EE review: The fastest, but not necessarily the best | Expert Reviews

EE review: Customer service

EE is on surer footing when it comes to customer service: Over 61% of those we surveyed said they were fairly or very satisfied, while under 7% were dissatisfied – the best results of any of the four major UK networks. Virtual network operators like Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile did even better, but it’s still a good result for EE.

What’s more, it’s backed up by the latest research from Ofcom: EE has fewer complaints to Ofcom per 100,000 subscribers than Three, O2 or Vodafone, and fewer customers with a reason to complain than Vodafone or Three. Overall satisfaction with their handling of complaints is 2% above the industry average too.

EE review: Coverage, reliability and speed

The best reason to use EE remains its excellent coverage and performance. Its 4G coverage extends to over 99% of the UK population, and its 5G services are now in reach of over 60% of the UK population in over 1,000 UK locations, including 500 rural and semi-rural areas. In the latest round of RootMetrics testing, EE registered median 5G download speeds of over 100Mbits/sec in 15 out of 16 UK cities, with median UK-wide 5G download speeds of 144.6Mbits/sec. That puts it just behind Three on 5G performance, but when you look at the median download speeds across both 4G and 5G connections, EE is still on top. Its 65.1Mbits/sec median download speed is far ahead of Three’s 34.7Mbits/sec.

Despite this, EE didn’t do as well as we expected in the reliability section of this year’s Mobile Network Awards survey. While it has some fine results across web browsing, audio streaming and video streaming, it fell just behind Voxi and Talkmobile, this year’s winners. Similarly, Smarty and Sky Mobile had slightly higher scores for satisfaction with their 5G services. And while EE scored high on signal strength – nearly 75% of users were satisfied here – it was still beaten by a range of networks, including Voxi, Talkmobile, Giffgaff and Tesco Mobile.

EE review: Roaming

EE’s handling of roaming charges probably hasn’t done it any favours. While some other services have retained free EU roaming, EE charges £2.29 a day unless you have the Roam Abroad pass. And the cost of making calls or using data elsewhere is steep: calls are at £1.54 per minute in the US or Australia, and the 500MB Data Pass needed for internet use is £6.26 to £7.84 per day. If you use EE and spend a lot of time travelling, the Roam Abroad pass is a must.

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EE review: Other features, services and spending caps

EE has a useful Data Gifting feature, where you can take several contracts out on the same account, and then gift data from those who don’t use it to those who keep running out. This is controlled by the main contract holder, to hopefully ensure that it doesn’t result in family squabbles.

EE’s pay-monthly customers can also use its Underground Wi-Fi, complete with Wi-Fi calling on the London Underground. That’s a definite bonus if you live or work in the capital.

EE also supports data caps, and you can configure them online or by sending a text message. However, these caps don’t include add-on purchases or payments to certain premium numbers or subscriptions, so you’ll still want to keep an eye on how everyone on a family contract uses, or abuses, their phone.

EE review: Verdict

EE’s still the fastest network out there when it comes to country-wide 4G and 5G connections and even in urban areas where Three pulls ahead on 5G speeds, EE still wins on coverage and isn’t far behind on speeds. Customer service also puts it ahead of the other three main UK networks. However, it is unquestionably an expensive premium option, and many users might find that the cheaper, virtual networks go fast enough while costing a whole lot less. EE is definitely fast, but there could be better deals elsewhere.