Mobile Network Comparison

A wizard in the making! This incredibly skilled frog seems to be an expert at Ant Smasher on an Android mobile phone. You really have to see it to believe it. He’s got deadly accuracy and lightning fast reflexes and doesn’t even seem to mind that they taste of capacitative screen instead of juicy protein-filled formicid. However, make sure you stick around to the end – when he makes one mistake by accidentally eating a wasp, someone else gets the blame!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5DgvmWvRPQ

EE has just revealed the list of the next batch of towns to get 4G services rolled out. The UK’s superfast mobile broadband pioneer has been steadily increasing the number of locations where you can get a 4G signal since turning the service on late last year. The new 4G-capable masts will be switched on in the following UK regions:

• Amersham
• Bolton
• Chelmsford
• Hemel Hempstead
• Southend-on-Sea
• Stockport
• Sunderland
• Sutton Coldfield
• Wolverhampton

These locations join several major conurbations in the country which have already got a working 4G service from EE. It claims to be ahead of schedule in rolling out 4G already and previously claimed that it wouldn’t be long before 98% of the population had access to a 4G signal.

EE is keen to take advantage of its position as the only network currently able to offer superfast 4G broadband in the UK. It will be a race against time to get working services in all the countries major towns and cities and to convince people that it’s worth the extra monthly cost to get higher download speeds and also buy a 4G-capable phone.

However since the launch, EE has faced staunch criticism about its price plans. They have been lambasted not only for being too expensive but for only offering very limited data allowances that can be used up very quickly at 4G speeds.

Unfortunately, many major British cities have also been missed out so far by EE. Although they have announced dozens of places, some of the biggest urban areas have still not got a due date for their 4G services. EE has not announced the reasoning behind its choice of regions to begin the roll out so have a little pity for the almost 2 million people living in large cities such as Leicester, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Wigan and tech-centre Brighton who still don’t know when they’ll get the new wave of mobile broadband.

Can you get 4G in your area yet? Have you tried it out on your phone? Do you think it’s worthwhile? And will you go with EE or wait for the other networks to start a price war?

After our preview and fascinating two part interview with Samba CEO and co-founder Ben Atherton, we’ve finally got round to trying out the service for ourselves and writing a review. Head over to check it out.

For those of you who don’t know, Samba Mobile is a novel attempt to provide free mobile broadband. The service runs on 3G provided by 3 Mobile. We think this is a great choice as all our tests of 3 Mobile have found them to be very fast for mobile data. The 3G coverage is also very impressive.

The way Samba works is that users must build up credit by watching a variety of adverts specially chose for their tastes. Each one they watch earns them a few megabyte of internet usage. So you get to have completely free broadband access on your phone, tablet or PC just for watching some sort commercial videos.

What did we think of the service? Read our review to find out.