EE UK Prep New Fibre Broadband Router and Start 4G Speed Boost to 150Mb

Mobile network operator EE has confirmed that its new 4G (LTE / 1800MHz) “double speed” Mobile Broadband upgrade will go live tomorrow and boost headline speeds up to 150Mbps (i.e. average speeds of 24-30Mbps). A new BrightBox 2 ac spec wireless router has also been launched for their for Home Fibre Broadband package(s).

Firstly, EE has confirmed that it will officially switch-on the double-speed 4G service in twelve UK cities on the 4th July 2013, which partly works by boosting their 4G spectrum from 10MHz to 20MHz at each cell.

The following cities will be the first to benefit: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. A range of new Shared 4GEE and Pay-As-You-Go Mobile Broadband Plans will also be available from 17th July (see below).

Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE, said:

“Last year we launched the first superfast 4G and Fibre broadband network in the UK. Now we’re staying one step ahead with the launch of double speed 4G and a range of new innovative plans and services – designed to transform the way our customers connect and share content.

Our new double speed 4G technology means that we have the biggest, fastest and best network in the UK, and now the equal fastest in the world. With our superfast network, we have a unique opportunity to introduce a new era of customer-friendly pricing models based on speed, and we’ll be revealing further details of this later this year.”

Separately EE has also announced that its fixed line “Fibre Broadband” (FTTC) service will “later this summer” begin to benefit from a new BrightBox 2 wireless router, which is designed to offer a “stronger Wi-Fi signal and less drop-off in speed when a customer moves around” and support for plug-and-play setup.

However, unlike most of the other recent ISP router launches, it’s notable that EE appears to be making use of the latest 802.11ac spec wifi, which can typically makes use of the 5GHz spectrum to offer top speeds of around 1Gbps (Gigabits per second). In reality we’d urge some caution over this until EE has released more details about the router.

As for those new mobile plans..

Summary of the new 4GEE Plans (Quoted)

Shared 4GEE Plans

EE Shared 4GEE Plans allow customers to connect up to five devices to the one 4GEE plan – whether it’s with friends and family, or for their own tablets and laptops. Customers can add an existing 3G or 4G phone to their 4GEE phone plan from just £12 per month on SIM Only (from £22 per month for a new 4G phone), allowing them to receive unlimited minutes and texts on both phones, as well as access to the shared data.

Alternatively customers can add an existing 4G tablet from £5 per month on SIM Only (£26 per month for a new 4G tablet) or an existing 3G2 or Wi-Fi enabled tablet (via a mobile Wi-Fi device) for £11 per month. An example saving for a typical family of four would be £38 a month – over £450 a year3.

Devices added to a Shared 4GEE Plan will also receive great EE benefits, including 2-4-1 cinema tickets with EE Film, Clone Phone Lite4, inclusive content add-ons (music, games or TV5) and Fast Track Service into Customer Services. Shared 4GEE Plans for corporate, medium and small businesses will also be available.

Pay As You Go 4GEE MobileBroadband Plans

With EE’s range of Pay As You Go (PAYG) 4GEE Mobile Broadband Plans, customers can choose from a variety of data allowances, starting from £15 for a data SIM which comes preloaded with 2GB of mobile data for 30 days, or with the same allowance an Alcatel L800 dongle for £50 or Alcatel Y800 Mobile Wi-Fi for £70. Customers can also top up their data on any PAYG plan from just £3 for 500MB, up to a maximum of £30 for 10GB.

When a customer’s data allowance runs out, they will be directed to an EE page in their web browser so that they can top up their data through buying a data add-on – preventing any unexpected run-on costs. A range of data add-ons are available so customers can choose how much data they need or how much they want to spend.