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View Full Version : Will you switch to Everything Everywhere (i.e. T-Mobile or Orange) for early 4G?



invincible
29-08-12, 12:03 AM
Everything Everywhere, the company that operates Orange UK and T-Mobile UK, has been granted permission to reprovision some of it's surplus 1800Mhz spectrum for use with 4G LTE. The auction for the 800Mhz and 2600Mhz spectrums aren't due to take place until December. This means that Everything Everywhere (or a likely rebrand of them) will be the first major network to offer 4G LTE in the UK. This is likely to give iPhone 5 purchasers significantly improved data speeds beyond 3G. Vodafone and o2 are obviously unhappy about this because they won't get their hands on new spectrum frequencies until sometime next year, and aren't able to offer 4G on their existing 900Mhz spectrum allocation. "Three" are also going to be able to offer 4G LTE on a small slice of 1800Mhz spectrum that they recently purchased from Everything Everywhere. I'm with Everything Everywhere brands anyway. However come late September we'll probably see the new iPhone 5 launch with 4G LTE compatibility and the likelihood is that the handset will support 1800Mhz 4G LTE. Would this make you jump to Everything Everywhere brands? (the iPad 3 won't work on 4G LTE in the UK because the frequencies it supports aren't UK 4G frequencies. 3G is its limit here).

GreyWing
29-08-12, 12:41 AM
Not for me personally as I don't use much mobile data, so probably lost on me anyway. However people can be assured I will tell O2 I am cancelling for that very reason and see what they will have to offer me on the iphone 5 to get me to stay. I do think it could be a big problem for the others though, plenty of people will jump ship.

Just wonder if the down side to that is under capacity on the EVEW network. They are / were famous for overloading it with customers in years gone bye, then Three turned up and found they could cram even more people on their network. Just like one of those unlimited reseller servers... :D

Anyone have any knowledge just how much of the EVEW network is geared up for the 1800Mhz spectrum?

aZooZa
29-08-12, 04:40 AM
It's only since I've been in Asia that I have used mobile data for anything else but email. It's so ridiculously priced in the UK and I won't/wouldn't pay for too much of it on principle. Now in Thailand, I get as much data as I can eat for next to nothing; e.g. 3GB of HSPDA 3G+ and any amount thereafter of 2G - maybe ~£20/month. It's a little more expensive in China; maybe ~£6/month for 800MB of 3G and charged minimally thereafter. So when I'm in the UK, it will be GPRS for me just for email.

I wonder how the new licence fee income will be squandered this time around?

Edwin
29-08-12, 07:30 AM
Until they improve network coverage (I assume it's going to start off worse than 3G, which isn't saying much) why would anyone leap to change? I've used Three and now O2, and while the latter certainly does better on the coverage front there are tons of places I can't get a data signal, only a phone signal. On the speed side of things, it's not too bad actually when there's a reasonably strong 3G signal, as long as you're not trying to watch videos or anything like that. But for emails and browsing the web, 3G is certainly bearable.