News EE launches up-to-90Mb/s 4GEE Router

I would find it very interesting if it actually competed with FTTC broadband on price. I guess BT need to keep people using phone lines!

 

I think it's most appropriate for areas where neither FTTC nor cable are options - just about every news outlet that reported on this baulked at the prices, but when you compare it to bonded DSL or a leased line for these areas, it's massively cheaper.

It's not really a new product either, I've had the 100GB package for a number of months, though with a different modem/router (EE branded Huawei, which I suspect the new one is as well). I'll be delighted if I can upgrade to 200GB for another £25/month.

 

This kind of service will explode with 5G in 2020+, but the EU/UK are currently 'last' on the 5th gen roll-out list for their own reasons. 90Mbit is 'good' but in the grander scheme of things pretty pathetic when phones are getting Gigabit. It doesn't show the antenna which would make all the difference - a small, external/roof antenna makes the world of difference. Give it time and you'll get packages that cover a 'family' regardless of device. The simplicity will be really attractive.

In some respects BT do because they already made that investment. But with ^^ 5G looming it could provide a much more convenient last-mile connection that will replace expensive to-all-houses fiber roll out. BT then just provides the fat pipe connection to the base-stations. Even then, that fat pipe might be mmWave rather than physical wire: much more attractive in hyper-urban environments with tall buildings because wiring a city is a hassle, or supplying smaller villages wirelessly is much cheaper to meet Gov BB speed targets.

 

This is all very well but, many, if not most, of the rural areas where a fast 4G service could really help, get a thoroughly crap 4G service and I strongly suspect it will stay that way. 4G indoors is a non-starter here to the west of Taunton. Perhaps the router would work strapped to a post mounted high above the chimney. 5G in the future? You're having a laff! Cable? What's that?

 

I think for home use unless the get to a point where they can offer effectively unlimited data use (even with a pretty draconian fair use policy) it's rarely going to attract anything other than people who have no real alternative.

For your typical HD streaming you're looking at an hour/GB, and people increasingly treat streaming media the way they treat broadcast media. You don't want to fall asleep in front of Netflix and wake up to find almost all of your month's data allowance has gone.

I have very good 4G reception where I am (almost 4 times as quick as my broadband download wise and incomparable upload speed), but ultimately I (and my devices) generally value a reliable unlimited sufficiently fast connection over a faster limited one.

 

Yeah... your option when you get to your cap is £20 for 20GB, which elevates it from fairly pricey to "maybe I won't watch any more telly until next month"

I pair my 100GB of 4G up with my unlimited DSL and some pretty effective routing policies that make sure it only occasionally gets to that point, but a good Netflix binge makes a serious dent. Have been catching up on the last two seasons of Suits this month and even with 10 days of holiday for everyone, and another 8 days of just my wife and daughter, still ran out :/

 

It's meant to get better. 5G service quality and consistency is a key target as it's the primary limitation of cellular tech, and to enable future services requires reliable connectivity everywhere. 5G aim is a minimum of Gigabit service, with 3-5GBit as 'normal'. mmWave is a point to point technology that can deliver 10s Gbit, so you could serve an entire village of home and cellular with one connection using repeaters over hills.