iPhone 5S and 5C on UK 4G – Confusion reins

So, a quick look on the Apple website reveals something a little worrying. Based on this information, the only UK networks who will be able to make the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c work at 4G speeds are Vodafone and EE. Many websites have picked up on this and, without checking, they’ve run headline-grabbing stories screaming about how the new iPhones won’t do 4G on O2 or Three.

Now, hang tight because this is going to get a little complicated. Firstly, the iPhone 5c (Model A1507) and iPhone 5s (Model A1457) work on band 3 (1800MHz). That’s a big tick in the box for EE, who run 4G on that frequency. Next, on band 20, the 800 DD or “Digital Dividend” spectrum runs on 800Mhz. That’s Vodafone. They’ve got 2 x 10MHz of 800MHz along with some 2.6GHz slices too.

But…

Then things get confusing. See, we can plainly see that Apple only list these two networks, but O2 have 2 x 10Mhz of 800MHz and Three have 2 x 5 MHz of 800MHz too. See where I’m going with this?

We’re currently trying to clarify this and we’ll keep you posted. In the meantime you’ll no doubt see lots of websites screaming about hoe the new iPhones won’t work on O2 4G or Three 4G. We’re going to find out the full story and we’ll update you when we find out more.

Update – We’ve heard back from O2 and they have this to say…

We can confirm that iPhone 5s and 5C are coming to O2 and will be 4G compatible.

Good to hear, and we’re assuming that Three (who will launch their 4G network in December) will confirm the same soon.

Update – Three have just confirmed to us that both iPhones will be compatible with the Three 4G network when it launches in December.