EE to launch UK's first 5G service in May

[LukeSavenije]

Sources: @AluminiumTech, BBC

 

EE will be switching to its 5G service in six UK cities (London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester) on 30 May, with plans to expand to 10 more cities this year. They're the first network in the UK to do so.  Prices for 5G will start at £54 per month for 10 gigabytes of data (with phone included). EE confirmed that its range of 5G phones would not include Huawei.

 

Quote

Rival Vodafone plans to launch its 5G service in July. It has also withdrawn Huawei's 5G-enabled Mate 20X - from its line-up of phones.

Retailer Carphone Warehouse has also said it will not allow customers to pre-order Huawei's 5G handsets.

Several other countries have announced 5G services, including South Korea and the US.

Kester Mann, an analyst at research firm CCS Insight, said: "In getting 5G as soon as next week, the UK will have completed a remarkable turnaround from laggard to leader."

 

EE promised three major improvements for customers making the swap from 4G to 5G:

• increased capacity - making it easier to get service in busy places such as railway stations and stadiums
• average speeds will go up to 150Mbps (megabits per second) compared with a top speed of 50Mbps when 4G was launched. Some customers will get speeds of up to one gigabit, with improvements for everyone over time
• low latency - of particular benefit for online games and new services such as those utilising augmented reality

 

The handsets available will include the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, OnePlus's 7 Pro 5G and Oppo's Reno 5G phones.

I think it's cool to see that 5G is coming... just curious with who they did it now... since Huawei gets some major backlash

[Lurick]

10GB of data for £54/month?!? That's just stupid.

Unless carriers get rid of the mindset of 4G style limits on data, 5G won't really take off to anything meaningful.

[AlTech]

Just now, Lurick said:

10GB of data for 55/month?!?

Unless carriers get rid of the mindset of 4G limits on data, 5G won't really take off to anything meaningful.

This is a pay monthly phone plan. They don't appear to be launching sim only 5G plans right now.

[Fnige]

... ... ... ... ... ... 

EE

[Lurick]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

This is a pay monthly phone plan. They don't appear to be launching sim only 5G plans right now.

Still doesn't sit right with me to limit the data like this. Sure it's just getting started but I can get more data on a 4G plan, albeit in the US, all moving to 5G would do in this case is let me hit a cap faster with faster downloads.

 

Edit:

I think I misunderstood what you meant. See below.

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

10GB of data for £54/month?!? That's just stupid.

Unless carriers get rid of the mindset of 4G style limits on data, 5G won't really take off to anything meaningful.

i fixed it... forgot to add something because i accidentally released it too early

[Lurick]

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

i fixed it... forgot to add something because i accidentally released it too early

Ah, so pay for the phone with the plan? So maybe data only would be less?

[AlTech]

3 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Ah, so pay for the phone with the plan? So maybe data only would be less?

I doubt it. When EE launched 4G before everyone else in the UK they really milked it for all it was worth with extorionate prices.

Edited May 23, 2019 by AluminiumTech

[LukeSavenije]

6 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Ah, so pay for the phone with the plan? So maybe data only would be less?

i mean... it could be

 

we can only wait and see i guess

 

they're not the cheapest... so maybe it is, maybe it isn't

[RejZoR]

And I'm here perfectly happy on 4G with 3000 minutes of calls, 3000 SMS and 25GB of data for 10€ at 50/10 Mbps or 11€ for 100/50 Mbps. I buy my own phones anyway in retail. Much rather pay for it once and be done with it than having constant relatively big monthly expenses on something...

 

What exactly does one do on a phone to need 1Gbps or even to really utilize 150Mbps? Only thing I see is doing backup of images and 4K recordings. I don't understand why would anyone watch 4K video on a phone to require such bandwidth since screens are just too tiny for it anyway. Not to mention it gives jokingly low data plan of 10GB ?! It just makes no sense. With high speeds you need huge data plans for them to even make any kind of sense.

[AlTech]

23 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

And I'm here perfectly happy on 4G with 3000 minutes of calls, 3000 SMS and 25GB of data for 10€ at 50/10 Mbps or 11€ for 100/50 Mbps. I buy my own phones anyway in retail. Much rather pay for it once and be done with it than having constant relatively big monthly expenses on something...

 

What exactly does one do on a phone to need 1Gbps or even to really utilize 150Mbps?

The thing is, EE already offers 120Mbit LTE but only to a small portion of their pay monthly phone customers.

 

Most people on a sim only plan with them, with a cheap pay monthly plan, or PAYG are stuck with 60Mbit LTE cos EE doesn't give them access to the faster speed.

[jiyeon]

1 hour ago, Lurick said:

10GB of data for £54/month?!? That's just stupid.

The 10GB data for £54 applies to the Oppo Reno 5G, with an additional £70 phone cost. The best possible mobile plan for the Oppo Reno 5G is £74 per month for 120GB of data with a £10 phone cost.

This is EE we're talking about, so of course prices will lean towards the more premium side than most other carriers.

 

For context, I have found some other pre-order plans plans for other devices below, these are all found directly from the EE Shop online.

 

OnePlus 7 Pro 5G:

• The cheapest plan is £64 per month for 10GB of data, with a £70 phone cost.
• The best possible plan is £79 per month for 120GB of data, with a £10 phone cost.

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G:

• The cheapest plan is £69 per month for 10GB of data, with a £30 phone cost.
• The best possible plan is £89 per month for 120GB of data, with a £10 phone cost.

LG V50 ThinQ 5G:

• The cheapest plan is £69 per month for 10GB of data, with a £70 phone cost.
• The best possible plan is £89 per month for 120GB of data, with a £10 phone cost.

 

What I say might not be 100% correct as I was reading off the online store.

[Doobeedoo]

We don't even get what 4G is supposed to support though. Also, data caps, the ongoing joke, especially with faster speeds. 

[hobobobo]

I honestly hope 5g crashes and burns, its a bad technology rushed to market.

Correct me if im wrong, but so far 5g is just bandwidth upgrade to 4g via increased frequence range and higher power. The cool things 5g promised, as in beaming or IoT, are nowhere near ready.

[DildorTheDecent]

Woohoo! Belfast is included!

 

Coverage map sucks though.

 

[williamcll]

150Mbps is very awful for 5G consider 4G surpasses that speed in some countries.

[sof006]

I'm on O2 and I get 100GB of data with unlimited everything else for £40 a month and very happy.

[yian88]

23 hours ago, LukeSavenije said:

Sources: @AluminiumTech, BBC

 

EE will be switching to its 5G service in six UK cities...

...

Please correct yourself to "EE will be switching on its 5G service...." , you make it sound like it will abandon all its other services.

[bradwiggo]

What is the point of 5G? I can't really see a situation in which one would need gigabit internet on their phone? 

 

Also aren't Huawei involved in the building of this, if so, I'm never using it lol. 

[XR6]

1 hour ago, bradwiggo said:

Also aren't Huawei involved in the building of this, if so, I'm never using it lol. 

I don't think they are. After pressure from the US the UK are in the process of banning/blacklisting Huawei.

Personally, I don't particularly mind if Huawei were involved. The US don't have proof that Huawei were spying, and even if Huawei were spying it wouldn't make a difference.

I and everybody else already get spied on by multiple different governments, I personally couldn't care less if another organization decided to watch what I was doing..

[mr moose]

13 hours ago, bradwiggo said:

What is the point of 5G? I can't really see a situation in which one would need gigabit internet on their phone? 

 

 

Because we don't know what the future looks like,  advancement needs to be made in every direction regardless of whether it looks necessary or is even viable.  A lot of the technologies we live on today were discovered when trying to improve something else. 

 

 

 

 

[PlayStation 2]

buh buh 5g bad for the earth!!!

[mr moose]

6 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

buh buh 5g bad for the earth!!!

And non viable, even though every major telco around the world is investing crap loads of cash into it. 

[Monkey Dust]

21 hours ago, bradwiggo said:

What is the point of 5G? I can't really see a situation in which one would need gigabit internet on their phone? 

 

Also aren't Huawei involved in the building of this, if so, I'm never using it lol. 

If you're using your phone as a WiFi hotspot, if you're using it to stream 4K to a hotel TV, or if just want to ditch the cable to your house with it's additional contract.

 

It will take a good few years to reach maturity, I can't see an advantage to jumping on early unless the 4G where you live gets horribly congested.

[MadG4mer]

Finnish 5G research center has provided free 5G for ages around the place but its not really comparable because its very local and you need to manually set up the connection and most phones dont even support it.