EE is making its 4G plans more affordable by launching the UK’s first pay-as-you-go (PAYG) mobile plans on 30th October.
Data bundles will be available from £3 for 100MB. You can also add on minute and text packages.
In addition EE is bringing out the cheapest pay-monthly contract, which starts at £18.99 a month and includes 500MB of data, unlimited minutes and 1,000 texts.
EE expansion
EE was the first provider to be allowed to offer 4G speeds and so enjoyed a monopoly until recently, when Vodafone and O2 bought out rival tariffs.
So far 4G has only been available to the pay-monthly market but EE is now opening it up to the 40% of UK phone users who currently don’t have a pay-monthly contract. This means they’ll have access to the super-fast 4G which, thanks to speeds of approximately 30Mbps, mean an entire album can be downloaded in 19 seconds.
Its new PAYG tariffs will be available on all of EE’s current handsets, including the Alcatel One Touch Idol S (which starts at £129.99).
In an extra push it is also giving away 10GB of data to any new customer signing up to a pay-as-you-go handset between the launch date and the end of January and adding on 2,014 free minutes next year, which works out at 168 minutes a month.
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EE's pay-as-you-go plans
EE says the new deals are there to simplify the options available and making it easier for people to choose a package they will actually use. This can be seen most clearly in the pay-as-you-go plans which will have the following cost options.
|
Data plan |
Cost |
|
100MB |
£3 |
|
500MB |
£6 |
|
1GB |
£10 |
|
2GB |
£15 |
|
4GB |
£20 |
|
10GB |
£30 |
For text and minute packages there are even fewer options to choose from.
|
Minutes plan |
Cost |
|
100 mins |
£3 |
|
200 mins |
£5 |
|
500 mins |
£10 |
|
Texts plan |
Cost |
|
400 texts |
£2 |
|
3,000 texts |
£5 |
Pay-monthly 4G plans
Starting at £18.99 EE now offers the cheapest 4G plan but the cost will depend on the type of phone you are using as you can see from the table below.
|
Plan |
Minutes |
Texts |
Data |
Price* |
| EE 4G | 1,000 | Unlimited | 500MB | £18.99 - £44.99 |
| EE 4G | Unlimited | Unlimited | 2GB | £23.99 - £49.99 |
| EE 4G | Unlimited | Unlimited | 5GB | £29.99 - £54.99 |
*price dependent on handset
When looking at other 4G providers the tariffs on offer are pretty similar, although slightly more expensive. Prices start at £22 with O2 which includes unlimited texts and minutes and 1GB of data. This increases to 5GB if you increase the monthly payment to £27 and 8GB at £32.
Vodafone follows a similar pricing plan to EE which means the price will change depending on which phone you choose. The cheapest is the 2GB package which has unlimited calls and texts and prices start from £38 a month with the Blackberry Q5 and HTC One SV. For the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 this package is £43 and £47 respectively.
[SPOTLIGHT]As EE owns T-Mobile and Orange the prices available for 4G with both of these providers will be the same as those listed on the EE site.
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4G EE Extra
Users with EE 4G will also be able to choose the option of upgrading to 4G EE Extra which is more expensive. This is suitable for 'super' users and includes a faster service, larger data allowances of up 50GB and free roaming in up to 30 countries.
While one person probably isn’t going to up the maximum of 50GB, for £74.99 a month, it is possible to share this contract between handsets. So you could buy it and spread it across your family’s smartphones which may work out cheaper than paying for individual tariffs.
Superspeed 4G
In its goal to provide the fastest 4G in the world, 4G has said it will be trialling speeds of 300Mbps in London by the end of this year.
It is currently available in 117 towns and cities in the UK, covering 60% of the population, and this year will be pushing further into rural areas to widen its customer base. It claims anyone living in a town with at least 30,000 people in should be able to have access to EE 4G by the end of 2013.
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