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The iPhone 5 will be 4G here in Britain — to be precise, Apple has confirmed that the LTE iPhone 5 will work on the 4G network run by EE.
EE — the network formed from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile, previously known as Everything Everywhere — is to be the first to get a 4G iPhone, as it will be the first network to launch a 4G service here in Blighty. EE’s LTE service, called 4GEE, has a headstart of a few months over rival networks and is expected to kick off in a matter of weeks.
The remaining major networks will be well aware of the importance of a 4G iPhone in getting their 4G services off the ground. O2 and Vodafone won’t be able to offer you a 4G iPhone until next year at the earliest, when they bag some 4G spectrum from Ofcom. Three may pip them to the post, but hasn’t announced anything.
The Ofcom auction involves different frequencies to the EE network, so Apple will have to put a different 4G radio in the iPhone before the remaining networks can sell them. That means an EE phone won’t work on O2 or Vodafone’s LTE network, and vice versa.
Other phones that will work on the 4GEE network include the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, the HTC One XL, the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Nokia Lumia 820.
What we don’t yet know is the big question of how much it’ll cost. We’d expect contracts for a 4G phone to be expensive, although they can’t be too pricey if EE wants to seduce customers before rival networks get started.
Are you tempted by a 4G iPhone — or is the iPhone 5 a disappointment? Do you think 4G will be the next big thing or is it a load of hype? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
