In reply to a post by steve195527:

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

If I had Wi-Fi active on my phone and do the speed test I'd be getting 400 to 500 mb....

I'll have to do some swapping a SIM cards around and trying to adjust the EE sim see what happens.

My Virgin SIM is a SIM only plan at £10 a month and my my EE sim is on contract.

re 400-500:-that would depend on what protocol your phone is using to connect to the wifi:-if it is using the 5ghz signal than you could expect 400-500 but if it is using the 2.4ghz band 80mb may be its max

I think the point is they know the difference between testing LTE and WiFi.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

My Virgin SIM is a SIM only plan at £10 a month and my my EE sim is on contract.

Depending on the EE contract, there may be rate limiting going on. The price plan names change as often as clothing fashions.

Sometime in 2021 the Virgin SIM will move over to Vodafone, but I doubt that has happened yet.

What handsets are you using for these SIMs? Are they comparable in terms of 4G capabilities?

That would be O2 not Vodafone btw.

As for the "plan" I am on an EE Essential plan with my phone. 40gb data unlimited text/calls

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

That would be O2 not Vodafone btw.

Nope, the merger is not yet approved, and the Government investigation is ongoing.

Before the merger, VM announced they were moving to Vodafone for 5G and other reasons, and the VM website has just integrated the Vodafone 5G coverage checker.

As for the "plan" I am on an EE Essential plan with my phone. 40gb data unlimited text/calls

Some Essential plans were limited to maximum speeds. It might tell you in MyEE. In the past PAYG was limited to 30 Mbps, so I would have thought you would get more than this. Unless there is a fault of course.

Edited by jchamier (Mon 04-Jan-21 07:25:11)

Thought just occurred....

The EE sim could be connecting to band 20 (800mhz) where the Virgin sim will be restricted from using that band and forced to Band 3 (1800mhz)

Possibility that 800mhz is congested as it is already a low capacity band for data and is favoured by EE for extending coverage for voice calls over LTE.

I suggest you download ther CellMapper app from Play Store...

Once you have done that you need to take note of the 'eNB' and the 'Band Number'

Check this with both sims and if they are using the same band and mast then issue is elsewhere but likelihood is that the EE sim is using band 20 or possibly a different mast (eNB)

I am pretty sure when I had an EE Essential plan that it was advertised as max speed of 60Mbps and that if you wanted more then you had to have a "smart" plan which would run at "full speed".

That would make sense of the name!

The current 4G plans still say limited to 60Mbps with the higher speeds only available on the 5G plans (I am assuming the 5G plan gives access to the faster 4G speeds in areas where 5G is not available).

They seem to have totally mixed up their plans now.

It appears that there isn't an "unlimited" 4G only plan now. Looks like the only "unlimited" one is a 5G one at £33.30 a month ?

For reasons I can't fathom, their 10GB 4G plan is currently listed at £10/month, making it cheaper than both their 3GB and 1GB plans. Mobile providers and their pricing makes my head hurt.

My EE 4G "unlimited" plan that started in July 2020 is definitely not limited to 60Mbps, I regularly get over 80Mbps.

To add to the confusion, my £34/month plan is labelled on my account as "4G SIM Unlimited Plan £25". Did I mention mobile pricing confuses me...

In reply to a post by ian72:

I am pretty sure when I had an EE Essential plan that it was advertised as max speed of 60Mbps and that if you wanted more then you had to have a "smart" plan which would run at "full speed".

That is what I was thinking of, and this was a 2019 through to early 2020 offering. New plans don't seem to have this anymore. (maybe because too many people complained they couldn't get as fast as the cap!).

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

They seem to have totally mixed up their plans now.

Yes, the plans change every 6 months (or more often). Just like the fashion industry.

It appears that there isn't an "unlimited" 4G only plan now. Looks like the only "unlimited" one is a 5G one at £33.30 a month ?

Yes, like all the mobile operators the upsell is constant. They are all spending a few £bn so need high levels of regular income. Hence the push to more expensive 5G unlimited, than cheaper 4G unlimited.

For reasons I can't fathom, their 10GB 4G plan is currently listed at £10/month, making it cheaper than both their 3GB and 1GB plans. Mobile providers and their pricing makes my head hurt.

Deliberately to confuse. On paper bills for landlines that appeared to be BT plc policy in years past, no reason for EE to be any different, same company.

My EE 4G "unlimited" plan that started in July 2020 is definitely not limited to 60Mbps, I regularly get over 80Mbps.

My EE 5G plan from June 2020 has 100GB of data, but is also not limited. I now get 110 Mbps in my front room, but before Christmas was much slower, as more capacity has now been added to my local mast. (changes visible in Cellmapper).

To add to the confusion, my £34/month plan is labelled on my account as "4G SIM Unlimited Plan £25". Did I mention mobile pricing confuses me...

Billing system never catches up to the sales/marketing !