EE information
A full information sheet on EE: how it was formed, why its coverage leads, what the premium buys, standalone 5G, bundles, costs across a year, and how to leave.
Sections on this page
The facts
- Formed
- 2010, from Orange and T-Mobile
- First UK 4G
- 2012
- Owner
- BT Group
- Also sells signal to
- 1pMobile
- 3G switch-off
- During 2024
- Position
- Premium
What it means for you
EE was built by merging two networks, and the combined spectrum from that deal is still the reason it reaches further than anyone else. It launched Britain’s first 4G service in 2012 and has been the one to beat on coverage testing ever since.
It belongs to BT, whose consumer services are steadily moving under the EE name behind a single login. One budget brand, 1pMobile, rents these masts and charges for exactly what you use.
The facts
- Strong at
- Rural, coastal, motorways, market towns
- National record
- Most-won coverage tests
- Standalone 5G
- National lead
- Needs
- A recent handset
- Cheapest way to test
- A month on 1pMobile
What it means for you
If your week depends on having signal where other networks give up, this is the one. Motorway corridors, small market towns and open country are where the difference shows.
It also leads on standalone 5G — 5G running on its own modern core rather than leaning on 4G underneath. Faster where it exists, but it is still the smallest layer of the network and needs a recent phone, so check both before paying extra for it.
Broadest is not the same as universal. Individual postcodes still fail, and indoor reception is decided by your walls, not by the network’s reputation. Check your own address.
The facts
- SIM-only terms
- Rolling and fixed
- Bundled extras
- On larger tiers
- Handset deals
- Combined bundle, 24–36 months
- Prepaid
- Direct, or per-unit via 1pMobile
- Family SIMs
- Real discounts
What it means for you
SIM-only. Larger tiers arrive with streaming and security extras attached. Count those at what you would otherwise pay for them separately — if you would not have bought them, they are not a saving.
Handset deals. Combined bundles, wide handset choice, standard trade-in. Same single calculation applies: deposit plus monthly times months, against the phone bought outright plus a cheap SIM.
Annual upgrade schemes are a subscription to newness, not a discount. Add them up across three or four years before agreeing.
Prepaid. 1pMobile is the interesting route — per minute, per text, per megabyte on the same masts. For genuinely light use it is the cheapest way in Britain to hold the widest coverage. For regular data users it gets expensive fast.
The facts
- Supported
- Yes — among the smoothest processes
- Issued by
- App or website
- Time
- Minutes
- Cost
- Nothing, ever
- Two lines
- Possible
What it means for you
- Open the official app — never a link someone sent you.
- Request the eSIM and follow the on-screen activation.
- Keep your number with the ordinary free switching code; digital and plastic are treated identically.
- For travel, add a cheap local data eSIM and leave your UK line for calls.
The facts
- Type
- Openreach fixed lines
- Mast option
- Offered for badly wired streets
- Engineer
- Often required
- Bundling
- Strong household discounts
- Affects mobile signal
- No
What it means for you
Broadband here is a fixed-line product over Openreach, with a mobile router alternative offered where the street wiring is poor. They are entirely different things sold in similar words: one depends on your street, the other on your nearest mast.
Household bundling is where this network’s value most often concentrates — several mobile lines plus broadband on one account. Price the whole house rather than the single line, and still choose the mobile network on coverage first.
The facts
- Europe
- Daily charge on most current plans
- Higher tiers
- May include a roaming pass
- Which applies
- Depends on tier and signing date
- Ceiling
- Applies wherever you go
- At sea
- Outside all protection
What it means for you
Most current plans meter Europe daily. Some higher tiers put the inclusive roaming back through a pass, sometimes beyond Europe as well. Which regime you are on comes down to your tier and when you signed, so the app is the only reliable answer.
- Read your roaming screen before you book, and write the ceiling down as a number.
- Check the spend cap is on.
- Turn off automatic backups and app updates over mobile data.
- Past a few days away, buy a local data eSIM and keep the UK line for calls.
The facts
- Unlimited at home
- Genuinely unmetered
- Tethering
- Capped on some plan generations
- Very heavy users
- Briefly queued at busy masts
- Abroad
- Ceiling, then per-GB
- Typical over-buying
- Around double
What it means for you
On the phone, at home, unlimited means unlimited on all four mast owners. Three published conditions bend it, and every one is readable before you sign.
| Condition | What it actually does |
|---|---|
| Tethering cap | Limits sharing data with a laptop on some plan generations |
| Traffic management | Queues extreme outliers at saturated masts; normal heavy use never notices |
| Fair use abroad | Ends the unlimited part at a published figure |
Before buying any allowance, read three months of real usage in your current app. People routinely buy about twice what they use. Two free changes usually remove the need for a bigger tier: drop streaming quality one notch, and push backups and updates onto home Wi-Fi.
The facts
- Position
- Highest prices of the four
- Where value hides
- Multi-line and broadband bundles
- Out-of-term months
- The most expensive in the market
- Spend cap
- Free
- Yearly figure
- Ask for it
What it means for you
Nothing here is cheap, and that is the point — you are buying coverage insurance. The question worth asking honestly is whether you will ever claim on it.
| Figure | What to make of it |
|---|---|
| Introductory price | Time-limited; ignore it when comparing |
| Standard price | Your real ongoing cost |
| Household total | Where the value actually sits on this network |
| Out-of-contract price | The costliest drift of any UK network |
| Whole-term cost | Deposit + (monthly × months); do it before signing |
The facts
- Mid-term rises
- Stated in pounds and pence before signing
- Rule since
- January 2025
- Most common rise
- A discount quietly ending
- Falls
- Only when you act
- Escalation
- Free at eight weeks
What it means for you
Bills go up for five reasons, all of them printed before you signed:
| Reason | Behind it |
|---|---|
| A mid-term increase | Disclosed in pounds and pence at the point of sale since January 2025 |
| The introductory discount ending | Its length was stated when you bought |
| Going past your allowance | Only possible if no spend cap was set |
| A minimum term ending | Not a rise — a fall that did not happen |
| An add-on renewing | One-off purchases sometimes repeat |
And down for five, none of which happen by themselves:
| Move | Effect |
|---|---|
| Switch to SIM-only when the term ends | Strips out the phone payment |
| Cut the allowance | If three months of usage says the tier is too big |
| Buy a one-off add-on instead of upgrading | Covers one heavy month without repricing the year |
| Haggle with rival quotes in hand | Get the PAC first, so you are choosing rather than asking |
| Leave | The exit cost is itemised before you commit |
Two points specific to this network. Mid-term increases have historically been its sorest subject with customers, so read and photograph that line at the till. And migrations of old BT consumer accounts have occasionally scrambled bundled statements — if yours goes wrong, complain in writing and keep every reference.
The facts
- Number of apps
- One, very full
- Covers
- Family SIMs, unlocking, broadband controls, caps, eSIM
- One login now protects
- Mobile, broadband and more
- Written support
- Yes
- Genuine offers appear
- Only inside the app
What it means for you
This is among the most complete customer apps in the market — family SIM management, device unlocking, broadband controls, spend caps, roaming and eSIM all in one place.
As BT folds its consumer services behind that single account, the login protects considerably more than a phone bill. Treat the password accordingly.
- Install it on day one and set the spend cap while you are in there.
- Give the account a password you use nowhere else.
- Switch on every extra protection offered.
- Only ever install from the official app store.
The facts
- First fix
- Wi-Fi Calling
- Second fix
- 4G Calling
- Then
- Ten seconds of airplane mode
- Then
- Status page by postcode
- If it repeats
- Two weeks of written records
What it means for you
| What you see | Usually | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| An older phone dropping calls | 3G has been switched off nationally | Turn on 4G Calling; if the phone cannot, it is finished |
| One room always bad | Building materials blocking radio | Turn on Wi-Fi Calling |
| Full bars, nothing loads | Too many phones on one mast | Nothing on the handset helps |
| Whole street out for hours | Mast work or a local fault | Check the status page by postcode |
If the same problem keeps returning, write it down for a fortnight — dates, times, what failed — then complain in writing with the log attached and ask what goodwill applies to the recorded period. Credits get agreed on evidence.
The facts
- Keep your number
- Text PAC to 65075
- Give it up
- Text STAC to 75075
- Cost
- Free
- Code valid
- 30 days
- Transfer time
- Usually one working day
- Escalation
- Free at eight weeks
What it means for you
Joining. Check coverage before price. Buy the new plan, text your old network for the code, hand it over, and leave the old SIM in until the number moves — usually the next working day, with no gap.
Leaving. Two text messages. No conversation is required and none can be demanded.
| Text | To | Result |
|---|---|---|
| PAC | 65075 | Your number moves to the new network |
| STAC | 75075 | Account closes, number given up |
| The reply | — | Lists any exit charge and phone balance before you commit |
Your network cannot refuse the code, sit on it, attach conditions, or insist you speak to retentions first. Complain in writing if it goes wrong, keep the reference, and escalate free to the Communications Ombudsman at eight weeks or on a final response.
One account carrying mobile, broadband and television makes leaving feel heavier than it is. Legally it changes nothing at all.
Works well for
- Anyone who drives, works or lives where other networks fail
- Rural and coastal households
- People wanting standalone 5G today
- Multi-line households bundling broadband
- Very light users, via 1pMobile on the same masts
Works badly for
- People well covered by every network anyway
- Anyone chasing the lowest price per gigabyte
- Frequent European travellers on standard tiers
- Anyone likely to drift past a contract end date
- People who would not use the bundled extras
In one line: the best coverage in Britain, priced accordingly — worth it if you will genuinely use it, and expensive insurance if you will not.
Still unsure after reading this?
Ring the desk and we will go through it with you. There is nothing to buy at any stage.