The UK's having a 4G!

What are you talking about?
This week saw the launch of a 4G network in the UK! EE, formerly Everything Everywhere (a joint venture between T-mobile and Orange), was the mobile network operator and internet service provider behind the launch, on 30 October 2012, of their 4GEE service.

What is it?
It is the 4th generation of mobile phone mobile communications standards, hence 4G. As the successor of 3G it can provide a higher internet data transfer rate. But what does this mean to me, right? This means browsing on your phone is faster and you can consume high bandwidth services such as the use of video and video conferencing when out and about. You can stream music, films and HD TV! 4G will also allow you to upload huge files to websites quickly and it will also speed up downloads, uploads and emails.

Where is it?
As per my map above, EE's 4G is now available in 11 cities; Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton. EE also plans to introduce 4G in Belfast, Derby, Hull, Newcastle and Nottingham by COP 2012. But if you don't live in these 16 cities have no fear as apparently EE are planning for the service to cover around 98% of the UK by 2014! In some areas 4G has been found to stretch outside of the city limits but to be sure your area is covered you can use EE's useful Coverage Checker.

How fast are we talking?

4G will be faster then its predecessor 3G. That much is certain. But there are huge debates over how much faster 4G will be following EE's initial marketing efforts claiming it was up to 10 times faster. Having read a few articles it seems to me that the correct answer is...we don't know. There are several factors which will effect 4G's performance and EE now correctly list these on their website, though they havent promoted this of course. These factors include what device you are using, how close you are to a 4G mast and, and more importantly, how many people are on the network. Initially there will be few 4G users but as we near 2014, and a 98% coverage, the performance of 4G is likely to be less as more users sign-up. That said, EE claims that the average 4G download speeds will be between 8 and 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and the average upload speeds will be between 5 and 6 Mbit/s. I recently ran a speed test in Cardiff, Wales using 3G on my iPhone 4 and the results showed a download speed of 1.84Mbps and an upload speed of 0.79Mbps. So if I was to switch to 4G i'd be looking at speeds around 5 times faster then what i'm currently used to!

How can I get 4G?
4G is currently only available to EE customers after the network 'won' the 4G auction process by communications regulator Ofcom. The other UK networks including Vodafone, O2 and 3, who had threatened legal action against Ofcom, will have to wait until spring next year to offer their 4G services.

Elsewhere, only a certain number of phones are currently compatible with 4G and basically any phone bought before September 2012 will not be compatible. Indeed, anyone who bought a Samsung Galaxy S3 just before the upgraded 4G compatible LTE version was released in September would have been quite annoyed. Other compatible phones include the iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy Note II LTE, the Nokia Lumia 920, the Nokia Lumia 820, The HTC One XL, the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE.

To fund one of EE's 4G pricing plans you will need to set aside a minimum of £36 which will get you a mere 500mb of data. If your looking for 8GB you're talking £56/month! The problem being that whilst 500mb would have suitably seen you through the month on 3G, 4G is faster and enables the use of high bandwidth services. Thus you smash your 500mb allowance and incur extra charges!

So you're on the fence?
Yes. Like all new technology that is rushed out to gain a foothold in a market there is and will be problems with 4G. EE have been criticised for their pricing plans and many 4G users are claiming that the speeds have been 'oversold'. Elsewhere, there are technological problems in that the service puts greater strain on a phone's battery. Also, a major issue was announced by the government earlier this year that 4G may interfere with the Freeview TV signal next year when it transfers to a different spectrum. So it will be interesting to track 4G's developments, especially when the other networks release their 4G services next year.