EE takes a step towards 5G with UK's fastest network speeds
The network showed off its Gigabit LTE at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday, reaching download speeds of 750Mbps.
How fast is fast enough when it comes to internet speeds?
There's no such thing, according to EE, as it showed off its Gigabit LTE technology at Wembley Stadium in London on Wednesday.
The technology, which is already available to EE Max customers in London's Tech City and Cardiff, is faster than regular 4G, slower than 5G, but a massive step up from what most of us experience on our phones today. Download speeds reached 750 megabits per second during the demonstration while upload speeds jumped up to 110Mbps.
"The insatiable desire for ever faster mobile speeds and increased network capacity is a driving force for technologies such as gigabit LTE," said Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight. "It's exciting to see the technology being deployed in the UK providing a clear stepping stone towards 5G technology."
But what does this mean for you, other than that you'll see your Instagram posts upload more quickly? The demo at Wembley Stadium today saw Gigabit LTE used to stream 4K video from Amazon Prime without a hitch. I watched whole albums being downloaded for offline use in seconds.
It will also help you upload video to the internet faster -- something that EE has seen increasing demand for. The network saw nearly 54TB of data used at this year's Glastonbury festival over a long weekend. That's more than twice the amount consumed last year, and it was mainly caused by people uploading more photos and videos than ever.
You'll need a device with cutting-edge modem technology if you want to take advantage of these speeds, but that doesn't mean you'll be left out if you have an older phone. Technology such as Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chipset, used in phones such as Sony's Xperia XZ Premium and the Samsung Galaxy S8, is so efficient that it takes up less bandwidth. This means speeds will shoot up across the board.
"Peak speeds get all the headlines, and their importance is simple: The higher the peak speed on our network, the better the average speed for every customer," said EE's director of network services and devices Tom Bennett.
For more on understanding Gigabit LTE and what it will mean for you then make sure you check out our explainer, which breaks down the technology and lets you know what to expect.