EE 4G to Wired Ethernet Experiences

[Tatty]

Those old copper wires outside my house are unlikely to be full fibrated. Instead I'm looking at EE 4G as a solution.

But I need to supply wired ethernet to several network sockets at at least Cat 6a speeds . Does the EE router have an ethernet port to supply a wired Cat 6a/7 network switch?

It would be great to hear how fast EE4G is in practice because mobile phone bars tend to wander. How it is coping with family streaming both wirelessly, and through network cables?

Is EE4G faster and as reliable as wired CAT 6a speeds? Should I be looking at a specific EE router? Can I watch 4K, Ultra HD, Ultra-High definition? 

Sorry, so many questions.

[Keith_Beddoe]

https://ee.co.uk/broadband/hubs

Speed is dependent on your distance to the cell site, and how busy it is.

It will not be as fast as a fibre connection, and is likely to vary quite a bit.

Not many have Ethernet connections so you would need to use a wireless client to present an Ethernet appearance.

[Tatty]

Thanks for your reply. Not as promising as one might hope then.

Mobile reception does wobble a bit here and stronger upstairs . We are trying an air fibre connection via line of site connection but reception varies a lot at around 10mb download speed.

You need something stable to stream films without whirling circles.

[Keith_Beddoe]

I am on an ADSL connection, by choice, but have a tiny 4G mobile router as a backup, and in case I  need a faster upload speed than the 0.8mbs that ADSL provides.

Typically on Three mobile PAYG, I get anything from 5-20mbs download, and about 3mbs upload.

[Tatty]

That is a wide variation on 4G for you. Can you watch films when it changes so much? Nice to have a backup service though.

I like the fact you get faster upload speeds than many. With backups to cloud now a necessary requirement, it's surprising upload speeds have not been improved across the board. 

[Keith_Beddoe]

I just use my 9mbs ADSL connection for streaming, and that is normally just Netflix.

The 4G is used as a totally separate network, and used when required.

Its a wireless only device, but I use a TP Link wireless client to convert it to Ethernet and present it as a separate Gateway address on my local network.

During spring I upload content from my nest boxes to YouTube, hence the need for a faster upload speed.

All of my network is filtered through a Pi-Hole server running on a low powered PC. That removes a large proportion of unwanted content, so the 9mbs connection is more than adequate for my wife and I.

[Tatty]

I'm glad you have a stable 9 mbs so allowing you to stream Netflix. Are you viewing some 4K ultra def films without any issues on Netflix? Adapters can be very handy indeed. They usually need there own power but they don't take much.

My  BT Smart Hub rises between 4 and 9 mbs due to a very long copper line, in part using poles owned by UK Power Networks. It's an exposed area and Upload is awful at less than 1 mbs.

I have more rabbits than birds nests here and they tend to be hawks being an exposed area.

I manage to watch films on AppleTV+ but the TV won't stretch to 4K due to old standard HDMI ports. The intention is to upgrade the TV. Hopefully the air fibre connection will cope with 4K streaming. It does well at lower resolutions despite its wide internet speed variations. But the BT Smart Hub performance connected to wind blasted copper lengths isn't worth considering. All the pigeons and crows swaying around on the line don't help either bless them.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Its my wife that uses Netflix, and the grandchildren when they visit. We just have the basic SD single device usage, running on an LG Smart TV, no reported issues and no buffering.

Getting a bit off-topic now, so best if you looked at the EE devices to see if they are worth it.

[Tatty]

Yes why not. It's all that children will need.

[rbz5416]

You can buy 4G routers with largely the same facilities, including multiple ethernet ports, as ADSL/VDSL. Take a look at the TP-Link offerings for an idea of what's available.

You would need to ascertain which of the four major mobile network providers offers the best indoor coverage at your address. The Ofcom checker should give an idea of that. You'd then need to to actually obtain a SIM to test the real-world speed & reliability. All SIM contracts have a 14 day cooling off period.