EE UK Details New HTC 5G Hub Mobile Broadband WiFi Router

Mobile operator EE (BT) has today revealed further details about their new 5GEE WiFi plans and advanced HTC 5G Hub (Mobile Smart Hub) wireless router, which will deliver ultrafast mobile broadband speeds to consumers across parts of the United Kingdom. But it’s a bit pricey for what you get.

The operator’s new 5G network has already gone live in parts of London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester (full details). As part of that launch they also unveiled a new 5GEE WiFi product (i.e. a mobile broadband HTC 5G Hub router), which would cost £100 upfront (or £500 standalone – seems rather expensive) and then £50 per month for 50GB of data or £75 for 100GB on a 24-month contract term.

The good news is that EE has today revealed some further details about the new HTC 5G Mobile Smart Hub router for this service, which they say features a 5″ HD touch-screen, voice commands (Google Assistant) and remote control, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 CPU, Android 9 Pie operating system, microphone, loud speaker, 30 metres of WiFi range (oddly it can only handle up to 20 devices), Quick charge 3.0, USB-C 3.1 with DisplayPort support, 32GB of storage (expandable via Micro SD) and a Gigabit LAN Ethernet port.

The device is certainly quite a capable piece of kit, although we still can’t see how it’s worth £500 as a standalone. Similarly an ultrafast 5G connection that’s hobbled by a 100GB usage allowance, particularly one costing £75 a month, may not be as attractive as EE hopes. At this sort of price we doubt fixed line broadband ISPs have much to fear.

Edward Goff, EE’s Marketing Director, said:

“Our 5G network will give EE customers even faster, more reliable mobile WiFi connections where they need it most – whether online gaming on the move, downloading or streaming HD content, or simply keeping a fast connection in the busiest areas.

With the HTC 5G Hub, we’re seeing mobile experiences typically associated with tablets and smartphones combined with the practicality of a mobile broadband device and portable battery. With such a diverse product, we’re the only UK network that allows users to enjoy the fastest mobile connectivity in more places.”

Meanwhile we find ourselves wondering what has happened to EE’s promised June 2019 launch of their new 5GEE Home product, which seemed as if it would set itself up as an alternative to fixed line broadband services. Apparently that service, if it ever surfaces, includes a router that has an external antenna and doesn’t require an engineer installation.

In terms of connection performance, the initial launch of 5GEE WiFi may be hindered by the operator’s limited coverage and dependence upon only a single radio spectrum band (3.4GHz). We’ll have to wait until Ofcom has released additional 5G friendly bands in 2020 and beyond before multi-Gigabit broadband speeds become more commonplace.

On the other hand EE doesn’t need Gigabit speeds in order to beat many fixed line hybrid fibre (FTTC / VDSL2) services and the latency times will also be more than good enough for fast paced multiplayer video gaming (4G could already do this too but 5G will do an even better job).