EE 4G Coverage Comes To Major UK Airports, Railways And Roads

EE is extending its 4G network to cover major road and rail routes as well as 18 of the UK’s busiest airports in a bid to improve the quality of its LTE service for business travellers and holidaymakers on the British transport network.

The operator has also added 13 new towns to its 4G network, including Belper, Cannock, Ellesmere Port, Grangemouth, Harrogate, Hartlepool, Keighley, Motherwell, Paignton, Richmond (North Yorkshire), Skelmersdale, Torquay and Widnes, meaning it now covers 70 percent of the UK population.

EE 4G transport network

Major airports to be covered include Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, City, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool John Lennon, Bristol, Nottingham East Midlands, Leeds-Bradford, Belfast International, George Best Belfast City, Robin Hood and Blackpool, while train stations and motorway service stations will also be added later in the year.

Signal quality on rail routes between London Euston and Glasgow Central and between Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street will be improved by the summer, while routes between London, Bristol, Nottingham, Southend and Cambridge will receive similar treatment by the end of 2014.

EE customers can already receive Wi-Fi on the London Underground through a partnership with Virgin Media, while the operator is also looking to extend 4G to the Channel Tunnel.

On the road again

Coverage will also be improved on the M1, M25,M4, M6, M8 and M74 motorways by the end of the summer, with the M3, M5, M40, A1(M) and M62 joining them by the end of the year.

“More towns right across the UK now have access to the country’s biggest 4G network, and more people can use it where they need it most – in airports and on the busiest commuter routes,” says EE CEO Olaf Swantee.

EE is currently investing £275 million on improving the quality of its voice network in the UK and testing technology such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE). The company launched the UK’s first LTE service in November 2012 and has the largest customer base and most widespread coverage of any of the four major UK operators.

Think you know your transport tech? Find out with our quiz!