All products and promotions are independently selected by our experts. To help us provide free impartial advice, we will earn an affiliate commission if you buy something. Click here to learn more
EE underwent a colossal rebrand at the end of last year, launching its new EE ID system — a single account to rule them all, protected by multi-factor authentication to keep your personal data secure.
EE ID can be used to purchase the products you'd typically associate with EE and BT – like pay monthly phone contracts and broadband – and some less likely candidates, including security cameras, fridges, and insurance.
The brand also debuted its all-new EE TV hardware and service, which streams live television and on-demand boxsets over Wi-Fi, like we've seen from rivals including Sky Stream, Sky Glass, Virgin Media Stream, and Freely.
And now, EE has turned its attention to video games — an industry worth an estimated £7 billion each year.
The BT-owned brand already stocks the latest consoles, including bundles with the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Meta Quest VR headsets. These can be bought with games as well as EE Data Passes that let you stream games on your smartphone and tablet without impacting your data allowance.
EE has pulled out all the stops for gamers, with a dedicated Game Mode baked into the Wi-Fi router, support for speedier WiFi 6, and an Xbox Game Pass subscription included for two-years EE PRESS OFFICE "We can help you get everything you need from, console bundles, to games and accessories. And you can pay upfront or spread the cost — even if you’re not on EE," the brand says.
Next up, EE launched a brand-new broadband bundle designed specifically for video game fans.
It includes some of the fastest home broadband speeds currently available — regularly topping 1,600Mbps, a next-generation Wi-Fi router with a dedicated Game Mode, and 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription worth over £300. Dubbed EE Broadband Made for Gamers, the package offers several features designed to appeal to players who favour reliable, lightning-fast download speeds, and low latency above all else. With download speeds of 1.6Gbps, the average update to a blockbuster game (20GB) can be downloaded in under two minutes compared to roughly 40 minutes with the average UK home broadband speed of 69Mbps.
To put its download speeds to the test, EE appointed two prominent speedrunners — players who race through an entire video game, or section of a game, as fast as possible — Dan Riley and Josh Edwards to attempt to break a number of speedrunning world records on the 1.6Gbps speeds.
Dan Riley, from Devon, and Josh Edwards, from Bournemouth, set a total of four speedrunning records on GRID Legends, which were officiated by speedrun.com, the official global authority on speedrunning.
During the record attempts, EE set its broadband to Game Mode — something that's only possible with its new dedicated game-focused broadband package.
With this feature enabled, the EE Smart Hub Plus router will apply a geographical filter to always pick the best quality servers — reducing the chance of lag interrupting online gameplay or streamed titles, like those on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which is now available on Fire TV Stick.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Not only that, but it also incorporates a "Ping Optimiser" that fine-tunes your broadband connection during gameplay to reduce buffering. This nifty feature will reduce server ping by up to 24%, tests carried out by developers Netduma demonstrate.
Speaking after setting two new world records on GRID Legends, Josh Edwards said: “It honestly felt like my performance was on another level using the EE Broadband Made for Gamers bundle – it was a huge help in shaving off those crucial seconds so that we could smash the records.
"There’s no question that I’ll be using the bundle at home from now on – I can’t wait to add it to my set-up and give myself that extra boost when I’m competing online," Dan Riley added.
"And what better way to put it to the ultimate test, than to give Dan and Josh the edge by using it with an Xbox Series X console – helping them to smash four speedrun world records in less than two hours.
The new official speedrun.com Word Records on GRID Legendsare as follows —
Dan Riley
Josh Edwards
Customers can take out the Broadband Made for Gamers bundle for £79.99 per month. While EE is the only broadband supplier in the UK with a package dedicated to gamers, several other internet brands do offer similar download speeds.
Virgin Media tops 2,000Mbps in some areas of the UK, while smaller full-fibre suppliers like Community Fibre top out at 3Gbps — that's 43x faster than the average household broadband in the UK. Although, you'll miss out on features like Game Mode built into the Wi-Fi router.
