"VIP connection" on all rounder plan?

[Roodles]

I've just seen this as a feature of the premium plans.

I'm curious of the mechanics, do these plans apply a higher QCI to them or is it more of a gimmick?

I travel through very congested cells in London so not sure if it is worth forking out for this!

Cheers

[Roodles]

I kind of asked this "doubting Thomas" question in my first post but I suspect you're unlikely to find an answer on here...

But here are my ramblings lol

One of the traffic shaping tools that mobile providers use is QCI.  Data is for EE standard QCI 8. With a rooted android phone you can actually see which QCI you are on using an app.

EE state in their T&Cs that if you go over your FUP, your QCI is reduced to 9. I'm no expert but this would mean on a busy cell, the QCI 8 are going to have a better experience than QCI 9. Phone calls go at QCI 5 by the way, which means data will get dropped to allow calls through, if push comes to shove.

If you're both pay monthly, QCI 8 though, and on a busy cell I too would be interested how the traffic shaping works for the all rounder / full works.

It's obviously another way of extracting funds, now that data is so cheap there has to be some other carrot to remove the wedge from your wallet haha

[bristolian]

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@Plymouthbloke1 wrote:

the VIP data connection - I know it’s hard to prove to people it exists so how will you prove it to the lay man?

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Out of interest, what reason would you have, to need to prove the connection to anyone? Is this the newest version of "I've got more bars than you"...

My understanding is that this is - at least in part - QCI based.

[Plymouthbloke1]

In this instance I’m just morbidly curious. Any company could say that they offer something such as this and put a fancy label on it (along with an entry on your bill to say you have this feature) but I may just be just that - a label on a bill. Now, I’m not saying for one moment that EE would engage in such nefarious tactics, but I’d just be interested in how it works if it is indeed QCI based. Also, is it just restricted to 5G? Or is 4G included as well?

[Shaus-tech]

I've recently seen the VIP connection option in the EE packages. They are effectively creating a "two tier" internet access as most cells seem to be congested these days. It seems to be getting worse and I'm wondering if it's because of a higher take up of those with VIP connections has left us peasants struggling for data. I'm constantly having to toggle airplane mode to get apps to load in areas near schools, colleges and shopping centres.

Is there any publicly available info on what capacity cells are averaging at? 

[Roodles]

I'm still trying to work out how it actually happens.

I guess it isn't QCI, EE must have added some other layer of prioritization. What actual affect it has I'd be interested to know!

[Matt_124]

Hi,

Just wanted to stick a post up to find out if there has been any further detail given on how the Network Boost feature works on the New All-Rounder and Full Works plans?

I heard some speculation it was QCI-based but wanted to know if there was anything definitive or if we could get an official answer.

Would also be good if the guys could add a section to the site explaining what this actually does (or even acknowledging it's existence) as when you search the only results are WiFi Coverage Boost and old posts about Signal Boxes.

[Roodles]

I've been unable to get to the bottom of the actual mechanism used.

Standard QCI is 8 and some plans mention getting dropped to 9 is FUP is reached.

I can't imagine all non-premium users getting shoved on 9, so I can only guess they do something else.

[constantind]

Hi everyone,

I’m on an older smart sim plan which was taken out in Nov 2020. I was wondering after the launch of these new plans with VIP access, how does this affect people like me on older smart sim plans? Does this mean that now I will be deprioritised when the network is busy? Will I get the same priority as the normal plans which obviously don’t include this VIP connection?

Many thanks.

[Lesley_W]

Hi @constantind 

Welcome back to the Community!
 

VIP Connection is only available on our 2024 Full Works and All Rounder plans, but you'll continue to receive the same service and features with your existing SIM plan that you did before.
 

If you're out of contract at the moment, then you're welcome to check out our new SIM Only options where this is available. 

Lesley

[constantind]

Hi, 

Thank you for your reply.

Sorry but that doesn’t answer my question.

If there’s anyone else that is able to help answer my query that would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.