By EE’s Smart WiFi service gives you better in-home wi-fi with a Smart Wi-Fi Disc and the EE Smart Router. You’ll also get a portable 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot.
EE now offers Smart WiFi as an optional £10/month add-on for all of their home broadband plans. The Smart Wi-Fi service comes with a Wi-Fi boosting Disc that extends the range of the Wi-Fi network through your home. You’ll also get a next-generation Smart Wi-Fi Router with the EE Home app and a portable 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot to use on the go.
EE’s home broadband service is available from £29.99 per month, or £29.99 per month if you’re an EE Pay Monthly mobile customer.
In this article, we’ll look at EE’s Smart WiFi service and the three key features you’ll get with it. We’ll also look at how the mesh networking technology compares to regular Wi-Fi extenders and at the range of EE broadband plans that are compatible with Smart WiFi. Finally, we’ll also discuss how you can switch to EE Broadband if you’re currently using a different broadband provider.
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Contents
What is EE Smart WiFi?
In the UK, EE offers home broadband from £29.99 per month (or £29.99 per month if you’re an EE Pay Monthly mobile customer).
Once you’ve chosen an EE broadband plan, you can add Smart WiFi as an optional £10 per month add-on. This gives you three key benefits:
- A wi-fi boosting Smart Disc to extend the range of your Wi-Fi network. This boosts the strength of your Wi-Fi network, so you’re able to get a signal in every room of your home. This can allow you to work, study, stream and download wherever you are at home.
- An upgraded EE Smart Wi-Fi router with the EE Home app. You’ll get EE’s next-generation Smart Wi-Fi Router when you upgrade to Smart WiFi. As well as giving you better performance, you can also use the EE Home app to manage your network and to control internet access at different times.
- A 4GEE WiFi Mini portable hotspot, with extra data if there’s a fault with your home broadband. You’ll also get a 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot included, giving you access to mobile broadband on EE’s 4G network when you’re out and about. This includes 2GB of data per month. It will be boosted with another 250GB of data if there’s ever a fault with your home broadband connection.
In the following section, we’ll look at each of these three benefits in more detail.
Smart Wi-Fi Booster Disc
Customers signing up for EE’s Smart WiFi service will receive EE’s Smart Wi-Fi Disc. This is a clever device that boosts the range of your home WiFi network, making sure you’re able to get a good WiFi signal throughout your whole home.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, having better and more reliable Wi-Fi has never been more important. Many of us are now spending more time at home with different family members working, studying, gaming and streaming from different rooms across the home. The Smart WiFi solution helps everyone to have a stronger WiFi signal so they’re able to do the things they want to do online.
As well as boosting the range of your WiFi signal, Smart WiFi should also give you a more reliable connection along with faster speeds on Wi-Fi. Typically, you might see a speed boost of around 25% when using a Smart WiFi Disc in a typical four-bedroom home.
According to EE, each Wi-Fi Disc is able to support up to 60 connected devices at one time (up to 30 devices using 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and up to 30 devices using 5GHz Wi-Fi). There’s also a Gigabit Ethernet socket provided on the back of the Wi-Fi Disc, allowing you to connect a wired device directly to the Disc.
If you’re unable to get a good enough connection using one Wi-Fi Disc, you can ask EE to send you up to two further Wi-Fi Discs (a delivery charge of £6.99 per disc will apply for this).
Smart Wi-Fi Router & EE Home App
Customers signing up for EE’s Smart WiFi service will also receive EE’s latest Smart Wi-Fi Router. This replaces the normal EE Smart Hub which is provided on fibre broadband plans and the Bright Box 1 router which is provided on EE’s standard broadband plan.
The Smart Wi-Fi Router has 7 built-in WiFi antenna to optimise and improve the speed of your network. It supports dual-band Wi-Fi 5 technology (802.11b/g/n/ac) with speeds of up to 1733Mbps on 5GHz Wi-Fi and speeds of up to 800Mbps on 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. You’ll also get 4 Gigabit Ethernet sockets provided on the router allowing you to connect wired devices to your home network.
In addition to the improved Wi-Fi performance, the Smart Wi-Fi Router can also be managed through the EE Home app. The app will allow you to see all of the devices that are connected to your wi-fi network. You can also set up different groups of users within the app with different policies on what they’re able to access and when (e.g. you can switch off the internet for your children during mealtimes and after they go to bed).
4GEE WiFi Mini Hotspot
You’ll also get a 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot with 2GB of data per month on EE’s Smart WiFi service. The 4GEE WiFi Mini is a small battery-operated device that creates a WiFi signal from EE’s 4G network. You can use it to get up to 20 devices connected to the internet using a mobile broadband connection when you’re out and about.
According to EE, the 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot weighs around 85g and offers up to 12 days of battery life on one charge (using the built-in 2,150mAh battery). The WiFi signal from your 4GEE WiFi Mini supports Wi-Fi 5 technology (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) and has a range of about 10 metres.
In the event of a fault with your home broadband service, EE will give you a 250GB data boost on the 4GEE WiFi Mini. This 250GB of extra data will last for 30 days and will allow you to use the mobile broadband connection as a drop-in replacement for your regular home broadband until the issue is resolved.
Mesh Wi-Fi Technology
EE’s Smart WiFi service uses mesh networking technology. This means you’ll get a single WiFi network covering your whole home, with no need to change WiFi networks as you move from room to room.
Compared to older Wi-Fi range extenders or repeaters, there are four key benefits to choosing a mesh networking solution like EE Smart WiFi:
- You’ll get better speeds through your home using mesh networking technology. Unlike older Wi-Fi range extenders or repeaters, you’ll get far better speeds with a mesh networking solution like EE Smart WiFi. This is because the Wi-Fi Router and Disc work seamlessly together to giving you better speeds and performance without added congestion and things slowing down. Older Wi-Fi repeaters will blindly repeat a signal so will cause your entire network to slow down as a trade-off for boosting the signal.
- There’s one seamless Wi-Fi network, with no need to reconnect as you walk around your home. All of your Wi-Fi Routers and Discs work together to give one seamless network. Your devices will automatically use whichever one gives the best performance without you even knowing. There’s no need to manually reconnect as you walk around your home and no need to deal with multiple Wi-Fi networks and passwords.
- There’s no need to have a wired connection between your Wi-Fi Router and Discs. Traditionally, it might be necessary to use a wired connection between your Wi-Fi router and range extender to avoid slowing down your network. With mesh networking, this isn’t a problem as the Wi-Fi Router and Discs can talk to each other using a separate wireless connection.
- It’s easy to set up your Wi-Fi Discs. It’s a straightforward process to set-up your Smart Wi-Fi Discs, and you can use the features in the EE Home app to help. With traditional Wi-Fi repeaters or range extenders, it can be complicated setting up your network, especially if you have multiple extenders and want to minimise interference between them all.
EE Broadband Plans
Home Broadband Plans
At present, EE offers a range of home broadband plans in the UK, starting from £29.99 per month. Customers with an EE Pay Monthly mobile contract will be able to get a 10% discount with plans starting from just £29.99 per month.
The following table shows a list of EE’s home broadband plans. The broadband plans available will depend on your address, so you should check this by entering your postcode on the EE website.
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
 EE Fibre 36 | 36Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 150 | 150Mbps average download | £30.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Fibre 50 | 50Mbps average download | £30.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 74 | 74Mbps average download | £31.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Fibre 67 | 67Mbps average download | £31.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 300 | 300Mbps average download | £37.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 500 | 500Mbps average download | £39.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre Gigabit | 900Mbps average download | £47.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 1.6 Gigabit | 1600Mbps average download | £69.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
Check EE Broadband Plan Availability →
Once you’ve chosen your EE broadband plan, you’ll be given the option to add Smart WiFi for an extra £10/month during the checkout process.
If you’re already an EE home broadband customer, you can upgrade your current plan to include Smart WiFi. You’ll pay an extra £10/month on top of your current plan and will need to sign a new 18-month contract.
On Smart WiFi, the router will become your property after 14 days on the service. Meanwhile, the Smart Wi-Fi Disc and the 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot will become your property after 6 months using the service.
EE Pay Monthly Mobile Customers
If you’re an EE Pay Monthly mobile customer, you’ll benefit from a 10% discount on EE broadband. This allows you to get home broadband from £29.99 per month.
In addition, you’ll also benefit from extra data on your EE pay monthly mobile contract. This can be up to 20GB of extra data on your phone every month. depending on the broadband plan you choose.
The following table shows EE’s discounted broadband plans for Pay Monthly customers:
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
EE Fibre 36 | 36Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 150 | 150Mbps average download | £30.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Fibre 50 | 50Mbps average download | £30.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 74 | 74Mbps average download | £31.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Fibre 67 | 67Mbps average download | £31.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 300 | 300Mbps average download | £37.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 500 | 500Mbps average download | £39.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre Gigabit | 900Mbps average download | £47.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 1.6 Gigabit | 1600Mbps average download | £69.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
As an EE Pay Monthly mobile customer, you’ll also be given the option to add Smart WiFi for an extra £10/month during the checkout process.
Switching to EE Broadband
If you’re switching from another broadband provider to EE, it’s easy to do this.
Start by choosing your new EE broadband plan online. After choosing your new plan on their website, you’ll be given the option to add Smart WiFi during the checkout process.
You’ll be given a go-live date for your new broadband service once the order is complete (this will typically be for around two weeks time). Unless you’re a Virgin Media customer (in which case you’ll also need to call them to cancel), EE will contact your old provider to cancel your old service. They can also give you a £50 credit if you’re charged for early cancellation.
On the go-live date for your EE broadband service, you’ll be able to plug in your new Smart Wi-Fi Router and Disc. You’ll also receive your 4GEE WiFi Mini hotspot which will go live at the same time as your EE broadband service.
For step-by-step instructions on how to switch your broadband provider to EE, please select your current provider from the drop-down menu below:
Switch to EE Broadband
Your step-by-step guide to switching
For further information, read our in-depth guide to switching broadband provider in the UK.
Frequently Asked Questions
| What is EE Smart Wi-Fi? | Smart Wi-Fi is an optional add-on for EE home broadband, costing £10 per month. It comes with three main benefits:
You can add Smart WiFi to any of EE’s home broadband plans, which currently start from £29.99 per month (or £29.99 per month if you’re an EE Pay Monthly mobile customer). |
|---|---|
| How does the EE Smart Wi-Fi Disc work? | The EE Smart Wi-Fi Disc works to boost the Wi-Fi signal from your EE Smart Wi-Fi Router. It uses mesh networking technology to enable this, with each disc supporting up to 60 connected devices at the same time. |
| What is the 4GEE WiFi Mini? | The 4GEE WiFi Mini is a pocket-sized mobile broadband hotspot from EE. You’ll get 2GB of data included every month on your 4GEE WiFi Mini, allowing you to connect up to 20 devices to the internet wherever you are. You’ll be given a 250GB data boost if there’s a fault with your home broadband service. |
| How much does EE Smart Wi-Fi cost? | It costs £10/month to add Smart Wi-Fi to any EE broadband plan. At present, EE offers home broadband from £29.99/month (£29.99/month if you’re an EE Pay Monthly mobile customer). |
| How many EE Smart Wi-Fi Discs can I get? | You’ll be given one Smart Wi-Fi Disc when you sign up for EE’s Smart Wi-Fi service. You can then ask for another two discs to be sent out to you if required, with a delivery cost of £6.99 per disc. |
More Information
For more information about the Smart Wi-Fi service, please see EE’s official website.
Sue fulcher said:
Recieved mine today . Really usefull being able to boost WiFi by adding extra disc into summer house . Now have WiFi all around garden . Yet to use the mini device but so far no breaks in connection which was happening previously on old router .
Very please so far . Will order the extra discs tho as they were not sent .
Archie GOLDER said:
Just added smart wi fi and found it was a much better signal even without connecting a disc.
I would highly reccommend this.