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EE has launched a new service called Stay Connected that essentially gives you unlimited data on plans that don’t have an unlimited data allowance.
Confused? We’ll lay it all out for you below, explaining exactly what EE Stay Connected is, how you can get it, and any limitations of it.
What is EE Stay Connected?
EE Stay Connected is a service that kicks in when you use up your standard data allowance on select plans. It lets you keep using data but at greatly reduced speeds of 0.5Mbps for both uploads and downloads. While that’s slow, it’s still enough to send messages and carry out other basic tasks on your phone.
How can I get EE Stay Connected?
EE Stay Connected comes as standard with any EE pay monthly phone or SIM Only plan bought from July 7th, 2021 that doesn’t come with unlimited data.
Is EE Stay Connected data unlimited?
Yes, it is, so you can use as much Stay Connected data as you want, it will just be a lot slower than the speeds you usually get on your phone.
What can I do at 0.5Mbps speeds?
0.5Mbps speeds are even lower than you’d typically get on the most basic of 3G connections, so they’re not speeds you’ll likely have experienced much in years, but they are just about enough for the basics.
With speeds of 0.5Mbps you can do things like browse the web, check and send emails, and use WhatsApp for messages, without too much slowdown. You can also use Google Maps, and even stream music on Spotify. Loading of websites and the like will be slower than normal, but they’ll be perfectly useable.
As an example of the time things will take, a web page will take around 25 seconds to load, a typical song will take around one minute to download, and a 30MB app will take around eight minutes to download.
What can’t I do at 0.5Mbps speeds?
There are a number of things that 0.5Mbps speeds aren’t ideal for or in some cases aren’t really capable of. These include streaming video, video calls, tethering, online gaming, or downloading large apps or other files.
These things will either be very slow, in the case of things like downloading and tethering, or just not really work at all, in the case of video streams and online games. Trying to stream audio in high quality is also unlikely to go well.
How can I get full speed data again?
The simplest way to return to full speed is simply to wait for your allowances to reset at the beginning of your next billing month.
However, if you just can’t wait then you can either buy a data add-on, or receive a data gift from someone else on your account – if there is anyone else on your account and they have data to spare.
FAQs
Can I use EE Stay Connected data to tether?
Yes, you can, but the speeds are low enough that tethering with EE Stay Connected data is unlikely to be a good experience, since that 0.5Mbps is shared between devices – so if you’re using two devices at once then they’ll average at most 0.25Mbps speeds each.
Can I use EE Stay Connected while roaming abroad?
Yes, you can use it to roam, but note that many EE plans require you to pay extra to roam, and Stay Connected is subject to the same 50GB monthly roaming cap as general data use.
Can I get EE Stay Connected on pay as you go?
No, at the time of writing EE Stay Connected is only available on pay monthly plans.
How will I know when EE Stay Connected data is going to kick in?
EE will text you when you’ve used 80% of your full speed data, and again when you’ve used all of it and Stay Connected kicks in, so you’ll be warned when it’s kicking in soon, and when it has done.
