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First UK LTE-Advanced network switched on |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
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First UK LTE-Advanced network switched on
So a few days ago EE they were "switching on" the UK's first LTE-Advanced network, in Tech City London: Quote:
EE celebrated the launch of its partnership with Tech City by switching on ‘world-leading’ 300Mbps 4G in the presence of Prime Minister David Cameron. http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/27...Tech_City.aspxToday, we are officially switching on our 300Mbps 4G network here, and will be giving selected digital businesses exclusive access to this groundbreaking technology. The 300Mbps service will be commercially rolled out in 2014 and means British businesses here in Tech City – and across the UK – will be able to steal a march on their competitors in Silicon Valley, Korea and Japan.' Incidentally they don't seem to be marketing it as LTE-A, but rather the headline speed, but as previously reported: Quote:
EE said it can make the change through carrier aggregation, or using its [2x20Mhz of] 1800MHz and [2x20Mhz of] 2.6GHz of spectrum together.
I was going to ask "has anybody tried it yet" but the blurb makes the launch sound almost identical to 3's "soft launch" of 4G - a few "select" customers now with continued "roll out in 2014" ![]() Thoughts, anyone? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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Quote:
So a few days ago EE they were "switching on" the UK's first LTE-Advanced network, in Tech City London:
http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/27...Tech_City.aspx Incidentally they don't seem to be marketing it as LTE-A, but rather the headline speed, but as previously reported: I was going to ask "has anybody tried it yet" but the blurb makes the launch sound almost identical to 3's "soft launch" of 4G - a few "select" customers now with continued "roll out in 2014" ![]() Thoughts, anyone? It helps support EE's claims to be the fastest network around and I guess there's some kudos for them (or the UK) to currently have a live LTE network that is faster than anywhere in the world (although others in other countries will soon offer the same). |
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#3 |
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Also from the previous press release: Quote:
EE turned on the service today (5 November) in east London, with it being rolled out across the UK's capital from 2014. From next month, companies in the Tech City area will be invited to become exclusive partners and roadtest the network ahead of a commercial launch next summer. No mention of fixed routers - where are people getting that info from?Initially mobile wi-fi units built by Huawei will offer the 300MBps 4G, with handsets expected to follow in late 2014. Oh, and there's an LTE-Advanced version of the Galaxy S4, though it's only Cat 4 and doesn't support 20+20 CA. |
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#4 |
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Location: Scotland
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I'll be having a go in about a weeks time
![]() Not heard anything from anyone about it yet though. I do know they are looking to roll it out in other limited areas though. It will be awhile before city wide happens. |
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#5 |
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Quote:
Also from the previous press release:
No mention of fixed routers - where are people getting that info from? Oh, and there's an LTE-Advanced version of the Galaxy S4, though it's only Cat 4 and doesn't support 20+20 CA. I don't know about fixed routers - I just said Huawei router. Yes it's ac wifi for 20 devices but not a little mifi device and it's not generally available. The other alternative is CSL's "device emulator" as shown here. Now that looks pretty portable... ![]() http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BivypeCYJk4 |
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#6 |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Northants
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EE seem to be doing everything except getting consumer prices down. At their 1Gb per month rate, you will be able to consume the entire allowance in less than 5 seconds !!
I wonder if we really need LTE at all? HSPA + is pretty good, even if not a single operator offers it in my village. Best we can do here is Edge
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#8 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Quote:
EE seem to be doing everything except getting consumer prices down. At their 1Gb per month rate, you will be able to consume the entire allowance in less than 5 seconds !!
I wonder if we really need LTE at all? HSPA + is pretty good, even if not a single operator offers it in my village. Best we can do here is Edge ![]() A year ago the pricing was £41 for 1GB. Then they dropped it earlier this year to £41 for 3GB. Then they dropped it a month ago to £38 for 10GB with free international roaming. Similarly £46 a year ago got you 3GB, then 10GB, now it's £43 for 20GB + roaming. By comparison Vodafone give you a measly 6GB for £42 and you have to pay an additional £3 a day for roaming (i.e. £90 for a month long trip). O2 give you 5GB for around the same amount. How is that not getting consumer prices down?! |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Quote:
Umm they have the cheapest consumer prices in the industry. They've been cut drastically several times.
A year ago the pricing was £41 for 1GB. Then they dropped it earlier this year to £41 for 3GB. Then they dropped it a month ago to £38 for 10GB with free international roaming. Similarly £46 a year ago got you 3GB, then 10GB, now it's £43 for 20GB + roaming. By comparison Vodafone give you a measly 6GB for £42 and you have to pay an additional £3 a day for roaming (i.e. £90 for a month long trip). O2 give you 5GB for around the same amount. How is that not getting consumer prices down?! |
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#10 |
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Quote:
And 3UK give you 15GB for £15 per month on their MBB tariff, and all you can eat on their handset tariff for £12.90 SIM free. Their HSDPA+ runs at over 6Mbps, which, to go back to my original point is not a lot slower than LTE as it is delivered in the UK.
It's not very spectrum efficient at all and there aren't enough channels per cell for the amount of users that are eventually going to be connected. As soon as a cell gets congested you would see those fast speeds quickly declining to 1-2 Meg, if that! We are already seeing this happen in urban areas and even my local rural cell slows down at certain times of the day. If you catch it right, it'll do 15-20 Meg. Sometimes though it's only 3-6 Meg. LTE will not only provide much more capacity and efficiency but also help to speed up the 3G side as well. |
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#11 |
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Quote:
And 3UK give you 15GB for £15 per month on their MBB tariff, and all you can eat on their handset tariff for £12.90 SIM free. Their HSDPA+ runs at over 6Mbps, which, to go back to my original point is not a lot slower than LTE as it is delivered in the UK.
LTE delivers an average of around 25Mbps in the UK. If you look at Rootmetrics' London analysis the results are thus: EE 4G: 29.6Mbps O2 4G: 23.3Mbps Vod 4G: 20.8Mbps 3 3G: 5.4Mbps Not to mention EE's overall average upload speed (including non-4G) is 12.9Mbps compared to 3's 1.6Mbps in London. 3's network may run at "Up to 42Mbps" compared to the 75/150/300 of the various LTE segments but as DevonBloke mentioned capacity is a big issue. |
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