EE is one of the UK’s biggest and fastest mobile networks, but depending on what plan you’re on you won’t be able to take advantage of all that speed.
That’s because unlike most networks, EE applies speed caps to some of its plans. So while you can get plans with unrestricted speeds (or uncapped speeds to use EE’s wording), there are also plans that top out at 100Mbps, 25Mbps, and even just 10Mbps.
So if you’re considering purchasing one of these plans, read on to see just how fast (or slow) these speeds really are.
How fast is 10Mbps?
- Good for web browsing, social media, email, streaming music, and streaming 1080p video
- Bad for 4K video, online games, video calls, tethering, and large file transfers
- Download a 1GB file in 13 minutes and 20 seconds
EE’s No Frills plans limit you to 10Mbps speeds. These are the network’s cheapest plans, so if you want to save some money, they could be worth considering, but it’s worth being aware of just how slow 10Mbps actually is.
Generally, this is adequate for basic tasks like social media, web browsing, and sending emails. Simple web pages should load quickly (though busier ones could take a noticeable amount of time), emails can be sent essentially instantly (assuming they don’t include large attachments), and text and images on social media should be smooth to scroll.
In fact, you should even be able to reliably stream music, podcasts, and video, with Netflix for example claiming that you only need 5Mbps speeds for 1080p content.
However, this won’t be enough for streaming video in 4K, which to stick with Netflix as an example requires speeds of at least 15Mbps, and some streaming services recommend at least 25Mbps.
10Mbps also isn’t enough for many online games, video conferencing, or large file transfers, and there could be a long wait to download large apps or games with internet of this speed – a 1GB app or file for example would take 13 minutes and 20 seconds to download.
10Mbps is also definitely too low to really share the connection with multiple devices, as you might through tethering.
For reference, 10Mbps is only slightly higher than the 7.2Mbps limit of standard 3G speeds, and it’s lower 3G HSPA+ theoretically allows, and these are very dated technologies.
How fast is 25Mbps?
- Good for all the same stuff as 10Mbps plans and also capable of streaming in 4K, video calls, and online games
- Bad for tethering or downloading large files
- Download a 1GB file in 5 minutes and 20 seconds
EE’s Pay As You Go plans all top out at 25Mbps, but this isn’t a speed cap you’ll find on any of its other plans.
As for what you can do at 25Mbps speeds. Well, everything you can do at 10Mbps will work of course and will be a little faster or smoother – so that includes social media, web browsing, emailing, streaming music, and streaming 1080p videos.
However, at 25Mbps you should just about be able to stream 4K content from a lot of services too, and online gaming becomes a lot more viable, as do video calls.
This sort of speed is in the ballpark of what you might expect from a typical 4G connection, so even if you’re on a plan that isn’t limited to 25Mbps, you may still get these sorts of speeds where there’s only 4G (though 4G is theoretically capable of speeds of up to 150Mbps, or even 300Mbps with LTE-Advanced). So even on 4G this cap will sometimes be holding you back.
It’s also still not really enough to comfortably share your connection with multiple devices, and while downloading large files is viable at these speeds, it’s a bit slow, with a 1GB file for example taking 5 minutes and 20 seconds to download.
How fast is 100Mbps?
- Good for all the same stuff as 25Mbps plans, plus tethering and downloading large files
- Not bad for any typical uses, but still can't take full advantage of 5G
- Download a 1GB file in 1 minute and 20 seconds
EE’s Essentials and Essentials Plus plans top out at 100Mbps, and other than its uncapped plans (which specifically are its All Rounder and Full Works ones) these are the only plans that can make much use of 5G.
That said, 100Mbps isn’t enough to take full advantage of 5G, since peak speeds with this network technology can exceed 1Gbps, and even average or median speeds can be well over 200Mbps.
For example, in a 2024 RootMetrics report, EE was found to have a median 5G download speed of 207.5Mbps – though elsewhere Opensignal found in September 2024 that its average 5G download speed was just 96.8Mbps, so that’s a speed these plans would be able to reach.
In any case, with 100Mbps speeds everything that you can do with 25Mbps speeds will feel even faster and smoother, including web browsing, using social media, emailing, and streaming music, with streaming 4K video, taking part in video calls, and playing online games likely to benefit the most.
100Mbps also makes tethering to multiple devices very viable, and allows you to download even large files quite quickly, with a 1GB file taking just 1 minute and 20 seconds to download.
So speeds of 100Mbps will probably be adequate for the vast majority of users – and even if you have a plan that isn’t capped at these speeds, you may find your real world speeds are often below 100Mbps anyway.
But if you want no restrictions and the fastest, smoothest experience possible, then you should still pick a plan without a speed cap – whether that’s an EE All Rounder or Full Works plan, or another network, most of which give you uncapped speeds as standard.
