This week we saw the unveiling of the UK's first 4G mobile network under the moniker EE. 4G will offer mobile data at roughly five times the speed of 3G but is it a good idea to jump straight in?
Firstly let's address the most controversial part of this announcement. That Everything Everywhere, already the UK's largest mobile operator, will get exclusive access to the super-fast mobile highway for up to twelve months. Monopolies are not a good thing. When a company controls a market, it doesn't need to innovate. It doesn't need to improve upon something that is already on top. They don't need to offer their product at a fair price. Why should they? It's not like you can move to a competitor.
Competition is what drives the human race forward. Competing companies must innovate. They must keep improving their product. If they take their foot of the gas they'll quickly lose ground on others. Most importantly, they must offer consumers a fair deal at a fair price. Many people complain about home broadband in the UK lagging behind a number of other countries in terms of speed but getting internet access for under £10 per month is completely unheard of in nearly every nation around the world. Entirely due to the shear number of competing broadband suppliers.
This is the first negative regarding the early adoption of EE's 4G network, (4GEE for you acronym fans). It won't be cheap and from EE's perspective, why should it be? This is the only place you can have the iPhone 5 on a 4G network. That isn't because of some exclusivity deal the mega-network have struck with Apple. The iPhone 5 features a radio that works on EE's 4G frequency but is completely incompatible with the spectrum up for auction next year.
This brings me onto the next issue at hand. The technical problems that will arise with the use of multiple frequencies. In the UK we've been lucky over the years that every handset works on every carrier's frequencies. This will change when 4G rolls out. LTE, the technology that brings us 4G speeds is notoriously complicated and around the world runs on over 40 different frequencies. Phone manufactures cannot be expected to produce phones that work on every one of these bands and they won't. Sure, you could just jump straight in with EE. The new iPhone and the Galaxy S3 work on their 4G network. However, this is the same frequency Orange and T-Mobile use for 3G. So if you're out in the countryside or inside a building, you still won't get signal. The 800MHz spectrum up for auction next year is much better suited to tackle these problems and will offer you better coverage. So you're faced with a decision; join up to 4G now and get an expensive new handset that will be incompatible with the much better suited 800MHz band or you could just wait a year. Also, when your contract with EE expires, will you want the option to take your phone to a new carrier? Tough. You're stuck with them. (Though O2 have requested to use the same spectrum for 4G as EE so you may end up with a choice between the two).
There are always drawbacks to being an early adopter of new technology. There will inevitably be many kinks that need to worked out. Usually, these early problems are outweighed by the benefits the new technology brings but if you ask me, in this case, it's just not worth it.
