EE UK Prep 5G Network Slicing Boost for Consumers and 5G+ Icons for Phones
Network operator EE Mobile is preparing to launch a new “Full Works Plus” airtime plan in the near future (probably the next month or so), which will cost £5 extra per month than their regular “Full Works” plan and introduce enhanced 5G+ (5G Standalone) mobile broadband network slicing via a new ‘Fast Lane‘ feature. But there’s a big caveat.
Just for some context. EE already includes a ‘Network Boost‘ feature on all of their Full Works (and All-Rounder) mobile plans, which gives customers mobile data priority queuing at congested cell towers in crowded places, such as stadiums, busy shopping centres and train stations etc. (note: there’s no prioritisation of calls or texts). But this is more of a traditional Quality-of-Service (QoS) traffic prioritisation mechanism.
According to ISPreview’s sources, the new Fast Lane feature that will accompany EE’s future Full Works Plus plan will only work on their 5G Standalone (5G+) network with a compatible Smartphone and is expected to promote itself as offering customers 5x more network priority (we assume this is when compared with the ‘Network Boost’ feature on Full Works and All-Rounder).
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The details have yet to be officially confirmed, but we understand that this will go beyond the standard QoS approach of EE’s ‘Network Boost’ feature and will instead harness Network Slicing technology on their 5G+ network. This would make it much more powerful than regular QoS prioritisation, although making such things attractive to consumers can be quite difficult from a marketing perspective (slicing is not as easy to promote or compare as raw data speeds etc.).
We should point out that Full Works Plus will also include the same Network Boost feature as Full Works, which is probably there to help provide some backwards compatibility benefits to users on regular 5G (not 5G+) and 4G connections.
Features like this might potentially conflict with Ofcom’s 2023 Net Neutrality Guidelines, which more broadly reflects the principle of treating all internet traffic as equal. But one caveat of EE’s new mobile plan means they’re likely to sidestep such concerns.
In short, EE Mobile will only offer Full Works Plus alongside their Flex Pay or subsidised handset deals / bundles (i.e. NOT as a SIM-Only plan). This will likely limit its take-up and thus avoid raising any concerns. In fairness, Ofcom’s guidelines do actually allow for such features, but there may still be a bit of a grey area when it comes to how widely network slicing can actually be applied (as recently highlighted by Virgin Media and O2 – here).
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In practice, it’s of course tricky to accurately compare the before an after impact of 5G Network Slicing in a busy area, due to the high variability of mobile connectivity. But no doubt EE’s aim will still be to deliver a good baseline performance for all in such busy areas, you’ll just get the best performance on Full Works and Full Works Plus plans.
Finally, we understand that EE are working with device manufacturers to ensure that more Smartphones show a “5G+” icon when connected to their latest 5G Standalone network. The improvements on this front should start showing up toward the end of this month and into September 2026. Lest we forget that the next release of Apple’s iOS v27 software is also due out in September, which includes a similar enhancement.
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I think Net Neutrality is unlikely to conflict with network slicing, because it’s conceptually no different to having different speed tiers for different customers on fixed line. It was brought in so that (for example) the networks couldn’t prioritise Twitter instead of Bluesky if the right amount of money changed hands.
Network slicing moves all of a user’s traffic on to a different virtual pipe, so it’s not discriminating based on destination.
Bit more nuanced – the way EE are talking about using network slicing, where it moves all of your traffic onto a different virtual pipe, is probably OK. But network slicing in general lets you expose multiple slices to one user, and choose which traffic goes down which slice.
Whether there’s network neutrality implications from this depends on who does the choosing; if there’s no choosing involved (e.g. all user traffic goes down one virtual pipe), it’s fine. If the user has free control of the choice, it’s also fine – but if the network controls it, then we get into issues.
So the answer to not having enough network capacity where it is needed isnt to densify the network, but to charge customers a premium to be ‘prioritised’. And what happens when this slice, lets call it ‘the fast lane’ becomes too congested to matter?
We open up a secondary service after pestering ofcom for more network bandwidth availability, and charge a higher premium, (akin the M6 toll / the M6 situation)
EE cashing in on the fans lol.
Coming soon, Full Works Plus Pro Max Xtra+++, just £999.95 per month and you’re advised to get it if you want to use your data in Waterloo Station
Milk those Cash cows! Milk them!
Remember when 5G was fast. It’s not any more presumably due to wider adoption but also all these “features” that providers use to cut power/range etc (like lte ‘breathing’ and shutting off some frequencies at night). Meanwhile, it’s 2026 and i’ve not seen NSA even once despite my SIM, contract, and phone supporting it. Everything we were promised failed to materialise.
I had my first 5G+ this morning on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. Also (might be placebo), was lightning fast on internet and playing a game.
They should focus on making VoLTE work while roaming and indoor coverage. Priority check-in won’t help with either.
Like a queue jump at Thorpe Park, once many people pay for it, you gain nothing over the regular queue. Just money for nothing.
@Blake, Money for nothing and your chicks for free. 🙂
I went to a location where EE claims to have 5G+.
EE only had B3+B3+N1 Non-Standalone 5G ~ 250Mbps download
O2 had 80Mhz of N78 ~ 600Mbps download
Three had 100Mhz of N78 ~ 800Mbps download
So EE was the worse even with the claim of being 5G+ So in reality it’s all just marketing spin!
Where I am, EE is fastest up to 500MB/s or a solid 120MB/s, O2 full 5G+ signal but under 100MB/s (occasionally spiking to near 300MB/s) and Three/Vodafone you get glimpses of 5G and no 5G+, 12-30MB/s on 4G or 1-2MB/s to nothing in bad weather or peak hours but maybe 100-200MB/s if you go outside.
who is the best network then ?