Orange, T-Mobile and EE have managed to coexist together for a number of years now, despite them all being essentially the same company, and all selling similar services. While Orange and T-Mobile used to be large, established names in their own right, 4G darling EE has understandably become by far the most prominent brand of the trio. High-street stores once coloured orange or magenta have long been redressed to EE's preference, and as of fairly recently, the online presence of the 3G-only providers has begun to be absorbed by EE. T-Mobile's site now forwards directly to ee.co.uk, and although Orange's homepage still exists, you can no longer purchase anything from it directly. Previously only of interest to "technofreaks," as Vodafone's CEO once put it, 4G is more or less mainstream. It's only a matter of time before all major networks begin to retire old 3G plans in order to structure themselves more around 4G, and in EE's case, this probably means putting Orange and T-Mobile out to pasture. It took over two years for the EE as we know it to arise from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile. It was business as usual for both brands as they continued to operate separately under new umbrella company Everything Everywhere, but it was their combined, repurposed airwaves (and the blessing of Ofcom) that begat the UK's first LTE network, months before the spectrum auction competitors needed for their own 4G services. EE was created and marketed as a completely new network selling only 4G plans, which were noticeably expensive at first. Since then, though, prices have dropped, nearly all other UK players have caught up, and most importantly 4G is no longer a buzzword. A much greater proportion of Brits are aware of 4G, and what's possible with mobile internet that's comparable in speed to their hardlines at home.
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