Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Friday, July 5, 2013

The hidden benefits of 4G

Dan Grose of Phones 4u writes:

It’s been nearly 10 months since EE launched the UK’s first 4G network and an estimated 55% of the country is now enjoying its benefits. The fourth generation of mobile networks has brought speeds of between 10-12 megabytes per second to thousands of areas across Britain, creating somewhat of a revolution in super-fast mobile browsing.

The advantages of 4G have been well documented, but some may be less obvious. As well as drastically increasing mobile internet speeds EE’s network has also had a hand in bringing the latest smartphones to the UK, with most top handsets now offering the latest innovations on the fastest network.

The likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One have taken the UK market by storm, and their availability with 4G at places like Phones 4u has proved an additional attraction for some users. Retailers now stock a large variety of LTE enabled handsets, and manufacturers are continuing to bring more to our shores.

Increase communication

British businesses have also felt the positive effects, benefitting from the drastically increased productivity afforded by the network. A recent study found that, of those businesses that had workers frequently out of the office, a 4G connection enabled them to increase communication and productivity when away from a computer or in the field. Of course, these are similar to the advantages experienced by the average user, but for businesses the results are evidently more profitable. And, with EE having launched its Double Speed service recently, this will be a trend that will only increase.

Yet perhaps the biggest, but most overlooked, benefit is the vastly increased coverage EE’s network has offered people. Whilst this may seem an obvious point – 55% of the country isn’t exactly a small amount to be servicing – the key lies in the area to which the company has taken 4G first.

It’s fair to say that eyebrows have been raised over the past few months as EE has continued its roll out, with every major city that receives coverage punctuated by several smaller territories. Without causing offence, some may question as to why Berkhamsted has access before the likes of Stoke-on-Trent when, with a larger population and more potential uses for it, the former seems to be the obvious candidate.

Rural isolation

But this is the exact point, as 4G’s arrival signifies increased coverage for the local area that’s not just limited to the superfast benefits. By taking its network to towns and villages where current 3G signal is poor, EE has offered the chance to end the struggle of putting up with next to no signal and non-existent mobile internet connections. Whilst the users will still have to pay out for a 4G contract, something that not everyone will be able to stretch to, giving people the option is the obvious method.

The good news is that this particular advantage will drastically increase once the likes of Vodafone and O2 join the 4G party later this year. With the latter aiming to have reached 98% of the population by 2017 with its network, it looks like poor reception and slow internet will soon be a thing of the past, no matter where you live.

Dan Grose works for UK high-street mobile phone retailer Phones 4u.
Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

From higher licence fees to lower roaming charges... and much more mobile industry news

Podcast - 16th October 2013

Product news in today's podcast includes Samsung's curved-screen smartphone, an HTC phablet and an update for Windows Phone 8.

We're also talking about malware, roaming charges, Ofcom's licence fees, a drop in mobile revenue, BT's MVNO and a project that sounds... well... silly.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

The ups and downs of the mobile telecoms industry

Podcast - 9th October 2013

In today's podcast: Samsung's profit, UK mobile ad spending and Vertu's smartphone range are all increasing.

Meanwhile HTC's profit and the proportion of children with mobile phones are both going down. Discover the background to these news stories - and plenty more - in our regular weekly broadcast.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Accidental app purchases, increasing in-train coverage, Amazon announcements and much more

Podcast - 2nd October 2013

Today's podcast starts with a gentle warning to app developers from the Office of Fair Trading.

We then move on to Amazon's new tablets, HTC's sale of its Beats Electronics stake, Twitter's emergency alerts, UK government plans to improve mobile broadband on trains, customer complaints and the growth in adult content for mobile devices.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

The future of ring-back tones: we talk to Florent Stroppa of OnMobile

Podcast - 27th September 2013

Ring-back tones offers consumers yet another way to customise their mobile phone service. Yet despite this - and the revenue opportunities that can be generated - many network operators don't provide ring-back tones.

In today's special feature we talk to Florent Stroppa of OnMobile to discover why the UK doesn't really seem to be bothered about ring-back tones... and whether the next-generation of interactive ring-back services could change this.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Two tablets for Microsoft, one tablet for Tesco... and a headache for BlackBerry

Podcast - 25th September 2013

There are big changes on the horizon at BlackBerry. We talk about the company's potential future and also look at the recent tablet announcements from Microsoft and Tesco... plus the rest of the week's mobile news.

There's also a special report from IAB2013 about the sometimes awkward relationship between mobile devices and the television industry.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First1213141517192021Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«November 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
28293031123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526272829301
2345678

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement