travel the same distance at that vehicles max ability.
Don't worry - they'll just mess with their content lock some more so you won't be able to get on YouTube or other notorious sites such as gov.uk from one hour to the next. That should give you at least a couple more hours of of extra "usage".
and haven't really regretted it. Still sucks at peak times in central London, but unlimited 4G on three swug the deal for me (30 day contract)
EE are really arrogant, which isn't attractive, they said my contract would continue at the same price... even though it was 2 years and included a phone (S3).
I bought a Note 3 unlocked because I needed it for research (just like the G Watch R that I have just got)... blah..blah
I'd be fine with 3G speeds on any network that actually worked reliably! That said, three is on the whole better and more reliable than EE, especially as I get the train down from Kettering regularly and with EE I only got data at Bedford station. With three I get it for more of the journey which means more work... sad little 6ft panda that I am.
30 day contract, so I am free to be whatever I want to be.
Anyway, I could do with a job as an Android developer... any takers? Nah, didn't think so, guess I will just keep plying my trade on Google Play selling my own software... blah.. too much beer tonight.
On a sort of related note, Three UK seem to have had major problems with lack of data connectivity (voice/texts are OK) in numerous locations throughout the UK during the past few days (with little acknowledgement of this other than on their Facebook page). Is anybody else experiencing this problem, and does the Reg fancy posting something snarky about it?
It is a well know fact that there is not enough back-haul capacity in the network to service 3G let alone 4G. What a great way to make money, charge you for a service that can't be provided. Each time the connection is dropped you use up your data allowance reestablishing your connection (TCP/IP).
The last time this sort of profiteering happened when the Chairman of Vodafone described texting and the closes thing you can get to pure profit. They charge you more for a millisecond the text was transmitted far more than the same time for a voice call. Think how much capacity they saved.
I ditched EE as the only time I could get a decent data connection was when I was in my office - just when I didn't need it!
How about actually delivering a usable service GSM, 3G etc to all the population that does not live in London. You do not have to be in a "remote rural location" to have rubbish mobile signals.
Mobile coverage requirments are not far off a universal service, however because it is driven by private enterprises, only the profitable bits matter. This is the reverse of the Post Office, forced to provide a universal service whilst inetp snout-in-the-trough politicians allow every private company to only do the profitable bits, leaving Royal Mail screwed with ever increasing costs.
agree with the others no point having 4G and 4G+ when its a complete crock of shit using 3G.
Get 3G coverage equal to what you *claim* it to be and when we are all happy that we can get 3G outside of London (and for longer than 10 minutes at a time) and then move on.
Should be Nothing Nowhere... useless feckers!
I too will be leaving EE for Three this very weekend, simply because I can save 35 notes per month with their all you can eat data plan, currently a similar plan on NN is 52 notes but the rub is, you can't get a half decent signal anywhere!
So even if Three aren't all that much better signal wise, at least I won't be paying as much for the data I'm not getting.
Does anybody actually need 4G yet?
3G is plenty fast enough for my mobile data needs (and Three data is working again today, finally..): it's not really the speed, it's the usage allowance that is the greater concern for now.
I use data on my phone for some light browsing, the occasional audio streaming, and the even more occasional video streaming, and a fairly negligable amount of app data. 3G was a big enough step up from GPRS that I just don't see any "need" for greater speed just yet (although that time will eventually come - it's only fairly recently that phones have had sufficient resolution to play Full HD video after all (notwithstanding whether the improved quality is really noticeable on a phone in any case)). A larger bandwidth cap for 3G service would be just fine, but my usage isn't particularly heavyweight to start with.
Now, if they were trying to properly market 4G as an affordable alternative to fixed line broadband, or for tethering other devices (with more intensive usage types), I could understand why the networks are rolling it out. But at high prices and low data caps, I can't see there being many takers at present other than for those for whom it's genuinely "essential": I can think of film-makers/journalists at a remote location, with chunky video to transfer in a fairly time-critical fashion back to base ..and that's about it. But even for those use cases, I'd have thought that either 3G, Iridium, or an SD card in back of a Land Rover to the nearest fixed line broadband would be "good enough" for most purposes.
By all means roll out 4G *gradually* as equipment gets renewed, but I really don't see the need for a big rush at the present time. After all, 5G will be along at some point, and then everything will need to be renewed all over again.. Have the costs of the 3G roll-outs even been paid off yet?
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