Hands On With the EE 4G Network

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past month, you’ll have noticed the nationwide marketing campaign for EE 4G.

Billboards across the country are adorned by neon turquoise and yellow messages of the benefits of superfast mobile broadband from EE, the network formerly known as Everything Everywhere (and before that as T-Mobile and Orange), while televisions and radios have been invaded by Kevin Bacon’s bold claims that he is at the centre of the universe.

But just how good is EE 4G and what can you actually do with it? We tested the new LTE service on the mean streets of London and the verdict is that it is fast, very fast, but it feels more of a sign of things to come than the answer to our mobile problems.

Superfast speeds

We tested the EE 4G network on a micro-USB charged Huawei E589 Mobile WiFi router and received a good signal both indoors and outdoors. We were able to get download speeds of 25.97Mbps and upload speeds of 19.91Mbps using an iPad 2 running on the router. That is faster than our office connection and more than this reporter’s home broadband.

Our editorial team reported no problems while publishing stories or watching videos of Nicolas Cage on YouTube (don’t ask) and I was able to complete an entire day’s work on the network. We took the router to lunch to see if we could work productively while eating. We could even use it on the train, but only while in London of course.

Once we had left the superfast reaches of the capital and entered the cellular no-man’s-land of the Home Counties, the router was forced to revert to a 3G signal. This is a temporary problem as coverage is set to expand to 16 cities before Christmas and even further next year, but is a deal breaker as it stands.

Simple tasks like reading emails and checking social networks were painless, while data intensive applications like Sky Go ran perfectly, affording me the opportunity to watch Sky Sports News whenever I felt like it. All of these functions are possible on 3G, but viewing streaming media is far more consistent on EE.

Is it super-necessary?

EE is positioning 4G as a premium product for the time being, hoping to differentiate itself from the competition before they launch similar services after the upcoming auction of spectrum. It is stressing the superfast speeds of 4G as the main selling point, and needless to say it is a lot quicker, but the true benefit of EE 4G is the capacity that it offers.

Ignoring the fact that very few people are using EE 4G at the moment, the new network makes everyday tasks much easier to complete, but is that enough to justify the relatively expensive price plans?

Luxury product

There’s no getting round the fact that EE 4G handset price plans aren’t cheap, starting at £36 a month for a relatively meagre 500MB data allowance, but at least they are in the same ballpark as those that other operators demand for the latest iPhone. The SIM-only plans are £15 a month cheaper, but you are still tied down to a 12-month contract and don’t get the added bonus of a new phone.

This has generated some negative publicity for EE, which has countered by saying that most users are unaware of how much capacity they need and that the average user only needs between 1GB and 1.5GB a month. But if the mobile Internet is faster and more reliable, surely users will be willing to consume more data – especially if they are streaming video?

Enterprise plans are more affordable and offer a genuine alternative to a fixed broadband connection. However this would be most beneficial in rural areas, which of course aren’t connected yet.

Early adopters will be pleased to learn that EE 4G is everything that it promises: fast speeds and a more reliable signal, but for everyone who doesn’t live in a superfast city or wants to see what the other operators will offer, it might be worth waiting just a little while longer.

Are you fluent in the language of the Internet? Find out with our quiz!