Everything Everywhere's slide to oblivion

A couple of years ago I was at the press launch of EE's exciting launch of their 4G network. Things were starting to look up. Now I am posting one final blog post about this dreadful company to warn you against them.

For the past 3-4 weeks, EE (also known as Everything Everywhere) has been down for a lot of people, including me and my partner. They have made no attempts at fixing the issues that has plagued this dreaded network.

Whenever connected to EE's network, we could not use Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and many other apps to upload and view images. In addition to that Twitter and Foursquare apps are not working altogether. Some websites has been blocked as well. Reddit for example does not load, at all. These apps only works while on wifi. This issue can be replicated on two separate EE sim cards, both on PAYG data allowances, and on two separate factory unlocked phones (one iPhone 6S with the latest iOS update, another a Samsung Galaxy S6 with the latest OS update), and in different areas (South London, North London, Central London, Leeds, Heathrow Airport etc.). Network connection has also gotten worse, with frequent drop outs.

This is an ongoing problem with many EE customers reporting the same issue on Twitter. Attempts to reach EE for help has so far been useless as the social media front of EE does not pass on reports to their engineering team and the live chat does not work for PAYG customers! Now we have two sim cards which are essentially useless. We can use apps for basic messaging but nothing more, and anything more we have to hunt for free wifi to use whenever out and about! What use is it to have a mobile data plan then?

Everything Everywhere? More like Nothing Nowhere.

Facepalm: EE 4G LTE tariffs revealed

When EE announced they would be the first mobile service provider in the UK to launch a LTE 4G network, I was genuinely excited. After all, we have been waiting for years whilst other countries speed by us implementing a now very mature LTE network. This is Britain after all, an apparent first world country, and being subjected to delays in LTE was frustrating. The announcement by EE was a light at the end of the tunnel, or so we thought.

Now we wish they never bothered. This morning my twitter feed was full of feedbacks towards EE by fellow mobile tech friends. None were positive. Why? Because EE has just announced their 4G LTE tariffs and it is a damp squib:

The tariffs here are based on 24 month contract, so add another £10 per month if you want to go for a 12 month contract - the sensible thing to do, but not at the price. So there you go, £36/£46 for 500MB of data is the cheapest you can go on a contract if you want a new subsidised LTE smartphone. You do get access to BT WiFi hotspots, but who cares about those?

If you have a LTE phone, you want to use that little LTE radio in it, not some poxy tethered WiFi hotspot, which there are plenty of which are free these days. There are no unlimited data tariffs as well, with the maximum tariff being 8GB for a cool £56. You do get unlimited calls and texts, but didn't EE get the memo that people are using calls and texts less these days, or at least substituting them with Skype and Whatsapp? It makes me question whether the people running EE really understands the market and the data centric devices they sell.

EE to switch on 4G LTE this month

EE, the company that resulted from the merger between T-Mobile and Orange, has announced that the UK's first 4G network will officially launch on 30 October 2012. That's right, in just 27 days you will enjoy super fast 4G from the comfort of a compatible smartphone.

After years of unnecessary delay and politics infighting within the industry, not to mention OFCOM's incompetence, LTE is almost here. That is if you are lucky to be living in one of the ten cities EE will be launching initially.

Still, EE has promised that the rollout of their LTE network will eventually cover 16 cities, or a third of the UK population, by the year's end. Smartphones compatible includes the recently launched Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, HTC One XL and Nokia Lumia 910.

Details such as pricing and tariffs announcement will be made at a later date. In the meantime, you can check out my EE 4G LTE hands-on (ps: it's pretty fast).

EE 4G LTE Hands-on

Everything Everywhere today announced a new company brand, EE, at a press event at the Science Museum in London. The UK telecommunications company, which was created after the merger of T-Mobile and Orange, has also detailed the plans on the impending 4G LTE rollout, the first in this country.

While the T-Mobile and Orange brand will co-exist alongside the new brand, EE will primarily be focused on providing fiber optic broadband and 4G LTE service. EE's new 4G network will be based on LTE (using band 800Mhz and 2600Mhz if I remember correctly). Four initial cities - London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol, are currently on trial.

In addition to those cities, EE aims to launch LTE in Edinburgh, Belfast, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle, Southampton, Hull, Nottingham and Derby by the end of the year. If you live in those cities, you are in luck. This will provide coverage for up to 20 million people or a third the population of Britain. No tariffs has been announced yet.

Phones already confirmed to be launching on the network includes the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE, HTC One XL, Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, Nokia Lumia 820 and Nokia Lumia 920, which will be an EE exclusive.. Also heavily hinted upon is the next generation Apple iPhone (5), rumoured to include LTE connectivity, due to be announced tomorrow.