If you’re an EE customer and have been struggling to get a good signal at home or around town then you could be in luck. The mobile provider has been rolling out improved 5G across the UK, and that is set to continue with 16 new locations just announced that will see a boost before the end of the year.
5G has been live in the UK since 2019. When it launched, its first customers were treated to blazing fast network speeds that made video streaming, file downloading and gaming a doddle. But as millions of Brits have taken up 5G mobile plans in the following years, speeds have dipped across the board.
This is normal for mobile networks, which can be thought of like a motorway. If you’re the only car on the road, you can go as fast as you want. But when you’re one of thousands in a traffic jam, things are going to go slower. Mobile masts only have so much capacity, which is why you can often have full bars showing on your phone at busy places such as a sports stadium or gig, but not be able to send texts or make a call.
That’s why EE is deploying new ‘5G standalone’ upgrades to 16 new UK towns. This technology is designed to boost performance for customers by offering more reliable and consistent connections in areas that need it most.
“All places where EE launches 5G standalone will have at least 95 percent outdoor coverage to give customers reliable and consistent performance on the UK’s fastest mobile technology,” EE said.
The 16 new locations are: Ashton-under-Lyne, Barrow-in-Furness, Barry, Birkenhead, Bury, Coventry, Dudley, Dundee, Newport, Nottingham, St Helens, Stockport, Swansea, Weston, Super Mare, Wigan and Wolverhampton.
These new locations will join the 15 already served, which are Bath, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield.
Though access to EE’s 5G standalone is technically free, only customers on the firm’s new Full Works and All Rounder plans will get access to these network upgrades. These customers will also need to be using a compatible SIM card or eSIM.
Vodafone was the first UK mobile network to launch 5G standalone, which it markets as ‘5G Ultra’, in 2023.
“Network performance data shows 5G standalone is already delivering a better mobile internet experience, with customers using the network benefitting from improved video calls, streaming and online gaming, both in and out of their homes – as well as higher quality voice calls even in congested areas,” EE said.
“This is because smartphones and tablets using 5G standalone connect directly to a pure 5G network, rather than via 4G, and benefit from the network’s additional capacity in busy areas and during major events, like sports matches and concerts.”
One catch for those in the 31 UK towns and cities with EE’s new 5G tech is you have to have certain smartphone handsets to be able to connect. EE says these are the Apple iPhone 15 and 16 series, Samsung Galaxy S23 and S24 lineup, TCL 50, Moto Razr 50 Ultra, and Moto G 85 5G. More devices are set to be “enabled in the coming months”.
EE’s 5GEE WiFi and 5GEE Home products, which use 5G instead of fibre cables to provide Wi-Fi, can connect to the standalone locations.
Phones including the iPhone 16 and Galaxy S24 can run new artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and there is concern some of these data-hungry features will put more strain on 5G networks. EE claims its 5G standalone upgrades will help improve AI services that require mobile connection to cloud services.
