EE - The new mobile network.

[ScottM]

My upgrade date wasn't coming fast enough so I decided to buy out the last month of my contract in order to get my new phone ordered (Galaxy SIII LTE). During the negotiations the new EE network collaboration was mentioned, due to the phone being 4G capable, and I felt the person on the phone was almost trying to push me onto it. I declined and stuck by my guns to get what I wanted. After the call I decided to look into EE to see what the script was with their price plans.

Now, for those that don't know (care) EE is the UKs first 4G network. It's basically a sister company of the T-Mobile and Orange merger. They switched it on today for the first time and being 4G they promise blistering speeds, etc etc.

Before getting the phone I had just assumed that T-Mobile and Orange were staying as they were only with a 4G capable network. Strangely they have setup EE who is entirely separate but they leave the door open for anyone willing to switch, even if you are currently in contract. To be honest now that I've looked at their tariffs I'm not really surprised...

All contracts come with unlimited calls and texts. The following are the 24 month tarrifs, basically add a tenner for the 18 month alternatives.

£36 gets you 500MB of data
£41 gets you 1GB of data
£46 gets you 3GB of data
£51 gets you 5GB of data
£56 gets you 8GB of data

Am I the only person that finds that ridiculous? The fastest internet in the UK opens it's doors to the public with capped internet at ridiculous prices. To put it into perspective the 4G network is currently running at 12Mb/s (1.5MB/s) so you could basically use your entire months data in little over 5 minutes going at full pelt. What I also found funny were some of the incentives. You get to download 1 movie per week from them, the movies are around 350mb each so if you downloaded one via the 4G network you would have used over half your allowance (on the 500 package), you would just need to forget about the other 3 weeks of the month lol.

I can understand them trying to corner the market but who in their right mind is going to transfer to that network with those caps when you can get unlimited with various other operators at a slightly lesser rate of 8Mb/s?

My current contract is the full monty from T-Mobile. 2000 x-net minutes, unlimited t-mobile calls, unlimited texting and unlimited internet..... £36pm with the phone for free. Granted this is my first 24 month contract and I'm going to be pulling my hair out after 12 months never mind 24, but it was the only way to get unlimited internet with them (I tend to use about 10gb per month).

Anyone jumping ship?

 

[RobWalker]

Balls to that!

 

[ScottM]

Balls to that!

Seems a bit strange to me. I would have thought that if their package was similar to the Full Monty plan that they would have people flocking to them. 4G internet and unlimited would be a massive carrot to dangle in front of peoples noses.

I just checked out some speed tests too. Apparently we can hit around 2MB/s on HSPA+ and because of the capping on 4G, for the moment at least, the 4G speeds will actually be slower. The capping may be a media myth though, EE are denying it.

 

[JimmyB78]

I'll probably wait until they all launch their 4G services next year and then have a look.

As you say the data caps are just ridiculous, surely anyone wanting to switch to it is likely to be a fairly heavy data user anyway! I think that movies/music etc you download/buy from their services don't count towards your data allowance from what I read, so the limits are probably to encourage you to buy from them rather than amazon or wherever.

 

[Archtronics]

You will get put on EE anyway soon, Im with orange and mines just auto upgraded and now shows EE.

 

[ScottM]

You will get put on EE anyway soon, Im with orange and mines just auto upgraded and now shows EE.

Yeah but apparently you won't get 4G unless you are on an actual EE contract :)

 

[ScottM]

I'll probably wait until they all launch their 4G services next year and then have a look.

As you say the data caps are just ridiculous, surely anyone wanting to switch to it is likely to be a fairly heavy data user anyway! I think that movies/music etc you download/buy from their services don't count towards your data allowance from what I read, so the limits are probably to encourage you to buy from them rather than amazon or wherever.

Ahh that would make more sense.

I was reading today that the switch for the other operators is actually a rental of the EE service. So it will only be EE coverage areas that everyone will be using, just at different frequencies. Apparently the frequency that's going to be used by the other operators is going to severely interfere with the digital terrestrial service lol.

 

[Swift Pint]

That's some pretty crazy prices there :shock:

I guess they know that there are some people who will be willing to pay to be the first on the fast speeds (not sure how many though at those prices...)

 

[PD]

I got a mobile.... it makes calls and texts....
Cost me £50 several years ago. I put £20 worth of credit on when I want ( £20 since December 2011 and still got £6 left ) er I don't use it much ...
I've got me computer at home for the internet, I've got me sat naff to know where I am... and I think there's a game or two on it somewhere .. :thumb:

 

[Jeltz]

Is that Unlimited internet on the full monty really unlimited? The last contract I took with T-mobile (which has a month to run) stated "unlimited" internet which was subject to a fair usage policy of no more than 1gb per month. Not that I use even half that as unless I'm driving I'm almost always within reach of a wifi router either at home or work.

I do use google navigate a lot but is doesn't seem to eat up much bandwidth. As for 4G I don't have a need for it so won't be shelling out.

 

[Russ146]

So that should make the world a better place then.......

Somehow i don't think so

The best time to get a new phone/upgrade is on the last day of the month

I happened to do just that and i was offered a free galaxy ace and £100 cash back and stay on the same £10 price plan if i signed up for two years

I said sure thing but why the free phone and cash back?

She said they need two more contracts signed to meet their quota for the month. So they will give you anything to sign

So now you know

 

[jonewer]

Prices are crazy a the mo because the network is only just being rolled out. 4G is apparently blisteringly fast. Talking 16meg download speeds here. I heard a single 4G cell handles as much data as their entire 3G network.

The mobile companies are soon going to switch all their voice calls to 4G as well because they can handle so much data.

 

[TRXnMe]

I remember the 3G launch

Suffice to say I'll wait until it's past the Alpha test stage, been Beta tested and is really, truly, ready for the general public before upgrading my SIM to use it.

3G cost me close to £100 to get out of my contract with the first network to release the 'service', bitten and shy spring to my mind :)

Anyway, for what bit of eb use I do 3G is currently more than good enough for me :)

 

[theboytony]

Can't see a need for the extra speed over 3g+ at the moment, I'm sure the time will come but I can stream Netflix to my laptop using wireless tethering with no quality probs so I won't be upgrading early

 

[ScottM]

Is that Unlimited internet on the full monty really unlimited? The last contract I took with T-mobile (which has a month to run) stated "unlimited" internet which was subject to a fair usage policy of no more than 1gb per month. Not that I use even half that as unless I'm driving I'm almost always within reach of a wifi router either at home or work.

I do use google navigate a lot but is doesn't seem to eat up much bandwidth. As for 4G I don't have a need for it so won't be shelling out.

Yeah the fully monty plan is truely unlimited. Officially supports tethering too and I can connect to my FTP server, which I could never do with my previous "unlimited" plan.

Can't see a need for the extra speed over 3g+ at the moment, I'm sure the time will come but I can stream Netflix to my laptop using wireless tethering with no quality probs so I won't be upgrading early

I'm the same, I honestly don't see the point. The fastest speed I have seen with 4G was in the US at the launch, they saw up to 40mb/s. Apparently the signal is going to be capped here, but that may just be a media rumour, to 12mb/s. I've seen videos on youtube with people using 3.5g and seeing 20mb/s. Miles and miles more than what would ever be required on a phone. Sure, it's great to have it faster but there is absolutely no need.... especially with the bundles starting at 500mb. It's almost laughable.

 

[ScottM]

Just did a little test for the hell of it, speedtest.net app.

I have 2 bars on H+

Ping 58ms, Download 5209kbps, Upload 2838kbps.

Not too shabby for a **** signal

 

[ScottM]

The new EE advert was on during the last Xfactor break. Have to admit, it's a fantastic advert. There doesn't seem to be as much creation and tongue in cheek fun with advertising nowadays, they pushed all the right buttons with me in that ad though.

However, as great as I think the advert is... I still think it leads you to think that you can browse like a demon, which clearly isn't the case.

 

[IPA]

I got a mobile.... it makes calls and texts....
Cost me £50 several years ago. I put £20 worth of credit on when I want ( £20 since December 2011 and still got £6 left ) er I don't use it much ...
I've got me computer at home for the internet, I've got me sat naff to know where I am... and I think there's a game or two on it somewhere .. :thumb:

I've got a mobile contract that gives 60mins calls and 450 texts and costs TWO EUROS a month. We have two PC's and one laptop and a netbook a top of the range digital SLR camera. If I ever feel the need to try and impress people in public places I might buy a round in the pub instead of investing a load of dosh in something that does everything not very well!

 

[theboytony]

Hahaha always makes me laugh when people say things like that :lol::lol::lol:

 

[ScottM]

I've got a mobile contract that gives 60mins calls and 450 texts and costs TWO EUROS a month. We have two PC's and one laptop and a netbook a top of the range digital SLR camera. If I ever feel the need to try and impress people in public places I might buy a round in the pub instead of investing a load of dosh in something that does everything not very well!

Good for you. I have 2 PCs, 3 laptops, an IPad, 2 Digital SLRs and a Full HD top of the line Camcorder. If I ever feel the need to impress anyone on a forum I post pics of my wang rather than list a load of non-relevant dross that doesn't come across very well.

Maybe where you are the phones don't do anything well but over here they tend to be rather good for calling and texting. How good is your digital SLR at making and receiving calls?