Vodafone flashes bulging package at Brits: New 4G service to rival EE, O2 Vodafone's new 4G mobile broadband package, announced today for the UK, will include live football or a Spotify Premium subscription, plus three months of unlimited downloads and calls - all for £26 a month. Voda has effectively updated its "Red" tariff by adding a fiver a month onto the price, and including 4G connectivity …
It's better than the current EE offer - I struggle to hit the 1GB cap on my phone at the moment - can't see me (or the majority of other punters) hitting the 4GB cap each month (comparable to the £31 a month I pay now)
Voda data capacity in central London still sucks though, so they wouldn't be my provider of choice.
Oh for a 2Gb cap! Out here in the good ol' US of A, AT&T are charging me the equivalent of about £37 a month for a 300Mb cap and 200 text messages. My bill cycle starts at the end of the month, we're only 7 days into August and I've already blown 100Mb.
When I was in the UK, I routinely complained about being gouged by the mobile phone companies, but now they somehow look like a good deal.
Indeed - 13 quid a month got me a phone and unlimited data. I think the first month used only 17GB (NB no tethering) and well on the way to 60 GB a month. If I had waited until the One Plan SIM only deal dropped to 15 quid, I'd be able to tether and probably hit 100 GB. Think the other networks are laughable when they offer 100 MB, 250 MB, 500 MB and then Orange/EE puts on a TV ad saying they're giving people a "shed load" (1 GB) of data (for a tenner top-up)as if it is something special and generous!
Of course Three are generous with their pricing and data allowances, as by choosing to become a Three customer means you sacrifice being able to use your phone at all when away from large towns/cities - probably not an issue if your world extends no further than the M25.
O2/Voda may have higher prices for a lower data allowance, but if you're one of those folks who would still like to be able to effect calls and texts on your device (If you're under 20, ask your parents about these), you need that 900MHz signal from O2/Voda to keep you connected.
I have no 2G coverage and I'm very happy with that. I get good reliable voice coverage and data with 3 who have no 2G service at all. 2G isn't as cost efficient so I guess that's one of the reasons that 3 are able to offer me unlimited data for an £18 a month rolling contract.
My connection to 3 is so good I use it to upload large files as it's faster than using my ADSL. (Usually at least 2Mbps, peaking to 5Mbps at night), That's how I hit 12.3 Gb.
Wait a minute. 4G you say? Is this the same Vodafone that barely gives me ANY mobile data signal, in central London and most other cities and towns I tend to visit, and when it does allow me to connect I get sub GPRS speeds never mind anything approaching even 3G?
They used to be the best network out there but they seem to have a badly overloaded data infrastructure now.
Well that's not exactly true is it... both networks have their own equipment on each other's sites. The tower, power & accomodation, and antennas are shared. The equipment is separate. It's a very similar setup to MBNL where EE & 3 share the same grid of sites, traffic is separated within the same pipes until it reaches the core network.
My main reason for not having Spotify at the moment is a) 3g is simply to unreliable to jump and switch tracks as I see fit, I need to cache a playlist with wifi before setting off anywhere, so if I've selected a load of random crap the playlist is useless, plus b) 4g (which should be fast enough to allow me to just select anything at any time) doesn't offer near enough data allowance for me to freely jump anywhere on spotify without bankrupting myself, so I'll still be caching stuff before setting off anywhere.
Giving me enough data and spotify in one go, that is awfully tempting.... let's see what the first adopters make of the networks reliability first though...
"So the UK's second 4G operator to publish its pricing has pegged the cost around the same as the first (EE), choosing to bundle more data and value-added services rather than compete on price. That's probably good news for those hoping for rapid rollout and ubiquitous coverage - even if it's less good for those hoping for cheap 4G."
Hopefully the shocking state of the country's 3G network will make most people realise that it's better to pay a little more for something that works than it is having the operators cutting our service along with our bills.
..but I'm still leaving them in October when my contract ends, as their coverage where I live, and a lot of the places I visit both for work and leisure, is rubbish (polite version). Hell, their coverage at the local hospital is practically zero, for heavens sake - and this, inside the M25 area, even. As to the data allowance, even though I've got close to a gig (500- megs plus 250 meg bolt-on to make a grand total of 750 megs/month), I can see that being eaten up by 4G and all that streaming content in fairly short order. I use google maps and navigation a LOT, and that eats data too; I'll be going to 3, instead. All you can eat data at no extra charge is one hell of an incentive.
98% of the country? I regularly leg it up and down the M11 and also (unfortunately) regularly lose signal at least 3 times per conversation. And not all at the same point geographically! What these mobe companies don't appear to recognise is populations move! I need coverage everywhere, not just where, statistically, people spend more time!
I had BBS with them, surfing the web was ten times as quick, tethering to my three android package, than it was through my phone.
Not to mention, complete dead times, when the request was made, and no response came (like from google, or John Lewis,)
not surprisingly, I've moved absolutely everyone off Vodafone.
4G is a normal part of the network here in Aussie, you don't pay extra to access it.
No one uses Voda in Australia they are 'on the nose' here, their service stinks and the network sucks.
They keep losing >500,000 customer each 1/2 year, Poor network capacity and crap network outages have contributed to a proposed class action, look for vodafail on google.
I do feel sorry for you Brits as the networks there seem to be a very patchy quilt of supposed network coverage no matter who the operator is...
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LTE? long term evolution? Of 3G?... Yes, that would be fine if Vodka bothered to supply me with a 3G signal in the first place.. So I have no confidence in them supplying me with an LTE signal.. I'm sorry but they rely on an outdated business model, supplying an outdated service, on outdated and overwhelmed technologies.. And I am in the second city not in some country bumpkin land.
Truth of the matter is that Vodafone is truly shockingly terrible and I wouldn't even recommend their service to a recluse for fear of them not being able to have the opportunity not to make contact....
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