Want a 4G Service? EE or O2?

[Mac]

I've both, so thought you may be interested in a comparison.

 

Will pick up a 3 one when they're available, and add in the figures.

 

[Tipex]

Wow, that's quite a difference!

[m4ttm4son]

I'm on 3 and think they're being very good by offering it as a no cost add on when it comes along. Though I guess their prices will just go up surreptitiously later.

Took me a moment to realise it said 61, not 16, that's massive!

Could it be due to it being PAYG? Throttled to keep the high speeds for the contract customers?

Edited December 12, 2013 by m4ttm4son

[Mac]

I don't think so, they're both 30 days repeating contracts if that makes sense. On O2 technically you can't get pay as you go 4G as yet I don't think, so maybe I'm seeing better performance than average Joe would? (My contract is an ex O2 UNIFY one). I don't think so though, as the Contract on the iPad is a new consumer one, and I get similar performance on both my ex-O2 Unify, and on the iPad.

[Mac]

For you tl;dr - EE followed by O2:

 

 

[cruiser647]

Blimey.  EE will need to up their game.  First to market, but if the product is pants, you've just lost the advantage.

[Booster]

That will be down to the fact that EE are SHIT!!!

[Mac]

Ahaha! Yeah, could be capacity driven too. O2 don't have 4G on simplicity at the minute, it's contract only I believe. Also, the number of devices that can use O2 4G are a little limited due to the bands they use. 

[Tipex]

I can confirm EE are utterly awful for data, our in car systems now use EE, that was a mistake, coverage is absolutely dire, we were with BT mobile before but they've pulled out of the market now.

 

According to EE, it's due to the roll out of 4G, something like half their masts have been turned off while they switch over, and they aren't switching them all back on because they say the 4G signal propagates better so they won't need them.

[Biscuits]

I could go into great technical detail, but I won't.

Basically EE opted for 1.8GHz for 4G. Voda & O2 waited and use the old analogue tv (800MHz) frequencies. The lower frequencies penetrate through building materials, where the higher don't.

Try using the EE 4G outside or in line of sight of the mast and it'll be just as fast.

http://m.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/4g-and-lte-everything-you-need-to-know-926835

Edited December 12, 2013 by Biscuits

[Jez]

Worth adding you can get O2 4G through Tesco mobile too, I get about 52 mbps in leeds currently.  

Edited December 12, 2013 by Jez

[Mac]

Well...yes, but nobody would read any of my stuff if I wrote that 

[chasdrury]

This is a hot topic for me at the moment - our corporate contract is on EE. At both our UK sites, we get full EE, o2 and Vodafone signal outside (I'm talking 2/3g here, not 4g) at both sites which are 75 miles away as soon as you walk through the door Vodafone and o2 have gone. Absolutely no signal.

What's that all about ( I thought it was construction of the buildings but they are very different.)

[Mac]

Do you work in a faraday cage?

[chasdrury]

Someone else said that. The offices in Preston on our production site is a metal frame with poured concrete floors but lots of windows. The factory buildings themselves are metal sheet work.

At head office its a mainly concrete 4 storey job. But why does it not affect EE? In both locations.. the only place EE doesn't work on the sites is the cold stores which is understandable as the walls are massively thick and insulated to keep them at -30...

[DaveP]

Do you work in a faraday cage?

 

I have, for 2 weeks, in Japan.  It wasn't much fun.

[DaveP]

A speed comparison between 3 bars and 5 bars isn't fair on the lower one though.

You could be at 16QAM for the 3 bar and 64QAM for the 5 bar - resulting in much higher throughput (which you have seen).

[Mac]

I did make the point it's not always like that, but from what I've seen the speed gap is fairly consistent. 

[DanG]

I haven't really investigated it that much, but I did have an email from O2 the other day saying that i could save 25% on buying out my existing contract and moving to 4G.

 

Which means I wont bother.

 

Very impressive download and upload speeds though, way quicker than my land line - but to be honest, that works fast enough for me.

[NewNiceMrMe]

This is why I've kept my iPad Air on a 3G contract only so far. 

 

Well, coverage is the thing more than speed.

 

I'm with Three and am just waiting to see they come up with.  Their 3G coverage on the iPad data plan is superb, I've been with them from the first day the iPad came out and 9 times out of 10 I'll get good service.  I would love to use 4G but I'm not going to pay through the nose for a service that is only available when I'm in London....

[m4ttm4son]

This is why I've kept my iPad Air on a 3G contract only so far. 

 

Well, coverage is the thing more than speed.

 

I'm with Three and am just waiting to see they come up with.  Their 3G coverage on the iPad data plan is superb, I've been with them from the first day the iPad came out and 9 times out of 10 I'll get good service.  I would love to use 4G but I'm not going to pay through the nose for a service that is only available when I'm in London....

 

Have you tried using a phone SIM in your iPad, rather than an iPad SIM? My unlimited data phone plan is cheaper than their cheapest iPad Data plan.

[NewNiceMrMe]

I pay £15 a month for the Three 15gb plan.  Never ran out of data using that (maybe once come to think of it). 

 

To be honest I've been with them for years and it is very reliable but I'd never thought of doing it any other way.  For what it costs and the hassle of changing if it meant saving a few quid I probably couldn't be bothered.