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).
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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Ouch, that price stings a bit….still, I am waiting for 4G where I live by any provider. Of course the prices will tumble over time but 50Gb or 100Gb cap – come on, what decade are we living in?
Have you tried finding 4G with an external antenna mounted high?
Finally some updates, unfortunately, too expensive
Well it’s bye bye internet for me. No thanks g5. I’ve read the reports and I’m not adding to harming others or myself. Back to the old ways. Cheers.
@Deborah
If you’re referring to reports on the Internet of 5G being harmful then you can relax. Most of these emanate from RT America and are fake news – easy to check as 5G is being deployed in Russia despite these fake reports.
Bye bye Internet for you? Why? 5G isn’t the internet. It’s not going to suddenly replace 4G, wifi or fixed line services.
Where did you read up about this threat? Oh, that’s right, the Internet!
So I propose that either you’re quite silly to not fact check anything before knee jerk over reacting or you’re one of those dumb idiots spewing out misinformation intentionally. I suspect the latter since this article is unrelated to 5G as a technology and is focused on one provider’s device and pricing. Which hasn’t factored in to your decision unless you’d be willing to turn yourself into a puddle of protoplasm if it was cheaper and had more data maybe? No…thought not.
Good, one less boomer on the internet
5G is very harmful indeed and now you’ll have a transponder every 150 yards outside most homes. The data exposing the dangers of 5G have nothing to do with RT (which is one of the only truthful stations on TV if you bother watching it instead of listening to Western propaganda from liars). To know the dangers of 5G then start to study microwave radiation weapons expert Barry Trower who advises Governments and world leaders on this very subject. The Telecommunications industry is worth $17 trillion per year and this is why they hide the dangers as they want both profit and population control/culling. Who funds Cancer Research? The Telecommunications industry who even funded the Cancer Research headquarters building. What we have here are devious peoples feeding themselves like an Ouroboros snake.
I’ll wait for Three hopefully they’ll give unlimited usage and a fairer price even with a higher upfront price probably, it’ll be a better proposition for me. Hoping for £150 upfront and £30 a month for 24 months.
Amazon has the latest Netgear M2 portable Mifi
hotspot which is a category 20 albeit 4G for £500 so that’s what they’re pricing these new devices at, I guess.
And just like with the 4G launch they go for rip off novelty prices…
Be interesting to see if they offer 1TB 5GEE home packages eventually after other networks go live to compete.
So essentially it’s an android tablet with data sim capabilities that is set to hotspot.
I get that it’s new but at those prices they’re going to have very limited interest.
Far to expensive.
3 do unlimited data and I am waiting to see if they can be a bit less greedy when the get 5g up and running in my area.
4g, 5g I’m still waiting for bt to put fibre in my street.. I’ll be happy with 30meg line.
Would maybe swallow the price for fast internet but the usage caps are a deal breaker for me.
We use loads of data since we got a smart tv, Netflix and Amazon Prime are never off so I will be happy to continue with Sky Fibre Max but as soon as the option to disconnect the phone line become available, I am getting rid of a fixed line phone. We simply don’t use it from one year to the next
Now before you all run to 5G I suggest you study the work of Barry Trower who’s a Microwave Radiation Weapons Expert who advises both Governments and world leaders on these subjects and technologies. I think you’ll think twice about accepting this 5G technology and other wireless once you listen to Trower’s interviews.
The 5g broadband hub is a really great thing for any internet users. I must say that if you are using High-speed internet then the chance of hacking getting higher. Because Whenever you are using your router data can easily fetch from there so you have to know how to Solve Netgear Router Password Issues for secure your privacy.
Great to hear that most awaited I read all the specification but I was facing a different problem related router so I ask for help, I have Linksys ea7500 Keeps Dropping Internet Connection often can anybody understand why it is happening? Required solution.
Truthful, may I suggest a name change to Gullible. That would suit you much better.