News
Clare Hopping
10:52, 29 Aug 2013
O2 and Vodafone's 4G services launch today, joining EE plus Three has confirmed it will roll out 4G services in December
O2 and Vodafone have launched their 4G services today, alongside EE's existing plans, while Three has confirmed its services wil roll out from December.
O2's 4G service will be available in London, Leeds and Bradford, while Vodafone 4G will now be available in London.
Three's service will start in London, Manchester and Birmingham, with more than 40 cities supported by the end of 2014.
If you're an existing Three customer and have a 4G-enabled phone, you will be automatically signed up to 4G services when the switch is flicked - for no extra cost.
Both networks will be rolling out 4G to 13 cities by the end of 2013, making it available in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.
When the nationwide rollout is complete, Vodafone, O2 and EE's 4G services will cover 98 per cent of the UK.
EE's 4G service launched in October last year and already has almost 700,000 customers. Its 4G is available in more than 100 cities and towns in the UK, with some boasting extra-fast mobile broadband.
Both O2 and Vodafone are offering extra services to try to persuade customers to join them rather than rival EE.
Vodafone is offering unlimited data for the first three months, plus a year's subscription to either Spotify Premium or Sky Sports Mobile TV.
Guy Laurence, CEO, Vodafone UK said, 'Vodafone Ultrafast 4G is here and we’re giving people a reason to get excited about it as we switch on a new site every 30 minutes. We’re bringing the capital closer to the action with Sky Sports and letting Londoners stream 20 million tracks with Spotify. We’re also giving the city’s busy businesses a boost by helping them take their office with them when they’re out and about. In fact, in the few days since we launched our 4G plans, more than 20,000 people have signed up. So, the question for Londoners now is: which do you want - music or sport?'
O2 says customers signing up to a 4G package will get 12 months free music content on price plans.
Vodafone and O2's tariffs are both slightly more expensive than EE's current offerings, with contracts starting at £26 per month.
Devices available on both networks include:
Nokia Lumia 925
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Samsung Galaxy S4
BlackBerry Q10
HTC One
Sony Xperia Z
BlackBerry Z10
Nokia Lumia 920
HTC One SV
Nokia Lumia 820
Nokia Lumia 920
Sony Xperia SP
Samsung Galaxy Mega
Samsung Galaxy S3
Take a look at the comparison between O2, Vodafone and EE's 4G services.
Network
Vodafone
O2
EE
Three
4g