is it me or are the data plans from EE incredibly shite and regressive?
What's the point of super fast broadband if the allowance is so small, even here in norfolk we get great speeds on 3G, "unlimited" on Three's the One Plan... The whole point of a fast pipe is so you can get big amounts of data to you quickly.
Every web page I ever try to visit loads almost instantly and I can stream youtube and iplayer on my phone. I'm all for having it faster of course, but not at the expensive of very limited usage plans.
I think i saw on Watchdog that the EE4G service was designed for people who wanted fast browsing, not for those who wanted to stream video or do big downloads.
It is of course, shite.... these days, I've found the biggest determining factor as to how quickly a web page loads on your phone is the phone itself. If you've used an older Blackberry or Android phone you'll notice it does take a while to render complicated layouts designed for desktop browsers, even on WiFi.
Are any of you actually going to sign up for 4G from EE as it is?
4GEE
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Dr Lobster*
- Posts: 2123
- Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14
To be honest, I'm also perfectly happy with the speeds I get, although from HSPA+, or whatever it's called. It loads quickly, and I have a strong connection wherever I am. I can't see the point in getting 4G, when I'm not going to get it for a while in my area, and when I'm happy with what I have.
In general, we do get an okayish deal on Phone contracts, though In America, you seem to pay a premium for data, and even unlimited messages. In fact, I just looked on AT&T's website, and from what I can work out, you have separate voice and data plans. I just created an iPhone 5 (16GB) contract on the cheapest options (300mb data, 450 minutes, unlimited messages), and it'd cost $199 (£123) up-front for the phone, $79.99 (£50) a month, and then also a $36 (£23) activation fee. That's absolutely ridiculous. On EE, with a vastly superior package (Unlimited message and minutes, 500mb Data), you'd pay £36 a month, and £179.99 up-front. Over the course of two years, in America, on AT&T, you'd pay approx £1346 over the course of two years and with a better deal on EE, you'd pay £1043.99.
In general, we do get an okayish deal on Phone contracts, though In America, you seem to pay a premium for data, and even unlimited messages. In fact, I just looked on AT&T's website, and from what I can work out, you have separate voice and data plans. I just created an iPhone 5 (16GB) contract on the cheapest options (300mb data, 450 minutes, unlimited messages), and it'd cost $199 (£123) up-front for the phone, $79.99 (£50) a month, and then also a $36 (£23) activation fee. That's absolutely ridiculous. On EE, with a vastly superior package (Unlimited message and minutes, 500mb Data), you'd pay £36 a month, and £179.99 up-front. Over the course of two years, in America, on AT&T, you'd pay approx £1346 over the course of two years and with a better deal on EE, you'd pay £1043.99.
I think it's priced very high at the moment, "because they can" - once 3 starts offering their 4G service then I'm sure the prices will soon start to come down. The data allowances could also be to ensure that EE can maintain a decent speed for everyone until the infrastructure receives further upgrades.
Very disappointing though that there's not even something there that might tempt me. And a 500Mb data allowance would be ridiculous on a 3G tariff, never mind 4G (Aherm, I'm looking at you, O2).
Very disappointing though that there's not even something there that might tempt me. And a 500Mb data allowance would be ridiculous on a 3G tariff, never mind 4G (Aherm, I'm looking at you, O2).
Good Lord!
Is 500mb of data on 3G/HSPA really that bad? I have it on mine, and I get by with it, just about. I've never had to stop using my phone's internet because I'm out, although I do reach the 470/480mbs in terms of useage each month? Or am I actually just a light user?
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Dr Lobster*
- Posts: 2123
- Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14
i think it depends on how you use it. Vodafone apparently are 'unlimited' browsing, but the 500mb cap is for "downloads" or streaming.
if O2 has a 500mb cap for everything, i think that is pretty stingy. i just did a (unscientific) test and loading the Daily Mail home page and clicking a couple of links got me well over 1mb, and thats in just a few seconds. Most people browse randomly so i can see even a light user getting to 500mb depending on the specific sites they visit.
As I'm on the One Plan, I do use my mobile internet quite a bit, I watch/listen to video streams during my lunch hour and do the odd download and fair bit of browsing. that said, i just checked my phone and this month i've used 1.16gb, which isn't that much really... streaming made up about half that.
talking of bandwidth gobbling, we just got the new update for our sky + hd box and downloading a few on demand things... i've got to over 54gb in 3 days. yikes. i've never, ever got near my 60gb cap before.
if O2 has a 500mb cap for everything, i think that is pretty stingy. i just did a (unscientific) test and loading the Daily Mail home page and clicking a couple of links got me well over 1mb, and thats in just a few seconds. Most people browse randomly so i can see even a light user getting to 500mb depending on the specific sites they visit.
As I'm on the One Plan, I do use my mobile internet quite a bit, I watch/listen to video streams during my lunch hour and do the odd download and fair bit of browsing. that said, i just checked my phone and this month i've used 1.16gb, which isn't that much really... streaming made up about half that.
talking of bandwidth gobbling, we just got the new update for our sky + hd box and downloading a few on demand things... i've got to over 54gb in 3 days. yikes. i've never, ever got near my 60gb cap before.
Upload service: http://www.metropol247.co.uk/uploadservice
is that on Sky Broadband?Dr Lobster* wrote:talking of bandwidth gobbling, we just got the new update for our sky + hd box and downloading a few on demand things... i've got to over 54gb in 3 days. yikes. i've never, ever got near my 60gb cap before.
For reference, my current stats according to my Virgin SuperHub are
Session Time 18days 9h:17m:35s
Session Data Downloaded 29GB 1018MB
Session Data Uploaded 3GB 572MB
"He has to be larger than bacon"
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Dr Lobster*
- Posts: 2123
- Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14
i'm on plus.net which sadly doesn't "not count" the sky anytime downloads. it's counted as streaming in the usage panel, which hopefully means it does get the qos treatment.
all i did was go down the list of films and programmes and selected what i wanted to watch - think there are only about 10-15 movies we wanted to see.
i do think it's ace though, it really is the future. it's great just selecting what you want to watch, wait 5 minutes for it to become available and thats it. love it. got an offer for half price sky movies and there is quite a big selection to choose from, quite looking forward to watching a few of the roger moore era james bond films.
sadly, there are also quite a few films of interest to the wife. she's watching 'i don't know how she does it'. urgh.
all i did was go down the list of films and programmes and selected what i wanted to watch - think there are only about 10-15 movies we wanted to see.
i do think it's ace though, it really is the future. it's great just selecting what you want to watch, wait 5 minutes for it to become available and thats it. love it. got an offer for half price sky movies and there is quite a big selection to choose from, quite looking forward to watching a few of the roger moore era james bond films.
sadly, there are also quite a few films of interest to the wife. she's watching 'i don't know how she does it'. urgh.
Upload service: http://www.metropol247.co.uk/uploadservice
You do realise that mobile services are provided in areas of population density? Therefore, when trains are running through the countryside, far away from any urban centres, and you're constantly switching from tower to tower to tower, the signal is bound to be a bit patchy here and there.I have absolutely no faith in EE's ability, or Vodafone's for that matter, to deliver any sort of useable 4G service over the next few years when you consider that 3G doesn't even work properly in most places and you can't even make 2G calls on the train without it dropping out.
Of course, you only pay half your correct fare anyway, so you should be happy only getting half a mobile signal when you're on board.