4G UK & THE CONSUMER

4G COMING TO THE UK
Hey! It looks like 4G is finally coming to the UK!

Everything Everywhere, the company behind T-Mobile and Orange, is about to launch a new brand called EE.
EE is the new brand for a digital age and will offer the UK's first mobile 4G network and Fibre Broadband for the home, along with the UK's biggest 3G network. 4G will give you superfast internet on your mobile, tablet or laptop, making things like downloads, Facebook and YouTube unbelievably quick.

EXCITING
This is an exciting time for mobile phone consumers – especially for smartphone enthusiasts like myself! I am looking forward to watching a YouTube video on the fly without buffering or cutting out all together!

EE's new 4G service will launch to 16 cities across the UK by Christmas, which will cover 20 million people (that's around a third of the population). The company expects nationwide coverage throughout 2013, with ambitious plans to have 98% of the population covered by 2014.
According to Swantee, London, Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham will have the 4G access turned on later today for EE's engineers to begin testing everything ahead of an official roll out.

My contract runs out just in time for a new handset! Whooooo!

What handset will I go for? Galaxy SIII or the Galaxy Note II?

THE CONSUMER
What does this mean for the consumer? Higher bills? I hope not as we’re paying through the nose as it is and in many cases the data plan is a measly 1GB or even less than!

I find that Orange is the worst offender for high costs for so little! I wonder at this moment in time if Everything Everywhere realizes this? I find that 3 or Three offers great deals on contracts and SIM only!

My concern is that the consumer will be exploited again! I know that I come across as an iPhone basher, but I have to say the following anyway…

When the iPhone came out it was classed as “revolutionary” and people who wanted it (from successful ad campaigns) had to pay over the odds! Why?

What I have seen recently is the trend of having us consumers pay an upfront fee for a decent smartphone or superphone like the Galaxy SIII! I don’t want to pay an upfront fee – especially when I am going to take out a 24 month contract! Are these people crazy?????

I am thinking to myself, “Be the first to get on 4G this Christmas for £50 a month!” That would be criminal! The media marketing campaign can induce such a desire and people would, including me, go for it and realize down the line that it is an option that they could have done without at that price! Think about it how much are we paying for what already?

Most people these days go for a package deal with their broadband Internet service to get TV and a telephone…

That’s already, on average, £40 - £50 a month! Yes, I got enticed with a faster broadband speed and extra TV channels that show more repeats than a drunken Saturday night out what with the alcohol and greasy food induced vomiting. It’s exactly painting the town red, but it’s some kind of painting nonetheless!

How much are we paying for our phones? What, £20 to £45? Is it a good deal? Locked into it for 24 months? When you say “24 months” it is supposed to make you feel better than saying TWO WHOLE YEARS!!!! That’s 2 years of your life… If you have a child or children that’s 2 years of them growing up and learning so much in that time.

We want better! We have to pay over the odds for it! We want faster! We have to pay over the odds for it!

Let us hope for a reasonable 4G service that gives us consumers’ a massive financial break! It’s us who keep the economy going!

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Best wishes!