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Glastonbury 2019: the UK’s first 5G-connected festival

25th April 2019

EE and Glastonbury go together like Simon and Garfunkel – or Jay-Z and Beyonce, if that’s more your cup of tea. This will be the sixth year running we’ve been the festival’s official technology partner, but this time around we’re doing things a little differently.

The Killers, The Cure and Stormzy are headlining, but 5G may well steal the show. That’s because we’re installing our state-of-the-art 5G network at Worthy Farm for a landmark trial – making Glastonbury 2019 the UK’s first 5G-connected festival.

And that’s just the warm-up act. We’ll also be helping festival-goers stay connected with superfast phone charging and power bar swapping at the EE Recharge Tent, as well as helping to develop the official Glastonbury 2019 app.

5G joins the party

To keep music fans connected throughout the weekend, we’ll be installing five temporary masts across the 900-acre Somerset site broadcasting 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G for the first time. Those lucky enough to be at the festival will be able to share their unforgettable moments with friends and family back home via our 5G-powered WiFi – meaning you won’t need a 5G-compatible phone to experience our brand-new 5G network technology.

Power through the weekend

With so much to see and share, you’re likely to drain your phone’s battery faster than usual. But thankfully the EE Recharge Tent has you covered. Pop by any time from 10am till 10pm from Thursday 27 June to give your phone a much-needed battery boost.

We’ve got more chargers than ever before and it’s free to charge your phone – no matter what network you’re on. We’ve got wireless and USB-C chargers that will re-energise compatible phones in under 30 minutes.

Don’t want to miss a minute of the action? You can buy a Juice Tube Power Bar for £20 at the EE Recharge Tent or on EE.co.uk in the run up to the festival. The Juice Tube Power Bar lets you fully charge your phone on the move. You can swap it for a fully charged Power Bar once a day, for free, at the EE Recharge Tent or EE Exchange Cabin.

‘Appy camping

The official Glastonbury 2019 app, developed in partnership with EE, will be available to download from mid-June.

When you’ve downloaded the app from Google Play or the App Store, you’ll be able to plan your weekend, see the line-up and find your way around the festival site.

In 2017, an incredible 54 terabytes of mobile data was used over the festival weekend by Glastonbury-goers sharing photos and videos of their favourite festival moments, streaming content and keeping up to date with events away from the festival.

But we think Glastonbury 2019 will dwarf that, with up to 40% more data being used over the festival weekend. That’s a staggering 70 terabytes of data – enough to download Stormzy’s hit song ‘Shut Up’ 19 million times or post 784 million times on Instagram.

Want to see where else you can get 5G? Check out our 5G coverage map >

 

 

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