Vodafone recently announced their 5G go-live date of July 3rd, but today, in a briefing to press, EE gave announced their intention to switch everything on next Thursday.
It means that EE will provide the UK’s first full 5G service, even if there’s really nobody using it just yet
Six cities will be getting 5G coverage initially. They’re London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester. The network is then committed to rolling out more than 100 new 5G sites per month.
The network also told us about new “5G Smart SIM only and handset plans”, with 5G phones from both Samsung and OnePlus going on sale today. The OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, however, is the confirmed to be the UK’s first commercially available 5G smartphone.
Pete Lau, CEO and founder of OnePlus told us..
EE is the perfect launch partner for the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, the network is designed for speed, and complements the incredible screen of our device. Whether you’re streaming a film, or playing a game, the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G delivers stunning quality and is always ready to keep you entertained.
Read more about the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G in our earlier story. It’ll be available in Nebula Blue with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage from the EE website. Pricing plans start at £59 per month. It’s a massive £69 per month with £50 upfront for 30GB monthly.
Here’s what’s on their site right now, although they all appear to be on pre-order at the moment…
Pricing?
We’ve had a good look around the 5G sections of the EE website but couldn’t really find a great deal on prices. What we do know is that EE will be pushing (and throwing in) a lot of their benefits, such as the Swappables (5G customers get two choices instead of one) and 5G customers will also be able to upgrade their phone whenever they want with the “EE Upgrade Anytime” included as standard. EE say that ..
All these benefits are available for just £5 more per month than 4G handset plans.
They also tell us that, for SIM-only, you’ll also get Swappable benefits and inclusive Service Pack benefits. Packages start at £32 per month for a 20GB SIM-only deal. That compares to their current £22 per month deal on 4G for the same 20GB.
Would you pay an extra £10 per month for 5G?
The top package appears to be 100GB of 5G for £52 per month. As a comparison, here’s a look at 100GB monthly 4G SIM-only plans from other providers…
So £52 per month for 100GB on SIM-only EE 5G, or £20 per month for 100GB on SIM-only Three 4G?
As is usual with any new technology, this is all going to cost you a lot more per month. If you want even more speed, you need even more cash.