Vodafone Broadband

Vodafone – well known for their role in the mobile phone space – now offers broadband on a budget. Because they only offer fibre broadband, their services won’t be available to everyone, though. Let’s take a look.

Overview

Average Download Speeds	38Mbps – 910Mbps
Average Upload Speeds	10Mbps – 910Mbps
Broadband Type	Fibre (FTTC/FTTP)
Home Phone-line Rental	Yes
TV/Entertainment Packages	Yes
Cost	from £20.00 per month

Broadband packages and speeds

Unlike most other providers, Vodafone no longer offers standard ADSL broadband. Instead, they concentrate their efforts entirely on providing Superfast Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Full Fast Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) broadband services:-

Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC)

Vodafone Superfast 1 & 2 (38Mbps & 67Mbps)

The first two entry-level packages from Vodafone are Superfast ‘Fibre to the Cabinet’ (FTTC) broadband connections, and come with average download speeds of 38Mbps and 67Mbps, respectively.

Unlike ADSL – which uses only copper cables – FTTC broadband only uses copper telephone cables from the green cabinet (you’ll often see these on street corners and footpaths) to your home. And, because less copper is used to deliver this type of broadband, you’ll get access to faster speeds and a more stable connection than you would with ADSL.

To work out whether either of these packages would be suitable for you, it’s a good idea to allocate 10Mbps for each person in the household who will be connecting to your broadband at the same time.

It’s worth noting that there is a negligible price difference between the Superfast 1 and Superfast 2 packages, so if you think you or anyone you live with is going to be using the internet a lot and at the same time as each other, it’s likely best to opt for the higher-tier package.

If you’re unsure about what broadband speeds you need, take a look at our guide.

Full Fibre (FTTP)

Vodafone Superfast 100 (100Mbps)

The entry-level package for Vodafone’s Full Fibre packages, the Superfast 100 has average download speeds of 100Mbps. In order to qualify for any Full Fibre packages from Vodafone, you’ll need to be living in an area where this type of connection is available.

It’s also worth noting that the upload speed for the Superfast 100 will vary depending on whether your Full Fibre connection is provided by BT Openreach’s network or CityFibre. On Openreach, average upload speeds will be 20Mbps, while with CityFibre, you can expect symmetrical upload speeds of 100Mbps.

Vodafone Ultrafast (200Mbps & 500Mbps)

Vodafone’s upper-tier Full Fibre packages offer download speeds of 200Mbps and 500Mbps, respectively.

Like the Ultrafast 100, depending on who provides the connection, you can expect a difference in upload speeds. If the connection is CityFibre, the line will be symmetrical. This means that download and upload speeds will be the same – either 200Mbps or 500Mbps.

However, if your connection is Openreach, the maximum upload speeds will be less – around 70Mbps.

Vodafone Gigafast (910Mbps)

The final and fastest package from Vodafone, ‘Gigafast’, offers average download speeds of 910Mbps.

The fastest Vodafone fibre optic service offers a rapid average download speed of 910Mb. 

Again, with a CityFibre connection, you can expect symmetrical upload speeds (910Mbps), while an Openreach connection will give you upload rates of around 115Mbps.

What are upload speeds?

Upload speeds determine how fast you’re able to copy or send content – such as photos or videos – from your device to apps like YouTube or Instagram, other devices (e.g., sending memes over Whatsapp) or cloud storage.

If you are someone who regularly shares content to social media sites such as Instagram or Facebook, plays games online, or works from home and frequently sends emails containing large files, you’ll likely want to pay attention to the upload speeds your broadband provides.

As an example of how upload speeds can affect your online experience, if you were to upload1GB (1 gigabyte) worth of photos or video content, this would take around 14 minutes on Vodafone’s Superfast 1 package with average upload rates of 10Mbps, or 9 seconds at 910Mbps with Vodafone’s Gigafast service (on a CityFibre connection).

Home phone packages

Vodafone includes phone line rental as standard on all its broadband packages. If you’d like to use your home phone to make calls, and want more than Pay As You Go (PAYG), they do offer a few call plan options which can be bolted on to your broadband deal:-

Package	Includes	Price per month
Evening & Weekend Calls	Inclusive evening and weekend calls to UK landlines (7pm – 7am Monday to Friday. Midnight Friday to Midnight Sunday).	£4.00
Anytime Landline & Mobile Calls	Inclusive anytime calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles.	£8.00
International 300	300 minutes to 46 international destinations.	£5.00

Vodafone Pro

Vodafone Pro is an optional extra that is available on either the Superfast 1, Superfast 2 or Superfast 100 packages.

For an additional £8.00 per month, the Pro bundle includes the following:-

Extra	Details
4G Broadband back-up	A free 4G dongle to help you stay connected if your main broadband line fails.
Faster Fibre Promise	Free upgrade if faster fibre becomes available in your area
Intelligent Wi-Fi	Automatically optimises your signal throughout the day, giving all your devices the fastest, most-reliable connection.
Wi-Fi Guarantee	If you can’t get Wi-Fi in every room of your house, you can leave your contract without penalty.
Wi-Fi Xperts	Dedicated UK-based support team only for Pro and Pro Xtra customers.
Norton 360 Premium	12-month free subscription to Norton 360 Antivirus software.
Vodafone Mobile Customer Discount	Existing Vodafone mobile customers will receive £3 off the cost of their monthly bill.

Vodafone Pro Xtra

The Vodafone Pro Xtra is available across all broadband deals. It includes the same extras as the Vodafone Pro as well as the following:-

Extra	Includes
Anytime Landline & Mobile Calls	Inclusive anytime calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles.
Apple TV 4K	Apple set-top box that supports streaming apps like Netflix. Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.

TV Bundles

Vodafone do offer TV deals but only with their ‘Pro Xtra’ service.

For an additional £16.00 per month, you can upgrade your broadband package to the Pro Xtra – a service bundled with Apple TV 4K – a set-top box that supports streaming apps such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime and Youtube TV, as well as access to Apple’s content platform, Apple TV+.

Annual price increases

Vodafone are one of a handful of providers that have annual price increases baked into their contract’s terms and conditions. This means that on or after the 31^st of March every year, the price of your broadband package will increase in-line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation. An additional fee of 3.9% also applies.

Contract length

All of Vodafone’s broadband packages are for 24-months.

Router

All Vodafone broadband deals include a free Vodafone WiFi Hub router.

The Wi-FI Hub supports dual-band Wi-Fi, so you can use both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks.

The device also has a rather advanced technological feature called “beamforming”. This means you can focus and optimise the signal on certain devices, improving their overall performance.

Installation

Broadband from Vodafone won’t typically require a visit from an engineer – unless you require a new phone line to be installed, or you’re opting for one of the Full Fibre (FTTP) services. For installation, Vodafone estimates it will take around ten days from the date of sign-up to get your service activated and fully online.

Set-up costs are waived for all new Vodafone customers.

Customer service

If you decide to sign up for either the Vodafone pro or Pro Xtra services, you’ll be able to connect with the UK-based customer service team on 0333 3040 191. If you’re a Vodafone mobile customer, you can get in touch with the team for free by dialling 191 from your device.

Vodafone also feature a live chat option called TOBi. Once you’ve answered a few questions asked by the bot, TOBi, you’ll be connected with someone in the team.

Vodafone also has a Community Forum where existing customers can sign-up as a member to post questions, with responses coming from other members as well as Vodafone staff.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Value for money:-

Vodafone offers a wide range of partial-fibre and full fibre broadband options at excellent prices.

Cons

Annual price rises:-

With the cost of goods and services on the rise, it’s important to be aware that Vodafone does have annual price hikes baked into it’s Terms and Conditions. Something to consider if you’re on a budget.