By 4G Internet (also known as 4G National Broadband) is a specialist provider of 4G home broadband for customers living in rural areas.
In the UK, 4G Internet is a specialist provider of 4G home broadband. Their service is primarily aimed at customers living in rural areas who are unable to get decent broadband from providers such as BT.
On 4G Internet, you’ll pay £29.99 per month for unlimited 4G home broadband. This comes with 99% coverage from either Vodafone or O2, depending on the best network available at your location.
You can pay a one-off fee of £99 to get started with a 4G Internet router with plug-and-play setup. This includes an expert coverage check when you sign up. For better performance, you can upgrade to a full installation which costs £399 upfront. The full install includes an external 4G antenna with professional setup by one of 4G Internet’s engineer.
In this article, we’ll review the 4G Internet (4G National Broadband) service in the UK. We’ll start by looking at the broadband plans available and how you can often get better speeds and performance with 4G broadband in rural areas. We’ll also look at the 4G router that’s provided, along with the external antenna if you choose a full installation. Finally, we’ll compare it to 4G home broadband services that are available directly from the networks.
| Prices From: | £29.99 per month (with unlimited data) |
|---|---|
| Contract Length: | 12-24 months |
| Average Speed: | 25Mbps download, 10Mbps upload Will vary based on the signal strength & coverage in your area |
| Router: | TP-Link MR600 |
| Setup Options: |
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| Coverage: | 99% of UK households (check your postcode) |
Contents
4G Internet Broadband Plans
In the UK, 4G Internet (also known as 4G National Broadband) is a specialist provider of home broadband using 4G technology.
The company will supply you with a 4G router and a 4G unlimited data SIM card (with coverage from Vodafone or O2). You’ll also get an expert coverage check at sign-up along with dedicated ongoing support for your 4G home broadband service.
There are two ways of using the 4G Internet service:
- Router Only (£99 upfront): The quickest way to get started is with 4G Internet’s Router Only option. Here, you’ll pay a £99 upfront fee for the router. You’ll also get an expert coverage check when you sign up. There’s a simple plug-and-play setup for your router to get started on 4G home broadband.
- Full Installation (£399 upfront): With a full installation, you’ll get an external 4G antenna. This is mounted outside your property for better speeds and performance. You’ll get a professional installation along with an ongoing guarantee on the service.
In the following section, we’ll look at each of these options in more detail.
Router Only
The fastest way to get started on 4G home broadband is with 4G Internet’s Router Only plan. Here, you’ll pay an upfront fee of £99 for your 4G home broadband router. You’ll also be sent a 4G SIM card with unlimited data (either from Vodafone or O2, depending on the network that performs best in your area).
The following plans are currently available, depending on the contract length you choose:
| Service | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
 4G Internet WiFi Router | Unlimited data | £31.99 per month plus £99.00 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
4G Internet WiFi Router | Unlimited data | £34.99 per month plus £99.00 upfront 18 month contract | See deal |
4G Internet WiFi Router | Unlimited data | £39.99 per month plus £99.00 upfront 12 month contract | See deal |
According to 4G Internet, there are no speed restrictions or download limits on their 4G home broadband service. However, customers receiving an O2 SIM card may be subject to a 650GB per month fair use policy (roughly double the average household’s data usage of 315GB per month).
Normally, you’ll receive your 4G router and SIM card within 48 hours of ordering your broadband plan online. This makes it the fastest way to get online with 4G broadband.
You’ll get a 14-day money back guarantee on this plan so you can cancel or return your service if you’re not satisfied with it. There’s also the option to upgrade to a full installation if it’s required to give you better performance (another 14-day trial is offered for your upgrade).
Full Installation
For customers living in an area where the 4G coverage is a little weaker, it can be worthwhile upgrading to a Full Installation. This includes a high-gain directional external 4G antenna which will be professionally aligned and installed by an engineer. This can give you a much stronger and more stable 4G connection (often allowing you to use 4G broadband in places where you can’t use it on your mobile phone).
A full installation will cost you £399. This includes the cost of the router, antenna, mount and installation. You’ll also get a 14-day money back guarantee (including the reconfiguration or removal of your 4G antenna if you’re not satisfied with performance).
| Service | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
4G Internet Full Installation | Unlimited data | £31.99 per month plus £299.00 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
4G Internet Full Installation | Unlimited data | £34.99 per month plus £299.00 upfront 18 month contract | See deal |
4G Internet Full Installation | Unlimited data | £39.99 per month plus £299.00 upfront 12 month contract | See deal |
When you sign up for a full installation, it will normally be arranged to take place within 10 days. This can be arranged after you place your order online.
4G Internet Speeds
If you’re living in a rural location where you’re not able to get fibre broadband from providers like BT, a 4G home broadband service can often give you faster download speeds and better reliability than your existing fixed-line service.
4G Internet says their average download speed is 25Mbps and their average upload speed is 10Mbps.
In practice, the exact speeds you’re able to get will depend on your location and the quality of the 4G signal you can receive.
To maximise the performance of your service, 4G Internet carries out a detailed coverage check at the point you sign up for their service. They’ll then place you on whichever network offers the best coverage in your area (either Vodafone or O2). If required, it’s also possible to get a full installation which gives you an external 4G antenna with better speeds and performance.
4G Internet Router & Antenna
When you join 4G Internet, you’ll be supplied with a TP-Link MR600 router. This will connect to the 4G mobile networks in your area, using that to broadcast a Wi-Fi network through your home.
The TP-Link MR600 router allows you to get online on up to 64 devices at the same time. This includes your laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart TV, games console and other smart home Wi-Fi enabled devices. It supports dual-band Wi-Fi 5 technology (802.11ac) with technologies such as MU-MIMO for better Wi-Fi performance.
The router also has 4 Gigabit Ethernet sockets on the back, allowing you to connect wired devices to your home network. You can also use the Ethernet connections to attach a mesh wi-fi system to your router (you can also buy a mesh wi-fi system from 4G Internet if you like).
The following table shows the full technical specifications of the WiFi Router provided by 4G Internet:
| 4G Internet WiFi Router (TP-Link Archer MR600) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Home Broadband Plans | |
| Price: | From £31.99/month |
| Data: | Unlimited |
| Unlimited Data: | £31.99/month |
| Contract Length: | 12-24 months |
| Mobile Connectivity | |
| 4G Connectivity: | Category 6 LTE |
| 4G Download Speed: | Up to 300 Mbps download |
| 4G Upload Speed: | Up to 50 Mbps upload |
| 4G Bands: | LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 34, 40 & 41 |
| External Antenna: | Yes, 2x SMA connectors |
| Home Network Connectivity | |
| Dual-Band Wi-Fi: | Yes |
| Wi-Fi Connectivity: | 802.11a/b/ |
| Wi-Fi Devices: | Up to 64 devices |
| Ethernet: | 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports |
| Other | |
| Model: | TP-Link Archer MR600 |
| Colour: | Black |
| More Information: | See 4g-internet.co.uk |
If you choose a full installation, you’ll be provided by an external 4G antenna as part of the setup. This is a high-gain 4G directional antenna which will be mounted outside your property and then connected to your TP-Link MR600 router.
Alternatives
The main alternative to 4G Internet is traditional fixed-line broadband from providers including BT, EE, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. This is delivered using copper broadband technology (ADSL), fibre broadband technology (FTTC and FTTP) or cable broadband technology.
Unfortunately, fixed-line broadband connections are often poor in rural areas, giving you slow speeds or poor reliability. This is where 4G home broadband technology really comes into its own, often giving you faster speeds and a better connection.
It’s also possible to get a 4G home broadband service direct from the mobile networks:
- Three offers unlimited 4G home broadband from £24/month. This is the lowest price available from any provider for 4G home broadband in the UK. However, it’s only available in around 25% of UK homes and speeds can be slow in some areas.
- EE offers 4G home broadband from £35/month for 100GB of data. You’ll need to pay £50/month to get unlimited data from EE.
- BT offers unlimited 4G home broadband from £53.73/month. However, your service is capped at a maximum speed of either 15Mbps or 30Mbps, depending on the plan you choose.
- Vodafone offers 4G home broadband plans with up to 300GB of data per month (£50/month). You can only get unlimited data on a 5G plan in 5G areas but this will cost you £35/month.
The following table shows a side-by-side comparison of the providers:
| Service | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Three 4G Hub | Unlimited data | £24.00 per month No upfront fee 6 months half price 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £2 | See deal |
4G Internet WiFi Router | Unlimited data | £31.99 per month plus £99.00 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
 4GEE Home | 300GB data | £45.00 per month No upfront fee 18 month contract Monthly cost will rise each March by £1.50 | See deal |
 BT 4G Home Hub | Unlimited data Up to 15Mbps | £53.73 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
One of the major advantages of choosing a specialist provider like 4G Internet is the fact they’re solely focussed around providing 4G home broadband. As such, you’ll get a number of benefits that aren’t available when you go direct to the networks.
This includes a detailed coverage check when you sign up for the service and the ability to switch between 4G networks when required. You’ll also get a dedicated customer support team for a 4G home broadband service (whereas the major networks treat it as an offshoot of their mobile service). 4G Internet also offers a professional antenna installation service whereas most other providers will require you to set this up yourself.
For more information, see our full comparison of 4G home broadband deals.
Coverage & Availability
In the UK, 4G Internet is available in around 99% of all households. This includes many rural addresses that aren’t able to get decent fixed-line broadband from providers like BT.
When you’re using the 4G Internet service, the underlying mobile coverage will be provided by one of their network partners. At present, the network partners are Vodafone and O2. You’ll get a detailed coverage check when you sign up which will determine the network you’re allocated to.
If required, you can request to be put on a specific 4G network. For instance, O2 is often preferred for multiplayer online gaming as they offer a moderate NAT setting unlike many other 4G broadband providers.
More Information
For more information about 4G Internet, please see their official website. You can also read our overview of 4G home broadband deals.
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