Tag Archives: EverythingEverywhere

EE’s ‘Swap’ brings another option for chronic phone-changers

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EE switches on 4G in 13 more areas, claims half of the UK population now covered

If you're the type to regard your six month-old handset like a relic from the stone age (and believe us, we are), then you've now got another option with EE's Swap program. UK customers can now trade in their smartphones six months or later into their 18 or 24 month plans starting at £49. That appears to be EE's attempt to catch up to plans like O2's Refresh and JUMP from Phones 4u, but there's a huge catch, of course. You'll have to start a new 24 month contract from scratch, and the trade up price depends on which you end up choosing. Those opting for the cheapest £36 plan, for instance, will have to pay a much steeper £249. Still, for those of us who can barely stand going out with a mere Samsung Galaxy Note II when the Galaxy Note 3 is now in the zeitgeist, it's a small price to pay.

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EE hits one million 4G customers four months ahead of goal

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EE draws 318,000 3 percent of its customers to 4G, says its on track

EE said it wanted to have a million 4G customers by the end of the year, but it won't have to wait nearly that long. The UK carrier just topped that mark four months ahead of its stated deadline while its competitors are just getting off the starting blocks. O2 and Vodafone both fired up their respective LTE networks less than two weeks ago, while Three's won't launch until December. Despite having been the only game in town until recently, EE claims the UK's adoption of 4G has been one of the world's fastest so far. It seems like there's a lot more technofreaks out there than Vodafone imagined.

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EE has lured 318,000 customers to 4G since launching five months ago (updated)

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EE draws 318,000 3 percent of its customers to 4G, says its on track

EE's just released its Q1 2013 earnings, giving us a look at its first full quarter with 4G services. The carrier says it's on track to its goal of a million 4G customers by the end of the year, thanks to the addition or migration of 318,000 LTE customers since the service launched.. Despite those more profitable clients, however, total service revenue (excluding hardware sales) was down 1.5 percent for the period over last quarter, to £1.42 billion. On one hand, the number of 4G additions could be seen as disappointing considering the company's strong marketing push of the service -- though on the other, the company's only just activated numerous regions, making that one million 4G subscriber goal seem more likely than not. We'll just have to wait a bit longer to see if Brits are really in love with LTE's extra zip -- and willing to pay for it.

Update: This article originally stated that EE added 318,000 4G customers in Q1 this year, but that figure actually represents the number of users the carrier has added since launching its 4G service. five months ago

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Source: EE

HTC First coming to Orange and EE in Europe

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HTC First coming to Orange and EE in Europe

The HTC First might be launching on AT&T, but that doesn't mean this built-for-Facebook device is going to be limited to the US: we just learned it will eventually arrive in Europe too, on Orange and the UK's EE network. Unfortunately, whereas AT&T came armed with pricing and availability details ($100 on April 12th), we still have no idea when, exactly, the phone will hit these other carriers. If you want to try before you buy, of course, you should be able to download the Facebook Home skin through Google Play pretty soon.

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EE closing 78 overly cozy stores, keeps related staff

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EE closing 78 overly close stores, keeps related staff

Merging two carriers' efforts invariably creates at least some kind of redundancy, no matter how much the two sides try to avoid it. In EE's case, it led to stores that were suddenly too close to each other -- so close that some were very literally next door. Rather than perpetuate the inadvertent comedy, EE says it's shuttering 78 stores that it believes are just wasting space. The provider doesn't want to put added strain on the remaining shops, however. It plans to move all affected staff to existing locations, and it's hoping to repurpose managers rather than oust them. The scaled-back retail operations theoretically "maintain momentum" while keeping customers and workers happy, EE tells us. When we see genuinely absurd situations like the photo above, we're inclined to agree.

[Image credit: Lazygamer, Flickr]

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Source: ZDNet

A week with the iPhone 5 on EE, the UK’s first 4G network

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A week with the iPhone 5 on EE, the UK's first 4G network

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Last week, EE publicly flipped the switch on its 4G network. Launching LTE in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and (parts of) Southampton. EE also plans for an additional five cities before the new year. The new phone network, composed of equal parts T-Mobile and Orange, has other plans -- and they start from £21 SIM-only (starting November 9th) while phone packages begin at £36 per month. For that, the new network offers its customers 500MB of data, plus unlimited calls and texts.

The data plans scale up from there, all the way up to 8GB of monthly data, alongside a system of on-off data bundles. So being an earlier adopter comes at a very specific cost -- are the wonders of a next-generation network worth it? We inserted a fresh EE 4G SIM into an iPhone 5 and now have been using it for over a week, get our full verdict after the break.

Continue reading A week with the iPhone 5 on EE, the UK's first 4G network

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A week with the iPhone 5 on EE, the UK's first 4G network originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EE switches on 4G in 11 UK cities, offers fiber broadband to 11 million sites and opens 700 stores

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EE switches on 4G in 11 UK cities, offers fiber broadband to 11 million sites and opens 700 stores

Today marks the launch of the UK's first 4G network, with EE switching on its service in 11 cities: London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton. If you don't have access immediately, you might not be waiting long, as the company promises 2,000 square miles of 4G network will be added every month from now on. This £1.5 billion investment means five cities will join the exclusive list before Christmas, and in the longer-term, 98 percent population coverage is expected by the end of 2014. Wired services aren't being forgotten -- EE Fibre Broadband is also available from today with the potential to serve 11 million locations with speeds of up to 76 Mbps. Want to learn more about the new services? Then head to one of the 700 EE stores (rebranded Orange and T-Mobile locations) opening this morning. If your bank account can handle it, that is.

Continue reading EE switches on 4G in 11 UK cities, offers fiber broadband to 11 million sites and opens 700 stores

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EE switches on 4G in 11 UK cities, offers fiber broadband to 11 million sites and opens 700 stores originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 03:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EE details UK 4G pricing: Unlimited calls, texts and 500MB of data starts at £36

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EE announces UK 4G pricing

We've seen the speeds, we know the handsets and now we know how much it'll cost you to be among the first to try 4G in the UK. EE has outlined its contract and handset pricing from October 30th, with all of the bundles including unlimited calls and texts. Yep, the new carrier is breaking it down by data, with its entry-level 500MB bundle starting at £36 for 24 months. You'll have to make an initial payment for most handsets, although the Ascend P1 will be free from the 1GB bundle upwards. Data allowances go up to 8GB for £56 per month, although users can add even more, with an extra 50MB costing £3, or up to 4GB for £20.

EE details UK 4G pricing Unlimited calls, texts, and 500MB of data starting from 36

Now, if you're looking to get Apple's latest on 4G, it'll set you back at least £20 on the highest data plan. Already got your LTE-ready iPhone 5? Then you'll have to wait until 9th November, when the network will start offering SIM-only 12-month plans priced from £21. The 4G network will also offer its phones on 12 month contracts for an additional £10 on top of the prices shown above. EE will let users who bought comparable non-4G versions in the last six months (like the One X or Galaxy S III) to exchange their devices for a one-off payment of £100. Alongside the all these pricing details, the Orange/ T-Mobile team-up also spilled the beans on some service features for its new customers -- and we've got it all covered after the break, including a quick hands-on with its Film store service.

Continue reading EE details UK 4G pricing: Unlimited calls, texts and 500MB of data starts at £36

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EE details UK 4G pricing: Unlimited calls, texts and 500MB of data starts at £36 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK carriers form alliance to speed up 800MHz LTE rollout, let us enjoy our Freeview TV

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EE 4G LTE test on HTC One X

Isn't it better when we work together? British carriers think so. EE, O2, Three and Vodafone have officially created a non-exclusive joint venture, Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited, that should speed up the deployment of 800MHz LTE by keeping Freeview over-the-air TV signals clear of interference while the partners bring their low-frequency 4G online. Previously, the networks were bound to form an equivalent company called MitCo that wouldn't have been active until after the 800MHz auction, preventing companies from getting their wireless houses in order until they'd already made a commitment. There's also a competitive angle involved to go with the cooperative work, as you might imagine: with EE's 1,800MHz LTE poised to go live on October 30th, choosing infighting over assistance would only help widen the frontrunner's lead. Whether DMSL represents altruism or pragmatism, we'll appreciate knowing that the hurdles to a catch-up in UK 4G will be more those of the technical reality than the usual political maneuvering.

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UK carriers form alliance to speed up 800MHz LTE rollout, let us enjoy our Freeview TV originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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