All Sections

EE launching 4G 150Mbps mobile broadband speed boost

EE is cranking up the speeds available on its 4G network yet again, this time up to a staggering 150Mbps. 

Speaking at a press briefing in London, EE’s CEO Olaf Swantee said: 

“The speeds are now at a level that we can truly say we have the equal fastest network in the world. It’s faster than 4G in the US its faster than any network in Europe and its in-line with the networks speeds you get in [South] Korea.” 

Last week saw the arrival of 80Mbps top speeds in London’s Tech City with the promise of further rollout to other areas across the UK. 

EE launching 4G 150Mbps mobile broadband speed boost

Read Recombu Digital’s guide to 4G in the UKToday EE announced that the top speeds available on its network from tomorrow onwards would be a staggering 150Mbps. That’s head and shoulders above the top speeds available on most people’s home broadband lines. 

But don’t assume that this means you’ll be able to get this everywhere. The top 150Mbps speeds will only be available via so-called Category 4 (Cat 4) LTE devices, like EE’s own Huawei E5776 MiFi device and the Huawei Ascend P2

High end phones like the iPhone 5 and HTC One are Cat 3 devices, meaning the top download speed you can expect to experience on EE’s 4G network is 102Mbps. Most phones and tablets will be Cat 3 devices and so won’t be able to get anything faster than this. 

Remember that mobile broadband speeds are also dictated by where you are and how busy the network is in your area. It’s highly unlikely that you’d ever actually get 150Mbps, unless you were the only person using the network for miles around and it was in the small hours of the morning. EE estimates that the basic download speeds experienced by customers on its network after the speed boost will be 24-30Mbps. 

The speed boost will initially roll out across the following 12 UK cities: 

  • Birmingham
  • Bristol
  • Cardiff
  • Derby
  • Edinburgh
  • Glasgow
  • Leeds
  • Liverpool
  • London
  • Manchester
  • Nottingham
  • Sheffield

Eventually, every city covered by EE’s 4G network will benefit from the speed doubling programme. EE intends to have 70 per cent of the UK population able to access its 4G network by 2013. By 2014, it’s expected coverage will have increased to 98 per cent. 

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *