UK: 4GEE speed

[Spacer]

Hey. Just for anyone that's interested, I was in Leeds yesterday and had a chance to try my new 4GEE service on my iPhone 5. Got between 15mbps-20 down and 20 up. I'm not here to debate the DC-HSPDA service equivalent, just letting everyone know what you can expect. FWIW, with LTE off, I was getting 4mbps on 3G in exactly the same spot.

[jimN]

What's your experience with network coverage and service indoors. I went into an EE store and asked for a demo and was told they couldn't gt the phone on the network in store, "because something blocked it", and when we went on to the street it didn't see the network anyway.

Am interested in going sim only but the guy even said that there was no cooling off period if I bought in store - ie I'd be committed to the contract even if the service turned out to be crap.

Not been sold on it so far but I live in hope. I'm assuming I'd lose visual voicemail?

[Mr.C]

Originally Posted by jimN

What's your experience with network coverage and service indoors. I went into an EE store and asked for a demo and was told they couldn't gt the phone on the network in store, "because something blocked it", and when we went on to the street it didn't see the network anyway.

Am interested in going sim only but the guy even said that there was no cooling off period if I bought in store - ie I'd be committed to the contract even if the service turned out to be crap.

Not been sold on it so far but I live in hope. I'm assuming I'd lose visual voicemail?

I'm on O2 at the moment and one of the reasons I've stayed with them is visual voice mail along with the fact I'm still on their original iPhone plan which gives me unlimited data. That said their signal reception and speeds are pretty poor where I use my phone the most here in London. I'm also thinking of going with a SIM only EE LTE plan although I believe they won't be available until this coming Friday. It's a 12 month contract but I'm prepared for that. The speeds should be better then I currently get and I don't realistically need unlimited data as I don't do any streaming or heavy downloading. I just want downloading email, web browsing and using social networks faster and smoother.

[RetepNamenots]

Originally Posted by jimN

What's your experience with network coverage and service indoors. I went into an EE store and asked for a demo and was told they couldn't gt the phone on the network in store, "because something blocked it", and when we went on to the street it didn't see the network anyway.

Am interested in going sim only but the guy even said that there was no cooling off period if I bought in store - ie I'd be committed to the contract even if the service turned out to be crap.

Not been sold on it so far but I live in hope. I'm assuming I'd lose visual voicemail?

Rory Cellan Jones mentioned in his review on the BBC that the signal indoors was pretty bad, and that in fact Vodafone had previously claimed that EE's variant of 4G would suffer from this problem whereas their wouldn't (when it exists!)

[Spacer]

Originally Posted by jimN

What's your experience with network coverage and service indoors. I went into an EE store and asked for a demo and was told they couldn't gt the phone on the network in store, "because something blocked it", and when we went on to the street it didn't see the network anyway.

Am interested in going sim only but the guy even said that there was no cooling off period if I bought in store - ie I'd be committed to the contract even if the service turned out to be crap.

Not been sold on it so far but I live in hope. I'm assuming I'd lose visual voicemail?

Well, I can only talk about what I saw. In my hotel, I had 4 or 5 bars of LTE anywhere in my room, or in the restaurant and bar. Also, in various bars in and around Leeds it seemed to hang on to LTE. I can't vouch for how far out of town the LTE actually reaches though. I was pretty impressed with it, but I did see similar performance with a DC-HSDPA cell in Hull at the train station (16mbps), although that's the only cell I ever saw speeds like that on. Its only cost me a fiver a month to step up to 4G, so I decided to go for it. But I can see that for some people (big users on T-Mob Full Monty) it may not be worth it.


PS: Its not surprise, as I was downloading tons of stuff, but it hammers the battery! Oh, and I burnt through 480mb in half an hour watching the tv!

[Westyfield2]

Originally Posted by Westyfield2

So then today I went near Southampton (Hedge End) for the Lexus dealer, and whilst there got a glimpse of LTE signal.



Pretty good speeds for zero bars! I'll be in my London office next week so hopefully I'll have proper signal to give it a good hammering!

One thing I've noticed is that even falling back to 3G, EE's 3G speeds are significantly faster than I ever got on O2.

Today my EE iPhone 5 was on 3G getting 8/2, and my O2 iPhone 4 sat next to it was on GPRS getting 0.1/0. And O2 wonder why I've left them!

[Furifo]

Originally Posted by Westyfield2

Today my EE iPhone 5 was on 3G getting 8/2, and my O2 iPhone 4 sat next to it was on GPRS getting 0.1/0. And O2 wonder why I've left them!

Whereas my iPhone 5 on O2 was getting 7/2.5 compared to EE (1/0.7) and Three (0.5/0.3).

Not trying to bash you, mate! I'm just saying, I think it all depends on where you are. I was on Three before I switched to O2 and was consistently pulling 12-16 at home but I had poor service and hence poor 3G speeds when I was out and about (where I didn't have wifi and REALLY needed good 3G speeds), especially when in buildings and supermarkets.

O2 have excellent coverage where I am and the 3G is the most consistent out of EE and Three although I've seen the latter 2 pull higher speeds than O2 when in areas of good coverage. I'm pretty happy with O2 although I wouldn't mind giving EE a try, especially in a proper 4G area.

[iMatt.]

Phoned up to switch today and my sim is coming on Tuesday

[chriscl]

I'm out of contract at the moment (Orange, iPhone 4) and am waiting until EE comes to Nottingham (promised by the end of this year...) and then I might - might - check it out.

I'm just concerned that yes, it's fast, but the price-premium is very, very large compared to 3G.

[trueblueguy]

I think EE's contracts are backward thinking. 500mb contracts are a joke, hoping Three (or one of the others) comes through with some sort of reasonable unlimited data option

[Westyfield2]

Indoors - West Ealing

[Westyfield2]

Originally Posted by Westyfield2

Image
Indoors - West Ealing

Same place this morning.

Another location:

Indoors - Brentford


Then it fell back to 3G.


Don't worry, I'll just use the public WiFi instead.

[bollyboy]

Speeds for me in Manchester on 4GEE are very poor, much slower than 3G.
Also i find it's difficult to find a 4G signal in the area too.

Others may find it great, but i certainly have not.

[simsjackop]

Phoned up to switch today and my sim is coming on Tuesday

[allistera]

Ran this in Edinburgh this morning.

[Mr.C]

Originally Posted by trueblueguy

I think EE's contracts are backward thinking. 500mb contracts are a joke, hoping Three (or one of the others) comes through with some sort of reasonable unlimited data option

What do you expect ? They have no competition at the moment. Whilst its not not totally inconceivable I would be very surprised if we see unlimited data options on LTE anytime soon.

[DanielCoffey]

I was amazed to hear about the No Cooling Off Period for the contracts. I looked it up and while cheesy, it is correct...

http://www.money.co.uk/article/10077...get-signal.htm

[Beeplance]

Wow are you guys satisfied with this kind of speed, seems ok to me. But, I've seen 3's 3G speeds being nearly as fast in a thread a while ago, some had like 16mbps on their iPhone 5 on 3 3G network, quite impressive IMO.

[wordoflife]

Wow these people look too expensive.
Sure you get LTE but I've seen 3 having just as fast HSPA+ speeds with more coverage for cheaper.

[iMatt.]

On EE now. Get about 10mbps on 3G. Anything upwards of 20mbps on LTE. But boy does it rinse your battery life!

[Westyfield2]

Have to say I'm pretty impressed, and their 3G speeds when there's not LTE signal aren't too shabby either.


West Ealing yesterday (inside my car)



Bath yesterday (inside my house)

[fat jez]

This is what I was getting in the centre of Bristol last night. Unfortunately, where I live has patchy coverage, so I don't really get the benefits.

[tymaster50]

so it's unanimous that the speeds are slow? What about Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, ?

[Westyfield2]

Originally Posted by tymaster50

so it's unanimous that the speeds are slow? What about Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, ?

I wouldn't call 35Mbps down and 18Mbps up, when inside of a car, slow.... but maybe I've just got low standards!

[tymaster50]

Originally Posted by Westyfield2

I wouldn't call 35Mbps down and 18Mbps up, when inside of a car, slow.... but maybe I've just got low standards!

I'm talking about the LTE speeds that are less than 10 mbps. They just rolled out these networks so they should be faster