
Revealed: The new EE plan prices. Should you wait or sign up quick? (Updated 14 Oct 2016)
Having now obtained the prices for the new EE plans launching next week, it’s now possible to look and see whether you should sign up now, or wait.
Previously I reported that EE was changing the game with three new tiers, offering up to 40GB [EDIT: It’s actually restricted to 15GB] of data for use throughout the EU, plus free BT sport for the whole contract duration – not just six months and then a fiver a month.
But it has now come to light that each tier will offer different maximum speeds, with the entry level 4GEE Essentials plans capped at 20Mbps, the mid-range 4GEE Plans capped at 60Mbps, and ‘no limit’ for the 4GEE Max Plans (see below the price tables for a bit more on that).
As before, all plans include a hard cap on data usage to prevent bill shock, and all include Wi-Fi calling and VoLTE (4G calling) access where available. Roaming is 4G where available, with no speed restrictions, plus the ability to tether.
Now check the prices below to see whether you’re better off signing up before the new plans replace the current ones, or if you should hang on another week to take advantage of the new features.
What I’d really like to see next is some detail on what EE might be planning for users wishing to roam beyond Europe.
Oh, and once again, please share your opinions on these new plans. Are they the way forward, or are things beginning to get too complicated again? Is a 60Mbps cap going to entice you to pay more for a Max Plan? And do you care that much about BT Sport?
The new pricing
UPDATE 17th August 2016: EE has launched the new plans today, as predicted, but they are only for pay monthly. This is rather confusing and I am certain that in due course the SIM only plans will be brought into line, offering the same benefits on 12 month and, presumably, 30 day terms.
UPDATE 14th October 2016: And, yes, EE will be introducing new SIM only plans from 1st November. See details below, although in summary, there will be the existing SIM only plans with a £5 extra fee to upgrade to a 4GEE Max Plan, with BT Sport, more data and EU roaming (up to 15GB max per month, even if UK allowance is higher). Once again, do you wait or take advantage of the current plans (including the repeated offer of the existing 4GEE, full-speed, 20GB plan for £19.99)?
Some of the prices also seem like mistakes, and this could either mean they are OR that EE is going to do some introductory discounts. Hopefully these small discrepancies won’t confuse.
Personally, I believe the current 16GB promotion for £19.99 (£16.49 if you’ve got another account) still looks like quite a very good offering , unless EE plans a similar discount on its nearest equivalent plan; the 15GB 4GEE Max Plan (that’s £35.99 a month, with free BT sport for the whole time you keep the plan). The current 16GB plan has a normal price of £34.99 a month.
Will EE ever offer the new 15GB plan for £20? I can’t answer that, but if the prices below do include discounts at launch, it’s safe to say it isn’t happening straight away. Maybe it will, or maybe a discount will come to another plan with more, or less, data.
Time will tell, but if BT Sport isn’t something you’re that bothered about, and you’re happy to pay £3 a day to get half a gig of data – per day – when roaming, you probably shouldn’t wait for the new plans and jump at the current promotion.
Whatever might happen in the future, it’s guaranteed that this current deal is NOT going to repeated ever again!
4GEE ESSENTIALS PLANS – HANDSET PLAN
From mid-August
Price | Data | Minutes | Texts | EU Included | Max Speed | BT Sport |
£16.99 | 0.3GB | 300 | Unlimited | No | 20Mbps | No |
£18.49 | 0.5GB | 500 | Unlimited | No | 20Mbps | No |
£18.49 | 1GB | 750 | Unlimited | No | 20Mbps | No |
£23.49 | 2GB | 1000 | Unlimited | No | 20Mbps | No |
4GEE PLANS – HANDSET PLAN
From mid-August
Price | Data | Minutes | Texts | EU Included | Max Speed | BT Sport |
£20.99 | 1GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
£20.99 | 2GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
£25.99 | 5GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
£30.99 | 10GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
£35.99 | 20GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
4GEE MAX PLANS (with Roam like home & BT Sport) – HANDSET PLAN
UNLIMITED
From mid-August
Price | Data | Minutes | Texts | EU Included | Max Speed | BT Sport |
£25.99 | 3GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£30.99 | 7GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£35.99 | 15GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£40.99 | 25GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£45.99 | 40GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
** Restricted to your UK allowance, up to a maximum of 15GB in any month |
CURRENT 4GEE EXTRA PLANS – SIM ONLY
Ending mid-August
Price | Data (GB) | Minutes | Texts | EU Included | Max Speed | BT Sport |
£9.99 | 0.25GB | 250 | Unlimited | None | 30Mbps | 6 months then £5/m |
£12.99 | 0.5GB | 500 | Unlimited | None | 30Mbps | 6 months then £5/m |
£14.99 | 1GB | 1000 | Unlimited | None | 30Mbps | 6 months then £5/m |
£17.99 | 2GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS** | Unlimited* | 6 mths then £5/m |
£19.99*** | 16GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS** | Unlimited* | 6 mths then £5/m |
£21.99 | 4GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS** | Unlimited* | 6 mths then £5/m |
£24.99 | 6GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS** | Unlimited* | 6 mths then £5/m |
£27.99 | 8GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS** | Unlimited* | 6 mths then £5/m |
* These plans used to have a cap of 100, then 150Mbps. It’s not clear if this cap has now been removed in light of the Cat 9 4G support being rolled out ** 500MB data per day in Europe for £3 per day *** Down from £34.99 until 16th August 2016 |
With testing of ever higher speeds on EE’s network and more Cat 9-12 devices becoming available to buy (from phones to portable hotspots, like the Netgear AC810 Aircard pictured), some users will want the highest speeds available. Vodafone imposes no speed restrictions at all (yet) so it will be interesting to see if the new Max plans will remove all restrictions entirely.
4GEE ESSENTIALS PLANS – SIM ONLY
From 1st November 2016
Price | Data | Minutes | Texts | EU Included | Max Speed | BT Sport |
£9.99 | 0.25GB | 250 | Unlimited | No | 20Mbps | No |
£12.99 | 0.5GB | 500 | Unlimited | No | 20Mbps | No |
£14.99 | 1GB | 100 | Unlimited | No | 20Mbps | No |
4GEE PLANS – SIM ONLY
From 1st November 2016
Price | Data | Minutes | Texts | EU Included | Max Speed | BT Sport |
£17.99 | 2GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
£21.99 | 5GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
£25.99 | 8GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
£34.99 | 20GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/500MB | 60Mbps | No |
4GEE MAX PLANS (with Roam like home & BT Sport) – SIM ONLY
From 1st November 2016
Price | Data | Minutes | Texts | EU Included | Max Speed | BT Sport |
£19.99 | 2GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£22.99 | 4GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£26.99 | 7GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£30.99 | 12GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
£39.99 | 30GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Mins/SMS/data** | Unlimited | Yes |
** Restricted to your UK allowance, up to a maximum of 15GB in any month |
http://i0.poll.fm/js/rating/rating.jsHi, do Ee enforce a speed cap? As I’m currently on a 20gb sim only plan so in theory should max at 60mbps. But Ive managed to hit 293mbps on Ee. But this was a few months back now getting between 100-200 mbps depending on the time of day.
Jonathan, I wonder if you had any updates or could share your source on the 200Mbps speed cap you speak of?
What I’m observing is a 150Mbps cap on specific masts , but no 200Mbps cap on my tariff (Super Sim retention tariff), or if there is, it’s very loosely enforced.
The maximum speed I’ve ever achieved is around ~210-220Mbps which seems to slightly exceed a supposed 200Mbps cap, but not conclusively.
Said transmitter site gave results of 140Mbps on band 7 and 80Mbps on band 3, and around 200-220Mbps with B3+B7 aggregated. That’s within margin of error of being limited by either available capacity (140 + 80) but could also be explained by a soft ~200Mbps cap.
But on several other transmitters that could/should be delivering 280Mbps, there’s a site-specific 150Mbps limit: with 145Mbps on band 3 and 145Mbps on band 7, you’d expect B3+B7 to be more than 148Mbps, yet that’s what was happening consistently.
Sadly yet to find a mast that’s both capable of >250Mbps and doesn’t have a 150Mbps cap to rule out a “soft” 200-cap on the tariff.
I was told the speed cap had increased from 150 to 200Mbps by someone working at EE, but now it seems the bar has been lifted further, or removed entirely, to allow for the Cat 9 roll out. I’ve seen speed test results showing 250Mbps.
I should update the text to show this.
Not only have SIM only not been updated, the largest data bundle you can get is now 8GB! The 16GB/25GB options which were there have vanished.
Also interesting is that the 4GEE Max plans don’t have the 12-month early upgrade option, which the previous EE Complete did.
Things got worse!
And the EU data is limited to 15GB of the allowance.
Any idea what happened to the sim-only updates? They don’t seem to have changed today…
Appears that pay monthly is all that’s changing so far, so SIM only will change later. I don’t have a date, but clearly SIM only will have to come into line or it will get REALLY confusing for shop staff and online sales alike.
November 1st.
Nov 4th
so only for pay monthly phones?
I was expecting SIM-only plans too 🙁
I’m interested to see what EE do about roaming outside the EU too. For example, I usually visit South Africa once a year, EE charging £40 per 100mb is just crazy compared to paying £5/day to use my 20GB UK allowance on Vodafone (plus I can use that on 4G and tether too).
Is it me, or do these prices seem high? Or am I just out of the loop?
I’m currently with EE, about 18 months into a contract. I’m paying £38.50 for a 64Gb iPhone 6, and the deal gives me 4Gb of data monthly, unlimited minutes and texts. I bought it via Carphone Warehouse, and they threw in an extra that gave me calls and texts in the EU for nothing (EU roaming data is chargeable). Looking at these new plans, the 5Gb 4GEE Plan for £25.99 looks the closest to what I’m paying now; which means that I’ve been paying about £13 a month (the difference between £26 and £38.50, plus an annual increment) for the actual phone. That looks like I’ve been doing pretty well – unless I’m missing something obvious.