We benchmark EE's upcoming 4G network
EE will launch the UK's first 4G LTE network at the end of the month and we've been able to test it, hands-on.
4G can supposedly offer superfast download speeds up to 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps, but how fast is really? PC Advisor went to test EE's 4G network in central London prior to its commercial launch and here's what we found. See also: EE 4G in the UK: what you need to know.
We only had a short period of time to test the network so this is just a snapshot of what 4G is capable of. Real-life speeds will vary depending on many things such as location and the amount of users online. It's fair to say that our results were a best case scenario – no one is using the 4G network yet and plenty of people are using 3G.
See also: Everything Everywhere launches 4G in UK with new brand.
The fastest download we achieved, according to the Speed Test app, was 41Mbps and the fastest upload speed was 14.3Mbps. However, speeds varied over a number of tests and even between devices.We tested 4G on the Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, Huawei Ascend P1 LTE and HTC One XL.
Our average download speed was 26.4Mbps and our average upload speed was 14.2Mbps, across nearly 20 tests. In our side-by-side test with 3G, the 4G network was, on average, more than three times faster for download and over 10 times faster in upload speeds. EE expects the average download speed to be between 8- and 12Mbps.
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Comments
Avik Bara said: I just love your reply
Matt Egan said: Ha I take your point Okay you may have to trust me on this we live and die by our reputation for independent and objective advice And we never hack phones or go through the bins of celebrities We dont even publish page 3 pictrues any moreWe never did This is a weak joke
Danyal said: Yes nobody working for a large media corporation has done anything wrong recently
Jonny Rose said: What network was the 3G tested on because I have seen many people on Three getting speeds regularly of 8-10Mbps in Oxford on their iPhone 5s
Simon said: 342 seems pretty poor for 3G in a good service area I can get between 65Mbps peak and 8 up to11Mbps off peak 3G in a good service area better than many ASDL connections admittedly with 3 on HPSA plenty of bandwidth for most things and with the Im sure initial premium cost that G4 will be a pass for nowInteresting test though
Matt Egan said: We did both at exactly the same time The clock says 0630 because the handset was from the US for obvious reasons 8 hours behind As we were using the phone only for the test it never occurred to us to change the time Wish we had now For the record PC Advisor is the UKs largest tech magazine with more than 3 million readers Were published by IDG - the worlds largest tech media company We dont do fakes
Fodzdadon said: This is fake look at the times when it was done one was at 0630 and the other one was at 1440 why not both at the same time
Matt Egan said: Trust me no-one has time to wait for eight hours mid test and Im unsure why anyone would The test happened exactly as stated so I guess one or both of the phones must have had the wrong time setting not so surprising when you consider that the 4g handset probably came from the States
Syntaax Error said: Clearly you did not Testing one 8 hours laterdoesntconstitute a side-by-side testOr did you not bother setting up the phones correctly withaccuratetime setting etc
Matt Egan said: No no it isnt We tested it exactly as we say we did and I really dont appreciate your accusation
Alexander Stopher said: errrmmm this is fakedlook at various things such as the time and locations on the phonetheyre just screenshots from when one was connected to wifi and the other 3G