What a bizarre world we now live in .. you think I am belittling people by stating the fact that the UK iPhone is incompatible with 4G for 50% of users .. and we should blindly over look that fact cos folks are happy with the purchase of an item they havent even received yet ... but dont worry I know I am in the minority. In here at least. Luckily not everyone is as narrowminded and will jump when Apple click their fingers .. ironically I am no Apple hater or Android thusiast .. I have a iMac .. Macbook ... iPad .. two iPhones a Nano and two shuffles .. I suppose I m just a bit old fashioned in that I buy things that are worth upgrading if I think Ill use the feature/s. And I can separate myself from peer hysteria and media hype and 'sales figures' .. I was going to buy a new Seat Ibiza when I saw the brochure come through the door .. new restyled front .. new engine .. new price ... but oddly .. I didnt upgrade .. no need .. despite their increasing sales ...
What I am saying is .. itd be blissful ignorance (certainly in the UK) to jump on the BuyAnythingThatsNewBandwagon - cough up the £400 to get a 'new' model that is thinner, flatter, longer and lighter .... and a bit quicker .. tell you what . I'll save the cash and get up earlier in the morning to allow for my iPhone 4's 'sluggish' behaviour ... and spend the money on something else .. or hey .. I could save it .. and NOT spend it on whatever Apple reckon everyone else IS buying ...
Trouble is Im in a double minority here .. UK .. and ... on O2 .. what were the chances of finding anyone else in similar setup ... hello?! Hello?
In fairness to BrucEbonus he has some valid points about the LTE spectrum here in the UK.
However of the 5 major brands of carrier in the UK, two of them will have LTE in a few weeks time, Orange and T Mobile (Tho to confuse things they are coming together under one brand for this and are called Everything Everywhere EE).
3 is another major brand and they are in the process of buying spare 1800MHz LTE iPhone 5 compatible spectrum from EE, but timescale for active deployment is most likely this time next year.
There are then two major brands left, Vodaphone and O2 who will not have LTE anytime soon (the auction of the LTE spectrum isn't until next year sometime and then they need to set it all up) iPhone 5 will not be compatible with this spectrum that is up for auction though I'm sure by the time it is available the next iPhone will be, the 5 doesn't need to be as it isn't available in the UK yet anyway.
However there are a couple of little wrinkles that some have picked up on but not the mainstream media as they don't get it if it can't be used in a headline.
O2 does already own a chunk of the relevant 1800Mhz spectrum that is compatible with the iPhone 5, however OFCOM, the industry regulator won't allow O2 to use it for LTE services at this time because it is along with O2's other spectrum being used for 3G services and allowing O2 right now to re-farm their 1800Mhz spectrum from 3G to LTE would see a reduction in service coverage for existing 3G customers.
By Orange and Tmobile coming together they have enough spare 1800Mhz spectrum to use it for LTE without taking away from their 3G coverage hence they've been permitted by OFCOM to go ahead with their LTE now, provided they sold some of it to the 3 network to allow a modicum of competition.
Whether O2 will be allowed to use it in the future is up to OFCOM and we don't know how much of a chunk of this spectrum O2 own, it could only be enough to cover one city or indeed it could be enough to do the whole UK.
The second little wrinkle is that O2 have/are rolling out DC/HCDPA (and I know I have just got those letters completly wrong but I can't for the life of me remember the correct lettering ;-) )
O2 claim a a max speed of 42mbps on this compared to LTE's 100Mbps, the iPhone 5 is compatible with this 'semi super fast' service and as it's classed as being 'faster 3G' it isn't being sold or claimed as something extra that you need to pay extra for on O2 unlike EE who will understandably be charging a premium for their LTE service.
Why is this relevant? Well EE claim their LTE will see speeds between 8Mbps and max out at 12Mbps, no where near what people think of as LTE (this may improve overtime but that's what they state on their website at the moment in the small print at the bottome of their site)
Now on my iPhone 4 with O2 I already get on average 5mbps and the iPhone 4 unlike the iPhone 5 isn't capable of running on the semi super fast service that O2 are claiming to be installing.
Now I'm damm sure that O2 will not be seeing speeds of 42mbps, that's the max and basically marketing b/s but if EE are accurate in their 8-12mbps claims for their LTE service, then for those of us still on O2 things may not be so much slower after all.
No I don't work for O2 and yes their customer service can sometimes be utter cr*p!