I have used most of the main UK cellular carriers over the years and settled on EE via Orange. I had pretty bad experiences relating to coverage and signal quality from other network providers but have found EE to be first class.
More often all you find in reviews or Internet forums is peoples bad experiences, many satisfied customers just don't see the need to pass comment. But I wanted to offer up an honest and fairly constructive review from my experiences.
First up I travel the UK a lot, from the tips of Northern Scotland to the heart of London. I use road and rail lots, daily in most cases. I can confidently state that with EE I maintain a signal in areas I used to struggle, particularly in Northern areas and on the road network.
Along with just receiving signal I find that both 3G and 4G reception is more widely available with EE. I do still find parts of the rail network on both the East and West coast main lines to be lacking. I think this is a generic problem most of the UK carriers struggle with as much of those lines run through rural/remote areas.
In most cities reception and data speed connections are often 4G and at least 3G. Central London is normally always 4G and fast!
Moving away from signal coverage I have two lines on EE, one for business and one personal. I have generous data allowances on both (8Gb and 20Gb). I make good use of these allowances streaming (legal!) football matches and movies during hotel stays and keeping in touch with the office via skype and email etc.
I use my data allowance both directly with my handsets and via tethered connections to my surface pro 2. It has always worked really well and normally I can achieve at least a 3G connection which more than satisfies Email, Internet and social media. Even streaming is possible over 3G in most cases with increased buffering at times of course.
4G or LTE if you prefer is fantastic, I am a huge fan. Particularly for streaming films and music. I can listen to Internet radio whilst working or watch some sports and films whilst away from a WiFi connection. I cant wait until they get that percentage coverage figure up even higher!
I am hugely impressed with the speed EE appear to be rolling out the 4G coverage and often find upon revisiting places during the year that connection speeds have increased.
I guess it is the glue that binds the rest of my technological/gadget life together. Particularly when I am away from my BT infinity broadband!
I also make use of the EE swap policy, you can trade your handset in (for a fee) after 6 months of a contract. This helps keep me in the latest Tech! Check it out here
