5G has arrived in the UK, and it’s fast
EE turned on the UK’s first 5G network today, across London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, and Manchester. 5G connectivity is now available in limited parts of these cities, more than a month before rival Vodafone
plans to launch its own 5G service. I took to the streets of London today to test out 5G, armed with a OnePlus 7 Pro 5G handset. I’m impressed with the early results.
While 5G coverage has been extremely limited with
Verizon’s 5G network in the US, it’s a whole different story in London. EE has focused its initial coverage on popular tourist destinations across London, including areas like St Paul’s, Covent Garden, Soho, The Strand, Tower Bridge, and London Bridge. I visited a number of different locations today and performed speed tests against both the 4G and 5G networks of EE.
Now, I know these 5G networks aren’t being fully utilized right now, but the average speeds were still a 10x improvement over what I was seeing on 4G. I’d say the average I was seeing was around 200 Mbps on 5G, compared to around 25 Mbps on 4G in the same spot. I didn’t have to stand in a very precise location to get a 5G signal most of the time, and I was able to walk freely along The Strand, into Covent Garden, and even into London Charing Cross Station all while connected continuously to 5G. The best speed I recorded in this area was around 510 Mbps, close to the popular area of Covent Garden during the peak lunch hour.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/30/18645665/5g-ee-uk-london-hands-on-test-impressions-speed