Tag: 4G

New EE Smart Plans launched. Here’s the deets!

Say hello to the new EE Smart Plans. They’re a new range of packages which are both flexible and personal. You can choose from swappable benefits, including the EE Video Pass, EE Music Pass, access to the BT Sport app and Extended roaming. Don’t know what the EE …

EE goes 5G for Glastonbury

Heading to the Glastonbury Festival on June 26th? Well, EE are going to be the technology partner for the sixth year and will be installing the latest 5G network at Worthy Farm in a landmark trial – creating the UK’s first 5G-connected Festival. A predicted 70 terabytes of …

Virgin Mobile goes big. 200GB SIM-only for £22 per month.

Want a big, fat 200GB of data for your phone? Well, whether you’re a Virgin cable customer or not, you can now get it for £22 per month on a 12 month deal with Virgin Mobile. In addition you’ll get 5000 minutes of talk-time and unlimited texts. Normally …

Vodafone add 4G to phone boxes across Cornwall

The boys from Vodafone have recently tried some new and interesting ways to expand their coverage. First we saw their mini 4G masts and then they went ahead and put a mast inside a manhole. Now they’re adding 4G to phone boxes, and let’s be honest – I …

New rural EE masts in North Yorkshire

Getting a mast put up is relatively easy if you’re in a major town or city. The biggest problem, as always, is planning consent and getting the land to build on. However, once you’ve done that it’s just a matter of getting some power, some clever kit and …

BT want to get into your lamp post

When 5G really starts rolling, you’re going to see a growth in smaller masts which cover high-usage areas. Because of this, and the need to also remove the not-spots of existing 4G coverage, BT want operators to have access to council-owned “street furniture”, such as lamp posts and …

Vodafone launches the GigaCube

Ofcom has recently worked out that an average family now uses around 190GB of bandwidth on their home broadband connection. a month for the average UK family. If, however, you don’t quite use that much and you’re struggling to get great speed, this could very well be the …

Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e available to pre-order on EE.

The UK’s number one mobile network is partnering with Samsung to bring Galaxy S10 5G to customers in the UK later this year. However, until then you can pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S10 or S10+ on EE. If you’re one of those getting in on the pre-order action, …

Three confirm that they will range the Galaxy S10 trio

All three of the newly-announced S10 devices are going to be available to pre-order tomorrow from Three. They will be ranging the Samsung Galaxy S10e, the S10 and the S10+ in prism black, white and green. Not only that, but there’s going to be a canary yellow S10e …

Unlimited data on the 4G Home Router from Three

Remember the £20 per month deal on Three that we mentioned just recently? Well, if you’re in an area that struggles to get traditional fixed-line broadband, you might want to check out the Three 4G home router. Right now, this deal is on and, I have to say, …

Santa flies in, powered by Vodafone

Yes, Santa is about to unload his sack down your chimney. However, there’s also a smaller Vodafone Santa flying around, and he’s powered by 4G! This is the Santa Drone, and he’s flown via a 4G link. This means that the drone can fly much further than ever …

Vodafone expanding coverage with manholes

If you’re looking to grow your mobile coverage you’d traditionally think of large mobile masts, right? We have a love / hate relationship with these things, and our mast finder article has been inundated with people trying to find out where their most local mast is. Sadly, there’s …

Galaxy Watch 4G now on EE

Back in September we told you about the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4G arriving on EE. Now the 4G version is available and it’s the first Android compatible 4G enabled smartwatch here in the UK. Millions of Samsung customers on EE will be able to send and receive messages, …

Three UK confirm their new aggregated 4G, delivering 4G+

Well, we hate to say it, but if you’re following us on Twitter and you read our earlier story, you’ll already know all this. We covered in detail some two weeks ago and right now we’re all basically doing this in the Coolsmartphone office. Today Three have confirmed …

EE switches off more 3G as 4G takes over

The 2100MHz 3G frequency has been in use by all the UK operators for a long time. Now EE are refarming the spectrum so that it’ll power 4G instead. This effectively means that EE will have five “carriers” of the 4G signal – more than any other UK …

Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, BANANA PHONE

Hello 2018. We’ve got something for you. It’s a phone from 1996. Back then touch-screens were a fantasy. You had a numeric keypad and a tiny screen. On the Nokia 8110 the numeric keypad was tucked behind a sliding panel, and the phone was shaped a little bit …

Three UK report H1 2018 results

Three have announced their H1 2018 results and there is some key information to be taken out from them, even if you do not want to read all of the press release below. The customer base has increased to 10.1m customers thanks to some great offers and partnerships. …

Three UK steps up 5G preparation

Three have enhanced their deal with SSE Telecoms to connect their network to local BT exchanges. This will boost network performance and connectivity to customers. The move is a big step towards the 5G launch in the UK, but will also have huge benefits for existing 4G customers …

EE SIM-only big-data deal now available

This deal has just started and expires on July 3rd. It’s a SIM-only offering, but you can easily unlock your phone and switch or get a relatively cheap smartphone instead of paying out a fortune on a contract phone offering. EE are right now offering this SIM-only plan …

No more 3G from me, says Three

Not too long ago you would still be able to buy phones which wouldn’t have 4G capabilities. The KAZAM Tornado 348 sticks in my head as one of these but hey, that was 2015 and KAZAM went pop anyway. Now, in 2018, you’d be hard-pushed to get a …

EE and BT – Speed, convergence and customer service

So today Marc Allera from BT announced something pretty special. The major plus point, for us at least, was buried in the words “convergence” and “aggregation”. What this basically means is that you’ll be able to get up to 314Mbps ultrafast broadband by 2022. How? Well, BT will …

UK 5G spectrum auction comes to an end

It only seems like yesterday we were talking about the 4G spectrum here in the UK. That was to support the “next” generation of networks. However, we’re now seeing the first deployment stages of 5G, and the results of the auction are in. O2 won big with snapping …

EE filling in more not-holes

In the last year EE have successfully filled in some 12,000 square kilometres of mobile not-spots. That works out 4633 square miles, which is almost the size of Connecticut (4,845) in the USA. That’s basically all of Devon and all of Norfolk plus some change. This has all …

#MWC18 – Vodafone announce 4G coverage… on the MOON

Yes, the moon. The actual moon. Methinks they’re going to need a bigger coverage map. They’ll be using “Ultra Compact Network” kit, the lightest ever developed. It weighs less than a bag of sugar. In a partnership with Nokia, the Vodafone 4G network will enable the first live-streaming …

Truly unlimited everything with Virgin Media

It looks like Virgin Media are keen to get noticed. The caveat to this particular offer, though, is that you’re already a Virgin Media broadband or TV customer. If you are, listen up. First, the facts. Virgin Media use the EE masts, so coverage is very good indeed. …

EE Hawk – Review

The Introduction I’ve said it many times in the past. These days you don’t need to spend a fortune to get some great hardware specs, and this is even more true when it comes to some network-branded devices. The EE Hawk is the networks’ latest branded handset, and …

Want better coverage? Go to church.

Getting coverage into rural areas is a constant challenge for the networks. We’ve seen EE using an innovative home-broadband solution for rural homes and Vodafone have their Sure Signal kit plus new mini masts. However, the problem with planning permission and fierce opposition to unsightly large masts in …

Vodafone test 4G mini mast

Filling in those problem signal areas is easier said than done for a lot of networks. The restrictive planning legislation is a massive blocker, but then you also have to consider power, backhaul and buying or renting the land to put the mast onto. All that, plus the …

EE launch a rural broadband fixer

Long-time, handsome, intelligent readers will know that Vodafone have a solution for rural signal issues. It basically involves installing a ramped-up version of their Vodafone Sure Signal into rural communities to enhance the coverage. Now EE are on a similar mission, but with 4G home broadband antennas sitting …

Ready for 5G? You’re going to need a bigger package.

Consuming lots of data on 4G? Have you got a large package to cope with the action? Well, according to this giffgaff research, you’re going to need a hefty tariff in a few years time. Customers on the network used an average of 1.72GB of data monthly in …

Huawei Watch 2 (4G) – Review

The Introduction When it comes to being “in the loop”, sometimes you’re simply not able to keep checking your phone. So, for that those important messages or notifications, this is where the smartwatch has tried to help out. But is it all it hoped to be? Even after …

£9 every month for 4GB of data

If you want a big deal, get over to our friends at Total Phone Deals. They always have the latest offers, whether you’re looking for a contract deal or a SIM only one. Right now we’re looking at SIM only offerings, and for just £9 of your hard-earned …

Three and EE 5G legal battle gets decided

Spectrum is what all networks need plenty of to be able to offer the best speeds and services possible. With 4G well underway, networks in the UK are looking towards 5G as the next milestone. This is where the arguments start, both EE and Three lodged a legal …

Unihertz Jelly Pro – Review

It’s difficult to find a position for this one. The makers of the Jelly Pro admit that it’s perhaps not ideal as a primary phone. Setting up can be a little tricky, especially when you’re entering your email address and trying to accurately input your password on the …

EE to measure ‘Time on 4G’

A little while ago UK network EE changed how it explained 4G coverage, moving away from population numbers and into geographical coverage instead. This was key for them, as it shows how quickly their network is expanding. It also meant that they could show off new technology such …

EE hits 2.8Gbps on 5G test

If you live in the UK you may remember EE being the first network to launch 4G to customers and starting things off. Well 4G is old news…we are now starting to hear about what 5G can offer us, and EE have already started testing the capabilities. During …