4G - Anyone got/getting it?

[elsiegee40]

I'm just being nosey.

 

Us oiks out in the sticks can't get 4G, but I was wondering whether any city edugeeks have decided to cough up and get it?

 

To me it seems expensive at the moment especially given that it will only work in a few places. Once coverage spreads and there's some competition on prices, then maybe...

[AngryTechnician]

I'll consider paying for 4G when I can get a reliable 2G (yes, 2G) connection in my office. A good deal of the time I can't even receive calls, and we're in suburban area in a major town.

[elsiegee40]

I'll consider paying for 4G when I can get a reliable 2G (yes, 2G) connection in my office. A good deal of the time I can't even receive calls, and we're in suburban area in a major town.

That's daft given where you are... you're not exactly out in the middle of nowhere!

 

My eldest is at uni in Lancaster and reception is regularly non existent up there. She struggles to get the phone to work, let alone data.

[witch]

I'll consider paying for 4G when I can get a reliable 2G (yes, 2G) connection in my office. A good deal of the time I can't even receive calls, and we're in suburban area in a major town.

Me too, and I am the same sort of place

[AngryTechnician]

This is why I always laugh at people at conferences when they tell me we don't need wireless because all the pupils have amazing 3G on their phones now.

[timbo343]

Im not interested in it. I ran a speed test on my phone the other week with 3g and i got 6.2meg down and 2.4meg up. Way more than my broadband speed at home

[sted]

thought about it but the usage caps are pathetic 5gb max on a mifi 15gb on my 3 3g isnt enough

[rich_tech]

I'll consider paying for 4G when I can get a reliable 2G (yes, 2G) connection in my office. A good deal of the time I can't even receive calls, and we're in suburban area in a major town.

 

Here here,

 

It doesnt fill me with any confidence in EE here, I joined "Orange" around Feb/March here and it was noticably worse than O2 where I work for signal, now since its become EE, im getting calls dropping left right and centre in work to the point where, its not really usable or viable for me to use a mobile in work, if I am not in my office then there seems to be a slim chance I may get the call, though if it switches from 2g to 3g or does anything with the network, im getting calls dropping all the time.

[sidewinder]

Wouldnt even consider it at the minute, when 3G works it is more than fast enough, and when it doesn't, well 4G isn't going to be any better!

 

I live in London and STILL get appalling 3G reception a lot of the time

[Norphy]

I've read in a few places that EE are projecting actual average speeds of 8-12mbps on their LTE service. According to SpeedTest, I get 16mpbs over 3G on my iPhone 5 at home, 10mbps at work and generally at least 8mbps elsewhere assuming I can get a signal. I'm on 3. Why exactly would I want to pay EE for a 4G 500MB SIM only plan the same price that I'm paying 3 for my iPhone 5 with unlimited data and much the same speeds? They're mad! Edited November 2, 2012 by Norphy

[ben604]

That's the biggie, what's the point in being able to download at 20-odd meg a second when you've got a 500MB limit! You'll be paying usage fees within about half an hour!

[aerospacemango]

That's the biggie, what's the point in being able to download at 20-odd meg a second when you've got a 500MB limit! You'll be paying usage fees within about half an hour!

 

The biggest problem with 4G is this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^.

 

There will be many people out there that will go straight to 4G because it's the new "shiny-shiny".....I suspect there won't be too many on here that will, as they will see the deals for what they are.

 

Too much money for too little data!

[tonyd]

At those prices and speeds I really do not think it is worth it.

 

I've an iPad 3 with data SIM from Three, and have regularly seen 12Mb uploads AND downloads. I'm paying ~ £8 a month for 3Gb cap on this, and £12 a month for unlimited data on another Three SIM, with those prices and speeds there is no way I'd switch to this supposed 4G offering.

 

Why did they allow 4G to be redefined, it was meant to mean 100Mb to 1Gb speeds, not this half way attempt that is little improvement over a good 3G (or 3.5G as Three call it anyway).

[sted]

At those prices and speeds I really do not think it is worth it.

 

I've an iPad 3 with data SIM from Three, and have regularly seen 12Mb uploads AND downloads. I'm paying ~ £8 a month for 3Gb cap on this, and £12 a month for unlimited data on another Three SIM, with those prices and speeds there is no way I'd switch to this supposed 4G offering.

 

Why did they allow 4G to be redefined, it was meant to mean 100Mb to 1Gb speeds, not this half way attempt that is little improvement over a good 3G (or 3.5G as Three call it anyway).

 

be aware the unlimited 1 plan sim

a isnt unlimited its 100gb

b you can tether but you cant use it in a non phone so ipad/mifi device or it can be blocked max data only they do is 15gb which is dumb

[Sheepy]

Not really interested given the caps on the packages... my Three sim more than covers me with Unlimited data

 

Our school has steel walls so the reception is really sucky... but you just learn the sweet spots and put your phone in that area of the office

[HMCTech]

Grabbed this from a windows phone forum

 

Assuming the AVERAGE download speed of 12Mbit, we see the following:

 

 

500Mb allowance represents 5mins 33s of data per month (so 11 seconds per day)

1Gb allowance represents 11mins 6s of data per month (so 22 seconds per day)

8Gb allowance represents 88mins 53s of data per month (so 2mins 57s seconds per day)

 

...Even with the highest bandwidth package, you have less than three mins per day of data (potentially less if your speed exceeds the average).

 

 

 

Let's have a quick look at what this data is costing you:

 

500Mb: £36 for 5.55mins is: £6.48 per minute

1Gb: £41 for 11.11mins is: £3.69 per minute

8Gb: £56 for 88.88mins is: £0.63 per minute

[sidewinder]

lol, thought I'd try a speed test on my 3G phone after seeing what other people have written here - 0.05 Mbps down, 0.09 Mbps up, and that's with 2 bars of reception. Awesome

[TechMonkey]

So how long before we have heart breaking stories of some poor guy who decided to copy the ad and watch a film on his brand new shiny, shiny phone and ended up with a data bill more expensive than his phone? Or even better when someone forgets to turn data off when they go abroad and end up with a bill similar to the GDP of a small country?

[elsiegee40]

I'm starting to wonder who, if anyone, has taken it up at all.

 

Maybe I should be asking the teachers

[Norphy]

You have to wonder why all of the EE shops are banging on about it as well. Fair enough that shops in the covered or soon to be covered cities are but I was in St. Albans over the weekend which isn't covered and the two EE shops there were advertising it too. How many people are going to be suckered into taking out 4G contracts when they can't actually use them? Will the EE sales reps be that unscrupulous?

[sidewinder]

You have to wonder why all of the EE shops are banging on about it as well. Fair enough that shops in the covered or soon to be covered cities are but I was in St. Albans over the weekend which isn't covered and the two EE shops there were advertising it too. How many people are going to be suckered into taking out 4G contracts when they can't actually use them? Will the EE sales reps be that unscrupulous?

 

That's a bit naughty. You can bet that unless you asked they probably wouldn't mention it. And they'll obviously have a small 4G antenna/base station in store to prove how amazing the signal is

[crc-ict]

And they'll obviously have a small 4G antenna/base station in store to prove how amazing the signal is

 

I wouldn't bet on that - I was in an O2 shop a few weeks back and tried to redeem a 'Priority Moments' code online using the data signal and it actually dropped completely whilst in the shop. No 3G, Edge or even GPRS at all!! Had to register onto their wifi in the end. And the guy in the shop didn't even seem to agree it was embarrassing!

[arwen]

You have to wonder why all of the EE shops are banging on about it as well. Fair enough that shops in the covered or soon to be covered cities are but I was in St. Albans over the weekend which isn't covered and the two EE shops there were advertising it too. How many people are going to be suckered into taking out 4G contracts when they can't actually use them? Will the EE sales reps be that unscrupulous?

 

The old orange shop in Dundee is doing that too, 60miles away from the nearest proposed 4G coverage. I dare say Inverness and Aberdeen stores will be doing the same! Its daft and I feel bad for the folk that will get suckered into a contract they wont be using.

[TechMonkey]

I wouldn't bet on that - I was in an O2 shop a few weeks back and tried to redeem a 'Priority Moments' code online using the data signal and it actually dropped completely whilst in the shop. No 3G, Edge or even GPRS at all!! Had to register onto their wifi in the end. And the guy in the shop didn't even seem to agree it was embarrassing!

 

Can't really blame them for that as most shops, especially in centers, have terrible reception due to all the steel and conduits around them.

[elsiegee40]

Now there's a surprise

BBC News - 4G tests reveal patchy urban coverage