Not long ago we reported that EE’s 5G Standalone service – now dubbed ‘5G+’ – would soon reach over half the UK’s population, and now EE has achieved that milestone, with its 5G Standalone service now being available to over 44 million people – accounting for roughly 66% of the UK population. Achieving this already means the network has surpassed its original coverage target by five months.
The most recent progress on that front involved bringing 5G+ to 20 additional towns and cities, with a combined population of over 1.6 million people. The places in question are as follows:
Ballymena, Burton-on-Trent, Chelmsford, Dewsbury, Ellesmere Port, Gateshead, Greenock, Hamilton, Hartlepool, Hatfield, Hereford, Londonderry/Derry, Newark, Oldham, Rochdale, Solihull, Stafford, Stevenage, Tamworth, and Warwick.
Notably, 5G+ is now available in all of the UK’s major cities and its most populous towns, including many of those with Christmas markets and other festive attractions. That includes London’s Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, which is the UK’s largest outdoor Christmas market, and typically attracts around 3 million visitors a year.
Faster and more reliable
That sort of place is well suited to 5G Standalone, because as well as delivering higher download and upload speeds than standard 5G, this technology also makes the network more reliable, even when thousands of people are trying to connect at once.
So 5G Standalone – which essentially means a 5G service with no legacy 4G infrastructure in the mix – is a desirable upgrade, and it’s one that EE aims to bring to 99% of the UK population by 2030.
Note though that while it comes as standard with EE’s pay monthly handset plans, you need either an All Rounder or Full Works plan to access 5G+ on SIM Only.
And if you’re not on EE, you’re also not necessarily out of luck, as O2 and Vodafone have 5G Standalone services of their own, which they’re rapidly expanding too.
