EE puts 4G coverage in 14 more towns

131 towns and cities are now connected with an EE 4G super fast network, which will be available from tomorrow (30th Oct 2013) as a prepay service. 

EE will be launching their for 4G service into 14 more towns so customers in Benfleet, Caerphilly, Caldicot, Canvey Island, Carlisle, Chepstow, Cwmbran, Grays, Harlow, Hatfield, Kenilworth, Rayleigh, Southport and Worksop will now be able to enjoy 4G coverage.

EE will also launch their 4G prepay plans, which will be the first to become available in the UK. You will also see the launch of their ’4GEE Extra’ plans that will offer double speed 4G (60Mbps), larger data allowances, and inclusive roaming, calls and texts in 30 international destinations including the USA and Australia.

Now that more and more of the country is getting 4G coverage, do you think it'll encourage more consumers to get a 4G contract? Or is the cost of most 4G contracts too much of a deterrent?

4G going live in more cities

EE, Vodafone and O2 have all increased their 4G coverage around the UK last week. Vodafone and O2 are pushing hard to try and catch up with EE when it comes to 4G with both companies going live in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield. This isn't surprising as the operators signed a network sharing agreement in 2012 that led to them both beginning their 4G roll out in August. 

O2 has now increased the number of cities to eight, the network is said to cover more than 9.5 million people and a further five cities (Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle) will be going live before the end of the year. O2 is planning to increase its 4G coverage month on month until 2015. Aiming to achieve 98per cent indoor and outdoor coverage in the UK.

Not surprisingly Vodafone has announced that it too will go live (27th September) in the same 5 cities, plus it will launch its 4G network in Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester by the end of October. They too are aiming for 98per cent population coverage by 2015.

Three has announced that its 4G service will go live in four UK cities in December (London, Birmingham, Manchester and Reading. The areas covered by the end of 2013 will also include Oldham, Dudley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. Three will be really pushing forward with its 4G roll out next year when it'll bring its 4G service to a target of 42 cities.

Cambridge with its booming high technology sector, including a thriving and influential wireless technology group, CambridgeWireless seem to be about last in the queue for 4G as far as all of the operators are concerned. It begs the question – what criteria do the operators use to schedule the roll out?

The ultimate in mobile CCTV

Anvil works with a verity of partners to help them create some things that is special and unique within their market. ICU Technologies has developed an outdoor video camera with a secure built in 3G router  ready to house one of our fixed IP data SIMs.

All the unit needs is power and a mobile 3G signal to operate anywhere. You can connect to the camera from anywhere in the world by just typing the IP address into a browser. This approach is much less expensive and complex than installing servers and complex systems and you don’t need a fixed internet connection. When you want to, just move the camera to a new position,  plug it in and you are back on line again. 

The camera also supports sensors to trigger alarms and activate the video coverage or you can just check in whenever you like to see what is happening on site.

Power can be from a standard mains supply or from a 12V battery.  Some examples of applications for this most flexible solution are see below.

Construction and engineering project sites. The area you need to cover with video surveillance changes as the project develops. Materials and equipment get moved around and the video camera can be moved as and when required.

Agriculture, equipment and materials have to be taken back to a safe place where security cameras can protect them –or – save time and effort by moving the security camera instead.

 Events of all kinds need security. Installing internet connections where they are needed is expensive, time consuming and the cables are easily detected.  3G video cameras can be mounted wherever needed and moved around easily to accommodate changing environments.

Mobile. Whether on a boat, bus, van, truck, train or car the camera is accessible even when on the move. If there is a mobile 3G signal, you take the internet with you as you go.

Temporary (ad hoc) installations. You may want video coverage for a few hours, days or weeks for a specific reason.  This could be to counteract a threat e.g. vandalism, or watch something of interest such as wildlife or a one off sports event.

Remote and rural locations where fixed line internet is simply not available. The nearest BT exchange may be many miles away. The cost of laying cables would be much too expensive and the longer the cable, the less bandwidth you get when connected. Video just doesn’t work when the speed drops below a certain level, whereas 3G simply needs a decent signal to handle good quality video traffic.

 

4G Auction in the UK

It has finally started, the auction to decide how the UK's 4th generation (4G) spectrum is going to be shared out between operators.

In total 7 operators are involved in what is being called "a significant milestone" by the communications regulator Ofcom. It's the largest mobile spectrum auction to take place in the UK with the space on offer equivalent to three quarters of the current mobile spectrum.

The following organisations are bidding in the auction:

• Everything Everywhere Limited
• HKT (UK) Company Limited (a subsidiary of PCCW Limited)
• Hutchison 3G UK Limited
• MLL Telecom Ltd
• Niche Spectrum Ventures Limited (a subsidiary of BT Group plc)
• Telefónica UK Limited
• Vodafone Limited

The bidding process will take place online with software that has been developed specifically for the auction and uses a secure connection. The bidding process will continue over several rounds and will go on for a number of weeks. There won't be any bidding updates until the conclusion of the auction to reduce any potential risk of strategic bidding which could distort the outcome of the auction.

On completion of the auction licences will be given enabling the operators to start rolling out new networks. A range of providers are looking to roll-out 4G services form spring/summer 2013.

The auction will allow more networks to offer 4G mobile data, with the likes of O2, Vodafone and 3 wanting to challenge EE which was allowed to launch its 4G service early. However it's not just 4G mobile connectivity on the cards, the likes of BT are looking to acquire some of the spectrum to improve its broadband coverage, especially in rural areas.

What are data SIMs all about?

More and more people are using data SIMs for all sorts of connectivity from simple things like being able to surf the web, to more complex things like remote management and mobile video broadcast. But are all data SIM’s the same? We’ll give you a brief rundown on what is available from Anvil Mobile  and in the coming weeks go into more detail on which S|IM is best for specific applications.

Anvil Mobile has multiple data SIM options. The reason for this is because different applications have different requirements, so a one size fits all approach just won’t work.

Fixed IP with private APN – We refer to this as our business grade mobile broadband connection. No data goes over the public internet. This means better security, performance and reliability. This SIM is used where a fixed IP address can be used to remotely access a connected device, a control system or a server.

Standard data SIM- dynamic IP – this is a standard data SIM great for lots of applications with a choice of data packages.

Low usage- If you need a connection which is only sending a very small amount of data e.g. 10-50 meg per month. The data is charged at less than 10p per megabyte

Bonded – If you need a high capacity mobile connection then look no further than our bonded solution. This bonds either 3 or 6 SIMs at once which makes it a great solution for mobile video broadcast or for locations where the user population is too large for a single SIM device.  

Click here for more information on data SIMs