Us Brits have been waiting for this day for years. 4G has reached our shores thanks to EverythingEverywhere (EE). Everything perfect? Far from it. At this stage availability and price is still poor, with it only being available in 11 cities and starting at £36 a month ($57). But it’s a start, and from a pricing, perspective, it isn’t too far off the US.
The 11 cities currently with coverage are London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow and Southampton, while the company announced that Belfast, Derby, Hull, Newcastle and Nottingham would follow by Christmas.
EE is the merger of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK, and will be the only 4G provider until at least next year, when other providers can bid to use the technology.
This has given them a significant headstart, and will no doubt see them pick up many customers from the other providers.
However price remains a stumbling block. It is high everywhere, not just in the UK, and with plans starting at £36 ($57) for 500MB and going up to £56 ($90) for 8GB, many will probably stay on 3G and wait for prices to fall which will probably happen when other providers enter the market.
The full price list can be seen here, with some of the phones included in the plans ranging from the iPhone 5 to the Samsung Galaxy SIII.
