Summary: EE is poised to unleash 4G LTE
services on the UK. ZDNet got hands-on with the network to find out just
how fast the first UK-wide 4G network really is.
EE, the mobile operator formerly known Everything Everywhere, has still not publicly announced when it will start offering 4G services to its customers in the UK.
That didn't stop me from making my way over to Paddington, near the
company's London offices, for a hands-on test of the network - to find
out exactly how fast it can go.
I started off by running a speed test using the SpeedTest.net app on
two iPhone 5 handsets. The one on the left was restricted to using a 3G
service while the one on the right was running unrestricted on the EE 4G
network.
While there wasn't a huge difference in ping times between the two
speed tests, download and upload speeds diverged noticeably: the
3G-restricted handset managed to pull a respectable 4Mbps downstream and
2.5Mbps upstream while the 4G LTE service delivered nearly 35Mbps down
and just over 13Mbps up.
While the 4G device's download speeds varied between 12Mbps and
46Mbps, upload remained relatively consistent at between 13Mbps and
16Mbps.
Even in the limited scope of this small test, mobile data
download speeds obviously vary depending on how many people are using
the service at the same time and how good the coverage is in a
particular place. If you thought this would change with 4G, prepare to
realign your expectations.
Skype calling over 4G on the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE seemed to
work well enough with no delay or echoes coming through in call
quality.
David Salem, director of network strategy for EE, told me that
the company was expecting to offer a service that delivered a solid
8Mbps — 12Mbps service to its users.
In the picture above, the iPhone 5's 4G download speeds (around
7.5Mbps) seemed to fare worse than the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, centre
(just under 15Mbps), or Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, right (just under 30Mbps).
Salem was unable to give any indication of end-user pricing or when
exactly 4G would be available but did confirm that EE is now testing it
in two more cities (Leeds and Sheffield) ahead of the rollout.
He added that EE did not want to rush the introduction of the service
as it was important to learn from the testing in order to get the
service right.
"It's essential that we go through quality testing of the network, we
want 4G to be the right experience for people when we are there," Salem
said. "We need to make sure it's fully integrated with the 2G/3G
networks that we have today, so it's seamless to move calls, traffic
between those networks."
"It's important that the data rates, emergency calls are tested,
proven and high quality... So you have the same service experience that
you have on the 2G and 3G networks we have today," he added.
Salem also said the company had been upgrading its 2G and 3G
technology at the same time as upgrading cell sites to be able to handle
4G technology. Included in the upgrades was fibre-based gigabit
ethernet backhaul.
"An important part of the rollout phase of 4G
is that there is a really strong 3G network behind it as well," Salem
said. "In order to have credible 4G, you need to have credible 3G as
your fallback. You can't have such a huge speed drop as you go beyond
the edge of coverage. It takes years to do that."
The image above
shows a 4G-enabled iPhone 5 speed test history that illustrates the
problems of variability and use-load. The same speed tests run within
just minutes of each other returned results between just over 5.5Mbps
and just under 40Mbps.
