MSE News: EE reveals 4G prices... which aren't cheap

samizdat

sly_dog_jonah wrote: »

Getting the handset subsidised by EE and taking a 12month contract followed by a 12month SIM Only works out cheaper than buying the handset direct from Apple (ie unlocked) and going SIM Only for 2x 12 Months. Perhaps the SIM only tariff will be lower in price in a year's time though with greater competition when other networks launch LTE, but that won't change the fact the subsidies EE are offering on the handsets (£379-£429) are greater than the premium you pay in the first year (£300) over a SIM only equivalent.

Not sure I follow you. I think you are just referring to the relative price of EE's own offerings, but if so, then so what? OK, so it is useful for anyone wanting to jump into 4G right now, but...

An iphone 5 16GB is £529 from Apple.

If you take a 12-month SIM-only deal from EE, you can pay:
£46 a month plus £179.99 = £732 on the 500 MB tariff
or better £51/mth + £109.99= £722 on the 1GB tariff.

But if you just want an iphone 5 on another network, if you can cover your usage for up to around £16/month SIM-only, you are better off avoiding EE altogether. You won't get 4G, but who cares on a 1GB (or even 2GB) allowance?

sly_dog_jonah

samizdat wrote: »

Not sure I follow you. I think you are just referring to the relative price of EE's own offerings, but if so, then so what? OK, so it is useful for anyone wanting to jump into 4G right now, but...

An iphone 5 16GB is £529 from Apple.

If you take a 12-month SIM-only deal from EE, you can pay:
£46 a month plus £179.99 = £732 on the 500 MB tariff
or better £51/mth + £109.99= £722 on the 1GB tariff.

But if you just want an iphone 5 on another network, if you can cover your usage for up to around £16/month SIM-only, you are better off avoiding EE altogether. You won't get 4G, but who cares on a 1GB (or even 2GB) allowance?

Just pointing out if you want LTE with EE, then there are significant differences in total cost over 2 years if you go for a 12month tariff followed by 12month SIM-only, than getting 2year SIM Only and buying the handset yourself, or getting 2year contract from EE.

Of course there are mariad options if you aren't bothered by LTE speeds.

Bingolingo

I suspect I'm one of the few people who will be happy to switch to 4G. My current Orange plan for my iphone is £46 with 3GB of data which is identical to the new EE tariff - I simply switch and use 4G when I'm in range of a mast.

I'm not one to download films on a phone but I do occasionally watch a bit of iplayer and partake in a bit of facetime. These would be improved on 4G as my 3G coverage hasn't always been good enough to do these things smoothly and without interruption.

I remember thinking long and hard before I signed up to this tariff and considered £41/month with 2GB or £51 with unlimited data. If I'd been on either of those tariffs I'd be well !!!!ed as the £41 4G tariff has only 1GB of data and the £51/month is cut to 5GB of data. As for T-Mobile customers who signed up to an unlimited Full Monty tariff I can only guess they'll be absolutely fuming at the options for 4G.

callum9999

gabbyevs wrote: »

ridiculous prices whose going to pay that?

The kind of people who shell out thousands on iPhones?

GooliesOfFire

MSE_Becca wrote: »

Hi Irrelevant, speaking to EE yesterday, they told us that it would be impossible for a customer to exceed their data allowance and be hit with a hefty charge, as once the monthly allowance is gone, you'll not be able to use further data unless you buy an add-on (priced from £3 for 50MB).

Surely you must be mistaken.. Are you sure it's not £3 for 500MB?

Former_MSE_Becca

GooliesOfFire wrote: »

Surely you must be mistaken.. Are you sure it's not £3 for 500MB?

Unfortunately not. This is taken from their press pack:

50MB for £3
500MB for £6
2GB for £15
4GB for £20

Hope that helps,
MSE Becca

moon777

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Like I have said before, early adaptors always get shafted. I'll give it 6-12 months before having another look.

Spot on and best practice - especially whilst EE have this monopolised for a few months!

LC88

MSE_Becca wrote: »

Unfortunately not. This is taken from their press pack:

50MB for £3
500MB for £6
2GB for £15
4GB for £20

Hope that helps,
MSE Becca

Extortionate! EE are just ripping off anyone that signs up to these contracts. Better to wait it out, as others have said, until the market opens up. I have read elsewhere on the net that 4G networks are cheaper to run than 3G, so seems like pure profiteering.

rogerblack

jayme1 wrote: »

It is right that they are doing this, LTE is being sold that you "don't have to wait until you get home to download that app or movie" for the average consumer who doesn't fully understand what 500MB means they could easily go over by several gigabytes, which if it were, say, 50p per MB that would equal £512 per gigabyte.

There are much better solutions.
T-mobile PAYG data, for example, if you hit the cap, it blocks youtube, and streaming sites, and large data downloads.

Farrell_2

Will wait to see what competition brings before upgrading my iPhone 4S, was looking at moving to Android phone to save some cash, but these price plans have blown that out of the water!!