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EE 4G to cover 95% of the UK landmass by 2020 and bring customer service back to UK


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Old 25-04-2016, 01:18
Everything Goes
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EE is aiming to bring 4G to 95% of the UK landmass by 2020 (government's target for operators is to provide voice and text coverage to only 90% of UK landmass by the end of 2017) as well as relocating its customer services to the UK and Ireland. This is way beyond what other network have planned. With the Emergency Services Network contract acting as an additional incentive. Poor customer service issues that resulted in a £1 Million fine in 2015 perhaps have acted as an incentive. The same thing may happen to Vodafone this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36116584
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Old 25-04-2016, 02:01
Aye Up
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Many were saying BT would ruin EE by cutting investment, from the sound of it, they are doing the opposite. It would be cheap to hire more people give the salary of someone in the UK is usually 5-6 times that of someone in Mumbai.

Either way an excellent move, may tempt me in future to move....we'll see.
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Old 25-04-2016, 07:44
packages
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F*** me EE. Didn't expect that. 4G will be amazing by then.

Edit: Here's the PR@ http://ee.co.uk/our-company/newsroom...ge_to_95_of_UK
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Old 25-04-2016, 07:48
packages
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Double post.
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Old 25-04-2016, 09:22
Everything Goes
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Many were saying BT would ruin EE by cutting investment, from the sound of it, they are doing the opposite. It would be cheap to hire more people give the salary of someone in the UK is usually 5-6 times that of someone in Mumbai.

Either way an excellent move, may tempt me in future to move....we'll see.
EE had committed to the ESN contract before BT took over. There is obviously coverage obligations in that contract. Im not convinced BT would have wanted to take on such a commitment. Much like large scale and rural roll out of fibre there is no incentive what so ever so they don't bother.
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Old 25-04-2016, 10:54
CheshireBumpkin
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EE had committed to the ESN contract before BT took over. There is obviously coverage obligations in that contract. Im not convinced BT would have wanted to take on such a commitment. Much like large scale and rural roll out of fibre there is no incentive what so ever so they don't bother.
I agree - this will be a direct reflection of an SLA in that contract. BT will be spitting venom at the commitment, although their teams will have renegotiated it by 2020 so it won't be a problem....
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Old 25-04-2016, 11:51
moox
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Many were saying BT would ruin EE by cutting investment, from the sound of it, they are doing the opposite. It would be cheap to hire more people give the salary of someone in the UK is usually 5-6 times that of someone in Mumbai.

Either way an excellent move, may tempt me in future to move....we'll see.
BT have been going on about customer service for while, even before they decided to buy EE, so it makes sense that they are moving in the same direction as their parent.

As for "cutting investment", are you sure they weren't saying that BT would cut wireline investment in favour of using EE to provide rural broadband?
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Old 25-04-2016, 11:55
David_bl1
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"Coverage will be improved by a combination of new sites and long range 800MHz spectrum – something which should improve indoor coverage too. EE expects 4,000 sites to be equipped with 800MHz by 2020, mostly in rural areas, but also in some urban and suburban areas."

http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/netw...overage-190618
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Old 25-04-2016, 11:58
Stereo Steve
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If they could get the backhaul in, 4G would make great rural broadband, if the packages were fair. You can get around most not spots with a decent antennae, especially if it's 800. Certainly, in the little group of houses I live in, 4G would be far cheaper than running fibre down here. How that affects everyone else on the connection is another matter. Perhaps a separate antennae for each little hamlet or something? Dunno.

At the end of the day, us rural folk understand that we probably will never be able to stream the latest ultimate UHD TV service all day long for £3.99 a month but then we have green fields and woods to look and not the arse end of a bowling alley. So it's swings and roundabouts. But we do actually need a decent service as a lot of things need doing online these days. Currently, I reckon a steady 10meg would be perfectly adequate for me, maybe less. 1-2 is just a little too slow nowadays.
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Old 25-04-2016, 12:14
moox
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If they could get the backhaul in, 4G would make great rural broadband, if the packages were fair. You can get around most not spots with a decent antennae, especially if it's 800. Certainly, in the little group of houses I live in, 4G would be far cheaper than running fibre down here. How that affects everyone else on the connection is another matter. Perhaps a separate antennae for each little hamlet or something? Dunno.

At the end of the day, us rural folk understand that we probably will never be able to stream the latest ultimate UHD TV service all day long for £3.99 a month but then we have green fields and woods to look and not the arse end of a bowling alley. So it's swings and roundabouts. But we do actually need a decent service as a lot of things need doing online these days. Currently, I reckon a steady 10meg would be perfectly adequate for me, maybe less. 1-2 is just a little too slow nowadays.
Australia, with a purpose built LTE network (and proper outdoor antennas) has a very good offering. I think you can have up to 50Mbps with absolutely huge usage limits - over 1TB if you liked - and for an extremely reasonable price. You can also choose your ISP, and get things like a static IP - it's very much as if you had a wired connection, and you can certainly use it like one.

I doubt the UK would do that though. More like 100GB for £80 a month or something eyewatering and the same restrictions that mobile broadband has today

I'd prefer that a wired solution is used for as many homes as possible though. More futureproof
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Old 25-04-2016, 12:21
de525ma
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EE is aiming to bring 4G to 95% of the UK landmass by 2020 (government's target for operators is to provide voice and text coverage to only 90% of UK landmass by the end of 2017) as well as relocating its customer services to the UK and Ireland. This is way beyond what other network have planned. With the Emergency Services Network contract acting as an additional incentive. Poor customer service issues that resulted in a £1 Million fine in 2015 perhaps have acted as an incentive. The same thing may happen to Vodafone this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36116584
I wonder if this means that they will cover some of the remote areas of the UK that neither Orange nor T-Mobile ever covered (like Tiree, which has 4G from VO2 and no service from EE).
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Old 25-04-2016, 12:27
Stereo Steve
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Australia, with a purpose built LTE network (and proper outdoor antennas) has a very good offering. I think you can have up to 50Mbps with absolutely huge usage limits - over 1TB if you liked - and for an extremely reasonable price. You can also choose your ISP, and get things like a static IP - it's very much as if you had a wired connection, and you can certainly use it like one.

I doubt the UK would do that though. More like 100GB for £80 a month or something eyewatering and the same restrictions that mobile broadband has today

I'd prefer that a wired solution is used for as many homes as possible though. More futureproof
Yes, it would be better to simply replace all the copper with fibre but a lot of it is underground and not ducted and I guess that is where the cost comes in. Getting FTTP to me would be ducted pretty much all the way aside from 2-3 fields which are buried. How much is that farmer going to want in compensation for putting a duct in. If it was me, I would let them get on with it for the good of my neighbours. He won't. He'll want cold hard cash.
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Old 25-04-2016, 13:10
moox
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Yes, it would be better to simply replace all the copper with fibre but a lot of it is underground and not ducted and I guess that is where the cost comes in. Getting FTTP to me would be ducted pretty much all the way aside from 2-3 fields which are buried. How much is that farmer going to want in compensation for putting a duct in. If it was me, I would let them get on with it for the good of my neighbours. He won't. He'll want cold hard cash.
You are likely an outlier - there are plenty of rural places where things are much easier (existing poles and ducts) - and as of yet, no action from BT or from anyone else (Western Power Distribution is likely overground where you are, and they just happen to own their own fibre network operator - so it's interesting that they don't seem to be interested in bidding for any work)
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Old 25-04-2016, 13:25
Icaraa
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You are likely an outlier - there are plenty of rural places where things are much easier (existing poles and ducts) - and as of yet, no action from BT or from anyone else (Western Power Distribution is likely overground where you are, and they just happen to own their own fibre network operator - so it's interesting that they don't seem to be interested in bidding for any work)
Isn't that the same Western Power Distribution that have a deal with Openreach to let them run fibre using their power poles?
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Old 25-04-2016, 13:32
moox
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Isn't that the same Western Power Distribution that have just signed a deal with Openreach to let them run fibre using their power poles?
No idea, because I neither work for WPD nor Openreach, and the internet doesn't appear to have any press releases regarding that
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Old 25-04-2016, 13:34
Icaraa
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No idea, because I neither work for WPD nor Openreach, and the internet doesn't appear to have any press releases regarding that
Pretty standard thing though. Half the problem is that Openreach weren't able to run fibre over the joint user poles, even where there was already existing copper on there. So I guess they're having to renegotiate the deals they already have to include fibre. Which should help deployment in rural areas.
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Old 25-04-2016, 13:44
moox
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Pretty standard thing though. Half the problem is that Openreach weren't able to run fibre over the joint user poles, even where there was already existing copper on there. So I guess they're having to renegotiate the deals they already have to include fibre. Which should help deployment in rural areas.
I guess I'll believe it when I see it. BT hasn't exactly led by example even in areas where they have their own poles for their exclusive use.

In my original comment I was thinking more of WPD doing their own broadband network - similar to the ESB/Vodafone tie-up for FTTP in Ireland
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Old 25-04-2016, 14:18
tdenson
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as well as relocating its customer services to the UK and Ireland.
I don't want to sound racist, but as long as they don't relocate it to Scotland. A lot of the Scottish support people I hear on many customer services line are more difficult to understand than Indians !
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Old 25-04-2016, 15:24
Aye Up
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BT have been going on about customer service for while, even before they decided to buy EE, so it makes sense that they are moving in the same direction as their parent.

As for "cutting investment", are you sure they weren't saying that BT would cut wireline investment in favour of using EE to provide rural broadband?
I was getting at the many howls of protest on these very boards ast BT putting in a bid for EE. All the naysayers were harping on that BT wouldn't invest in EE and it would be shot to shit soon enough. Others in this thread have suggested its' as the result of a service agreement and BT are doing it through gritted teeth. Yet you have hit the nail on the head, EE are following their parents lead.

From a customer service stand point its epic, no amount of PR from someone like Three can overcome that. It speaks and sells for itself.

EE is BT's prize horse now and that's how it will stay.

As for wireline investment.......I beg to differ, however lets save that for the broadband forum.
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Old 25-04-2016, 15:29
Stereo Steve
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You are likely an outlier - there are plenty of rural places where things are much easier (existing poles and ducts) - and as of yet, no action from BT or from anyone else (Western Power Distribution is likely overground where you are, and they just happen to own their own fibre network operator - so it's interesting that they don't seem to be interested in bidding for any work)
True. 11Kva lines go over my garden and I have a pole, transformer and everything. That would be the easiest way to get down from the main road. I might take the jump leads out in a minute and see if they have turned it on yet.

On the call centre accent point, I think we need to be careful here. We live in a very diverse country in terms of the variety of accents and it is down to each of us to understand them all, not the person speaking to change theirs to suit us. I live as far from Scotland as you can get (almost) and I have no problems. Or with anyone else for that matter. It's probably more a matter of not wanting to listen than actually trying. Granted, their may be the odd word or phrase that doesn't translate but that's one of the best things about our language. I'm glad they're putting one in Plymouth.

Customer: ' I say, my mobile phone seems to have malfunctioned. Could you assist please, kind customer services person? ANSWER ME!'.

CS: 'Yarp. 'Ave ee tried turnin ee offunonagen? That'll probly twonk the bazzard.'

Customer 'I do beg your pardon, I'm from the home counties and don't speak Mexican'

CS: 'Alroight boy, stick ee to yer yer and see if ee can yer wots yer. See ee drekkly mate. Gotta run, cows is out again.'

Beeeeeeeeeeeeep..
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Old 25-04-2016, 16:00
tdenson
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it is down to each of us to understand them all, not the person speaking to change theirs to suit us..
Not sure I agree. Some thick Glaswegian accents sound indistinguishable from a foreign language. Are you suggesting it would be quite in order to have someone speaking Hindi because a large proportion of native British people speak it ?
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Old 25-04-2016, 16:05
Aye Up
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Customer: ' I say, my mobile phone seems to have malfunctioned. Could you assist please, kind customer services person? ANSWER ME!'.

CS: 'Yarp. 'Ave ee tried turnin ee offunonagen? That'll probly twonk the bazzard.'

Customer 'I do beg your pardon, I'm from the home counties and don't speak Mexican'

CS: 'Alroight boy, stick ee to yer yer and see if ee can yer wots yer. See ee drekkly mate. Gotta run, cows is out again.'

Beeeeeeeeeeeeep..
I am sure that is made up language in your mind?
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Old 25-04-2016, 16:18
Icaraa
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I don't want to sound racist, but as long as they don't relocate it to Scotland. A lot of the Scottish support people I hear on many customer services line are more difficult to understand than Indians !
Each to their own and all but I find it extraordinary that you find it more difficult to understand a native British accent than an Indian one. We've all grown up listening to Scottish accents of various types on the TV and radio.
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Old 25-04-2016, 16:38
Stereo Steve
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Not sure I agree. Some thick Glaswegian accents sound indistinguishable from a foreign language. Are you suggesting it would be quite in order to have someone speaking Hindi because a large proportion of native British people speak it ?
I'm from deepest darkest Devon and my missus is from Glasgow. You need to clean your ears out. No idea what the Hindi point is about. People from Glasgow generally speak English, unless they have another first language or have no English. I can't see that someone from Glasgow with no English would be employed in a call centre to deal with UK customers so it's fair to assume that your Glasgow rep will be speaking English. That you can't understand it is your problem. If I were you I would type a furious letter to the Daily Mail right now.
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Old 25-04-2016, 16:40
Stereo Steve
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I am sure that is made up language in your mind?
Nah, been watching too many of Devonbloke's videos.
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