EE 4G review

OUR USAGE

In the first five days we’ve been testing the handset we ran up a total of 1.55GB of usage, around double what we usually use in a month, but then this wasn’t really normal use as we were testing the device. Now 830MB of that was a move bought from EE, which doesn’t count towards data use. We also managed to rack up 453MB of BBC iPlayer use, but three-quarters of that was for the battery use testing. Amazingly, Netflix used 79MB of data within less than a minute, as we checked the quality of its mobile app, so maybe high-quality streaming video isn’t such a great idea.

It was pretty impossible to simultaneously test the service and get an idea of how much data we’d typically use on it

We’ll continue to update this section as we use EE more.

CONCLUSION

It’s really hard to say whether people should get 4G with EE, as it’s so subjective based on your data use, how much you pay for a contract at present, where you live and what you do day-to-day. As technology journalists, for example, you’d think we’d be keen, but with fast Wi-Fi at home and at the office, and a short commute in-between we wonder if it’s worth even us rushing into. That said, 4G is the future and this is a question of when, not if.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to upload a lot of photos or video on the go then 4G is definitely for you, and if you regularly find yourself sitting in public places (which don’t offer free Wi-Fi) waiting for people then it should be just the thing. Especially if you subscribe to services such as Sky Sports or Netflix. However, at present we don’t think most people should be rushing out to upgrade to a 4G phone.

That said, if your contract is at an end, and you have to make a decision now, plus you’re looking at signing up for two years for a top-end handset anyway, then EE is well worth considering. Once the other networks weigh in early next year we’ll start to see more apps make better use of that extra bandwidth.