Today the parent company that owns Orange and T-Mobile, Everything Everywhere, has announced a new “EE” brand network which will be the UK’s first 4G LTE running network.
Amongst the major announcements of the new brand and the new 4G LTE phones that it will be supporting, there has been a small amount of confusion for Orange and T-Mobile customers as to what will be happening to their networks and whether they will be converting to the new “EE” brand.
Well, in a statement by Everything Everywhere the company has categorically stated that Orange and T-Mobile will be continuing as separate brands of the network and the new EE network will be a third network choice for users.
The company states: “Orange and T-Mobile customers will continue to benefit from the best 3G and 2G mobile network.”
One of the first changes that Orange and T-Mobile users will see is that their phone signal indicator and network settings may change to the EE branding on their phones or tablets. Customers will still continue to use the combined network services of both Orange and T-Mobile which gives the users the best overall coverage in the UK, and they’ll also get a third network – EE – to use.
At the moment EE will be the third brand and will specialise in 4G coverage as well as using the same network signal for 3G and 2G for non-4G areas.
There will be no changes to any existing T-Mobile and Orange price plans and when contracts are up the users will be eligible to change between any of the three brands, with all three brands having separate deals and special offers. The company assures that Orange and T-Mobile customers will also be among the first to have the opportunity to access 4G through a move to the new EE customer brand.
One of the big changes will come in the form of the Orange and T-Mobile high street stores, as all separate branded stores will be replaced with “exciting new” EE stores which promise to double the amount of stores accessible to customers, and each of them will sell all three network brands.
EE has stated that the following changes will be coming to Orange and T-Mobile customers:
- EE network switched on today
- EE’s new customer brand to launch in the coming weeks with pioneering superfast 4G LTE mobile services and fibre broadband
- EE’s superfast 4G service to launch in 16 cities by Christmas, covering 20 million people – a third of the population. Nationwide 4G roll out to accelerate through 2013 with 98% of UK population covered in 2014
- EE’s superfast fibre broadband service to reach more than 11 million households and businesses by end of year
- Over 700 EE-branded stores to open – more than any other operator
- Orange and T-Mobile customers to benefit from the UK’s biggest and best mobile network, and more stores than ever before
EE has stated that ‘eligible’ UK customers of Orange and T-Mobile will be offered a ‘straightforward’ way of moving onto the newly formed EE 4G network for an easy change over.
And finally, when the question of “What will happen to perks I like such as Orange Wednesday” comes up, Orange has stated:
“Everything you love about Orange will stay exactly the same including Orange Wednesdays. Your number and price plan won’t change, and you can still get in touch in the usual ways.
Phew… we didn’t want to go back to paying full price for our cinema tickets! Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
Source: Everything Everywhere