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Connecting to EE 5G SA Mast

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And if I'm on the Apple side...? 😅
Dial the below on the phone app and it’ll tell you if you’re connected to SA or NSA

*3001#12345#*
 
Dial the below on the phone app and it’ll tell you if you’re connected to SA or NSA

*3001#12345#*
Very cool! I don't understand half of what it means, but:

Radio Access: LTE
DeploymentType: SA+NSA (3)

Curious to know if that would have just been NSA before I upgraded plan?
 
Very cool! I don't understand half of what it means, but:

Radio Access: LTE
DeploymentType: SA+NSA (3)

Curious to know if that would have just been NSA before I upgraded plan?
That just means that the network is broadcasting SA and NSA in your area. Even people on older plans who don't have SA can see that bit, underneath that it'll show you what you're connected to.
 
Any new EE SA results in anywhere? :unsure:
I was expecting to see quite a lot by now, but it's been very quiet. :)

I’m definitely not seeing the benefits of EE SA here in Edinburgh. Download performance is around 40% of NSA (expected) and pings have gone from 40-50ms on average to 30-40ms nowhere near the improvement I was hoping for. So whilst better than EE NSA for sure it’s only now matching the pings from my local Vodafone mast via 4G 😐! 5G NSA from Vodafone still offers better latency.

I got a great deal on my EE plan so I’m wanting to hold out until next week before cancelling as I’ve had a bug (mentioned before here) since moving to the iOS 18 beta where my pings on Vodafone from SA enabled masts has gotten a lot worse. I’m hoping for a Talkmobile carrier update or iOS 18 modem firmware update on iOS 18 release day that will fix this (there are no issues from NSA only masts). It may also help me get a fairer picture of EE if the bug is also affecting them (it doesn’t seem to be though).

It should be noted that the EE coverage checker seems, how can I put this… optimistic about indoor coverage in places I’m getting none. I’ve been on EE for multiple contracts over the years and it is always the same story. Went for lunch somewhere yesterday where EE claimed full 5G indoors. Yet the 1 bar my iPhone 15 Pro was clinging onto had no throughput. Vodafone claimed mixed signal levels indoors yet I had 4 bars of working 5G.


IMG_4179.webp
 
I’m definitely not seeing the benefits of EE SA here in Edinburgh. Download performance is around 40% of NSA (expected) and pings have gone from 40-50ms on average to 30-40ms nowhere near the improvement I was hoping for. So whilst better than EE NSA for sure it’s only now matching the pings from my local Vodafone mast via 4G 😐! 5G NSA from Vodafone still offers better latency.

I got a great deal on my EE plan so I’m wanting to hold out until next week before cancelling as I’ve had a bug (mentioned before here) since moving to the iOS 18 beta where my pings on Vodafone from SA enabled masts has gotten a lot worse. I’m hoping for a Talkmobile carrier update or iOS 18 modem firmware update on iOS 18 release day that will fix this (there are no issues from NSA only masts). It may also help me get a fairer picture of EE if the bug is also affecting them (it doesn’t seem to be though).

It should be noted that the EE coverage checker seems, how can I put this… optimistic about indoor coverage in places I’m getting none. I’ve been on EE for multiple contracts over the years and it is always the same story. Went for lunch somewhere yesterday where EE claimed full 5G indoors. Yet the 1 bar my iPhone 15 Pro was clinging onto had no throughput. Vodafone claimed mixed signal levels indoors yet I had 4 bars of working 5G.


View attachment 18838
Sadly with the results I've seen so far, it seems to be on par with Vodafone and O2's SA andyukguy.

At least it's sort of normal pricing on O2 and Vodafone.

Not sure why anyone would pay more for 5G SA when normal NSA is just as good or even better, it's being way over hyped in my opinion. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Sadly with the results I've seen so far, it seems to be on par with Vodafone and O2's SA andyukguy.

At least it's sort of normal pricing on O2 and Vodafone.

Not sure why anyone would pay more for 5G SA when normal NSA is just as good or even better, it's being way over hyped in my opinion. 🤷‍♂️
At least you can make calls and texts through EE SA, surprised this hasn't been mentioned more really.

I think SA also allows for battery life improvements too
 
Sadly with the results I've seen so far, it seems to be on par with Vodafone and O2's SA andyukguy.

At least it's sort of normal pricing on O2 and Vodafone.

Not sure why anyone would pay more for 5G SA when normal NSA is just as good or even better, it's being way over hyped. 🤷‍♂️

It’s a shame, I was reading all of the positivity around the EE SA network and the way it had been implemented over on DS and got caught up by the hype. As I mentioned I got a great deal but so I really want to be locked into a 24 month contract for this? It feels frustrating to me that no one connection option I have is the “best” on EE: if I want to download something as fast as possible I need to pick NSA. If I want the fastest pings I need to pick SA. If I want the best battery I need to pick 4G.

Im hoping Vodafone grants Talkmobile SA access in the coming year as there is no sensibly priced unlimited SA plan available direct via Vodafone and I really want to see how their SA performs from my local mast as their NSA and 4G are excellent.

On a more positive note I needed to do an Edinburgh -> Cairngorms trip today and EE absolutely trounced Vodafone on performance and coverage. I was barely off of 5G whilst Vodafone was on a lot of terribly performing band 20. Even a few Edge moments (but very quickly back to 4G).
 
It’s a shame, I was reading all of the positivity around the EE SA network and the way it had been implemented over on DS and got caught up by the hype. As I mentioned I got a great deal but so I really want to be locked into a 24 month contract for this? It feels frustrating to me that no one connection option I have is the “best” on EE: if I want to download something as fast as possible I need to pick NSA. If I want the fastest pings I need to pick SA. If I want the best battery I need to pick 4G.

Im hoping Vodafone grants Talkmobile SA access in the coming year as there is no sensibly priced unlimited SA plan available direct via Vodafone and I really want to see how their SA performs from my local mast as their NSA and 4G are excellent.

On a more positive note I needed to do an Edinburgh -> Cairngorms trip today and EE absolutely trounced Vodafone on performance and coverage. I was barely off of 5G whilst Vodafone was on a lot of terribly performing band 20. Even a few Edge moments (but very quickly back to 4G).
Hopefully it will get better, only you know if you feel it's worth it for 2 years andyukguy.

Mr cheapskate here has his O2 SA for £5 so that will do for tinkering, will patiently wait on SA from Talkmobile or Talkhome, certainly not paying extra for SA when it's no better than bog standard 5G, but that's just me. :giggle:

I wonder when Three will join the SA party? :unsure:
Probably waiting to see if 'The computer says no!' to the merger or not.:rolleyes:
 
It’s a shame, I was reading all of the positivity around the EE SA network and the way it had been implemented over on DS and got caught up by the hype. As I mentioned I got a great deal but so I really want to be locked into a 24 month contract for this? It feels frustrating to me that no one connection option I have is the “best” on EE: if I want to download something as fast as possible I need to pick NSA. If I want the fastest pings I need to pick SA. If I want the best battery I need to pick 4G.

Im hoping Vodafone grants Talkmobile SA access in the coming year as there is no sensibly priced unlimited SA plan available direct via Vodafone and I really want to see how their SA performs from my local mast as their NSA and 4G are excellent.

On a more positive note I needed to do an Edinburgh -> Cairngorms trip today and EE absolutely trounced Vodafone on performance and coverage. I was barely off of 5G whilst Vodafone was on a lot of terribly performing band 20. Even a few Edge moments (but very quickly back to 4G).
I cancelled my upgrade to a new 24 month contract. From what I had experienced, there’s no way I am being locked into that when SA offers virtually no improvement, yet.

I’ll revisit it again, but now for now I’ll go back to my one month rolling contract and NSA.
 
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SA is a complete overhyped rubbish and is on every network.

The people hyping it up think the network is great anyway.

In the real world I’ve experienced absolute trash indoors coverage in London.
 
Afternoon, thought I'd better make an account here given all the activity seems to be here these days!

Might take me a while to get up to speed which threads are the ones to get involved in.
Welcome to the forums 👋

Seen your username pop up on Digital Spy quite a bit, I see you're quite knowledgeable! Might be worth looking at this thread which should help you with what to keep up to date with:

 
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EE
SA

n1
20 MHz

But nperf falls over and the speed test fails and then nperf shows 5G NSA

What's going on?
Certainly sounds a little odd!

From your post history I think you've covered the main things which are supported device, supported plan/sim and supported area.

Out of the three supported area is likely to be the stumbling point. Of the 15 cities EE announced, are you pretty central? IIRC the methodology of the postcode checker is a little optimistic because it doesn't factor in the odd site without SA if there are neighbouring sites with SA coverage.
 
Certainly sounds a little odd!

From your post history I think you've covered the main things which are supported device, supported plan/sim and supported area.

Out of the three supported area is likely to be the stumbling point. Of the 15 cities EE announced, are you pretty central? IIRC the methodology of the postcode checker is a little optimistic because it doesn't factor in the odd site without SA if there are neighbouring sites with SA coverage.
10/15 minutes outside the city centre in one of the SA cities.
On signing up, the sign up told me I had superfast 5G (i.e. SA).
CS have told me that we are just outside the range of the mast (probably). Would be believable if elsewhere here had SA but I don't think it does, it didn't last time I tried. I will try again.

Thank you & welcome, glad to have you here.
 
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