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4G ISP Relish promises ‘fibre-like’ speeds in central London

Relish, a 4G ISP based in London is promising to deliver fibre-like speeds to customers without the need for a fixed-line connection. 

Doing away with the need for line rental, Relish promises that customers will be up and running within the next day as no engineer is required to install the hardware.

After you’ve signed up, Relish sends you a 4G router through the post and you get everything you need in the box. If you order before 4:00pm on a weekday, you should get your Relish gear delivered the next day. 

4G ISP Relish promises 'fibre-like' speeds in central London
Relish places an emphasis on plug and play and ease of use

Nicholas James, CEO of UK Broadband, which is launching Relish, said: “London is home to some of the world’s most talented and busy people, who have to suffer long delays in getting their broadband service set up and pay a ‘landline tax’ for a service they often don’t need. 

Relish wants to give Londoners the broadband they deserve – and will shake up the market with a fair and transparent service that meets the digital demands of modern Londoners.” 

So what’s the difference between Relish and you simply using a 4G MiFi from someone like EE or Three

The first main difference is that there’s no monthly download caps. While Three continues to offer unlimited 4G data to mobile customers, unlimited tethering is now a thing of the past. Relish also uses a different slice of the airwaves to the other UK mobile networks, meaning your broadband performance won’t suffer if everyone on your street suddenly starts getting HTC One (M8)s and Samsung Galaxy S5s on 4G contracts. 

Compared to typical fixed line services, Relish’s prices are pretty competitve. The Home Broadband deal costs just £20/month and is available on single month and 12 months packages. You can take Relish Home Broadband for as little or as long as you like, but if you opt for a 12 month deal upfront, you avoid paying a one-off £50 charge for the Huawei 4G router. 

4G ISP Relish promises 'fibre-like' speeds in central London
The current state of the Relish London network – tough luck if you live in Zone 6

Relish is promising top speeds of up to 65Mbps across an area of central London which, in Relish’s words, covers “Tower Bridge to Hyde Park, Mayfair to Marylebone, Shoreditch to Southwark”.

At Recombu Towers, the Relish speed test checker informed us we’d be able to get speeds beteen 5-30Mbps. Relish says that average download speeds will be nearer the 13Mbps mark. 

Customers can also take out a mobile broadband package, which gives you the choice of adding 1GB, 5GB and 10GB MiFi plans, if you want to be able to access the Relish network on the go. 

Relish also offers a similar services to businesses which starts at £25/month alongside dedicated services providing speeds of up to 100Mbps. 

What we don’t yet know much about is latency – ping is generally pretty low on the superfast broadband packages offered by BT and Virgin Media, so while Relish can offer ‘fibre-like’ speeds, it remains to be seen if it can offer a fibre-like service.  

Relish makes use of UK Broadband’s 3.5GHz and 3GHz spectrum. While this gives the service high capacity, its range can be poor. The speeds are provided by UK Broadbands own spectrum, but its mobile offering will also use capacity from Three’s mobile network. 

UK Broadband is looking to offer Relish in other parts of the country but has not announced where it will set up shop next. 

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