EE Mobile Broadband Review – Great 5G Coverage & Market Leading 4G Data Speeds

EE offers a range of price plans to choose from depending on the router you pick. Below, you can find all the available 5GEE & 4GEE routers and which plans you can bundle them with. Unfortunately EE doesn’t offer any unlimited data plans at the moment.

You don’t need a fixed phone line, or an engineer to set the router up. All EE 5GEE and 4GEE Home routers are designed to plug in and connect.

5GEE Home Plans

At the time of writing, EE offers two different devices if you want to benefit from their 5G service. The 5GEE Home Plan is priced at £70 a month and it’s an 18-month contract. The plans offer data speeds that are comparable with fibre.

The plan comes with a data allowance of 1000GB/month, which is a major downside. If you’re a heavy data user 1TB might not be enough for you. Nowadays, some games may need up to 250GB of space and they receive big updates on a regular basis. Add streaming/downloading online content in 4K or Ultra HD to this and you’ll be in the danger zone. On the bright side, if you’re an EE pay monthly mobile customer, the network will give you a 20GB data boost every month.

The network has also released their 5GEE WiFi recently. In fact EE boldly claims that this new router can get customers 5G speeds as fast as fiber in more places than any other operator. The 5GEE Router is produced and launched by EE, meaning you can’t find the device anywhere else.

The network claims you can get average speeds of 150Mbps, but according to OOKLA’s October 2020 speed test results EE’s average 5G data speeds are around 134Mbps. Right now there are 125 towns and cities live on EE 5G, but you should still make sure to check EE’s network coverage map to see if 5G is available in your area.

5GEE Home Router with Antenna (Huawei 5G CPE Pro )

EE provides 5GEE Home customers with the Huawei 5G CPE Pro, or as they call it the 5GEE Home Router. The router is powered by a chip that switches between 4G and 5G seamlessly depending on the signal you’re receiving. You won’t lose connection or disconnect from your video calls (or from your online games) when it switches between 4G and 5G, but if you’re streaming videos on YouTube or Netflix, you might notice a change in video quality.

The 5GEE Home Router can connect up to 64 Wi-Fi devices at the same time, which is more than enough for a household. Plus it includes two LAN ports for more stable connectivity. The device also fully supports the Wi-Fi 6, which promises greater speeds and better connectivity. You don’t need an engineer or a landline with this router, you can just plug it in and get connected right away.

The router comes with an internal antenna to pick up and use EE’s 5G and 4G signal, but you can also boost your coverage with a compatible external antenna if required. This antenna will help to get you the best 5G signal in your home. The external antenna picks up outdoor 5G signal and feeds it to your router.

EE’s 4G population coverage is over 99% and the network’s UK geographical coverage has reached above 90%. EE’s 4G landmass coverage is head and shoulders above other major networks, making EE the ideal choice for mobile broadband.

According to Open Signal’s October 2020 network test results, EE is still the fastest provider in the country with no close competition. Their average 4G download speeds are around 36.4Mbps, while their average 4G upload speeds are around 9.1Mbps. The network’s 4G speeds are significantly faster than Vodafone, Three and O2’s.

Make sure to have a look at our EE Review, if you want to learn more about the network provider’s deals and coverage.

EE 5G Coverage

EE is the first network operator to launch 5G in the UK. The network launched their 5G service back in May 2019 and they’ve been steadily improving it. Initially EE’s 5G was live in six cities, but now it’s available in 125 towns and cities across the UK. They also have the second most 5G coverage in the country, at least in terms of number of locations covered. EE’s 5G coverage per location is still superior compared to Three, O2 and Vodafone.

EE also offers a nice variety of 5G ready SIM only plans, however, the service is only available on selected plans, unlike Three, which offers 5G to all their customers at no extra cost. You can read our Three Review to learn more about the network’s deals or read our EE vs Three comparison. Three’s SIM only plans also come with features like 4G Calling and Wi-Fi Calling for free.

As for 5G data speeds, EE currently ranks fourth among the major network operators, which means they have the slowest 5G download speeds. Looking at OOKLA’s 5G focused speed test results published in October 2020, we see that EE’s average 5G download speeds are around 134Mbps.

If you are okay with slower 4G data speeds and lesser coverage you can get a competitively priced (much cheaper than EE) Three Mobile Broadband deal. You can choose between the 4G+ MiFi or Huawei B311 router or even just a tablet and use your Three Data SIM anywhere in the UK and in 71 worldwide destinations. The network also offers a free data SIM with no credit checks that comes with 200MB, which renews every month.

Three has the fastest 5G data speeds and you can get a Three 5G Home Broadband plan, provided you live in an area with Three’s 5G coverage. If not 4G options are still available. Three’s mobile broadband routers are easy to set up. All you have to do is plug it in and wait for it to connect.

BT Complete Wi-Fi

Another good alternative is the Complete Wi-Fi from BT. BT Complete Wi-Fi delivers full coverage in your house, utilising Wi-Fi discs to extend your Wi-Fi router’s signal. You can get online from every corner of your home or you can get your money back, if BT fails to honour their promise.

Sky Broadband

Sky Broadband is the broadband service offered by Sky UK, specifically tailored for UK broadband customers. The network offers three different types of fixed broadband plans: Essential, Superfast and Ultrafast.

You can customise the Superfast plan and add Sky TV, Sky Sports, BT Sports and Netflix to your contract. You can also add Sky Broadband Boost to improve the quality of the service you get from the provider.

If you are looking for the best 5G & 4G coverage and the fastest 4G data speeds, then look no further, because there’s no better network provider than EE. The operator provides high quality customer service, plug in and connect routers, decent extra hardware, and fast & reliable connection.

Having praised EE, remember that high quality service comes with higher than average prices. Another downside is EE’s mobile broadband plans don’t offer any unlimited data option, even the 5G plan comes with only a 1TB data allowance. This may sound like a lot, but with super fast data speeds the speed at which you burn through your allowance increases!