As we edge closer to summer and the inevitable launch of new 4G networks, the UK’s current one and only 4G network has announced plans to double its speeds in 10 cities.
Speaking at a media event this morning, EE CEO Olaf Swantee confirmed the network’s plans to boost 4G download speeds to a maximum of 80Mbps plus. That’s the headline speed of course, but the average speed will also double to 20Mbps – that’s double this blogger’s home broadband speed!
The doubled speeds won’t come at any extra cost to EE customers either, with the network promising to keep tariff prices the same. As with their regular roll out of services, the speed boost will gradually hit groups of cities across the UK in stages, starting with 10 major cities.
Before the end of June, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and Sheffield will all see the doubled speeds. EE will also be trialling a new process of combining the bands used for Orange, T-Mobile and EE in order to deliver more 4G bandwidth than is possible with any other UK network.
Thanks to the 4G spectrum auction, the Everything Everywhere brand now has a slice of both the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrums required for 4G broadcasting. This will allow it to crank up the speeds, coverage and bandwidth, delivering faster 4G services to many more customers. It hopes to reach 1 million 4G users before the end of the year.
This ramp up in speeds is of course a way to ensure its market dominance as the likes of O2, Vodafone and Three prepare to launch rival 4G networks later in the year. It looks as though EE will offer the fastest speeds, but we have a feeling a rival network will offer cheaper tariffs – which would you prefer?