If you’ve got an iPhone or an EE-supplied LG G5, Galaxy S7, S7 Edge or Sony Xperia handset – listen up. According to jmcomms.com EE will be lighting up the 800MHz slice of their 4G service next week.
Whilst it’s not known exactly where the 800MHz coverage will be just yet, you can dive into their coverage checker and see if anything improves near you.
The lower-end 800MHz frequency used to be used by analogue TV signals, but now TV is all digital here in the UK, it’s instead getting used for your mobile fix. This lower frequency travels further, which is good for rural areas where you might not be close to the mast. It also has advantages in cities, because lower frequencies (800Mhz and 900MHz) tend to pass through walls more easily compared to the 2.6GHz 4G band. Whilst it got lower capacity, it does mean that geographic 4G coverage on EE will crank up by 2% immediately.
The range of compatible handsets isn’t as good as it could be just yet, but EE will be keen to correct that and promote the existing 800MHz-compatible devices like the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, plus those mentioned above.