Best known for being one of the longest-running and most popular mobile phone networks in the UK, Vodafone also offers keenly-priced broadband packages.
It currently has over one million broadband customers, and given its offers of fast speeds at affordable prices, it’s not hard to see why.
But are those speeds as good as they seem? And are Vodafone’s cheap prices truly good value for money? We’ve broken down everything you need to know in our Vodafone broadband provider review.
Vodafone broadband customer ratings
| Overall score | 3.91 |
|---|---|
| Customer service | 3.67 |
| Value for money | 3.92 |
| Internet speed | 3.98 |
| Reliability | 3.95 |
| Home equipment | 4.06 |
| Installation/Setup | 4.16 |
| Communication | 3.87 |
Note: these are weighted average scores from a 1-5 rating.
To view customer scores for all of the major UK providers, visit our Uswitch Broadband Customer Survey page.
Vodafone pros and cons
Pros
Plenty of good-value plans
Fast and reliable speeds
Easy to set up
Cons
Not the best customer service
Expensive price increases
About Vodafone
Vodafone was one of the first mobile networks in the UK. It’s one of the biggest telecommunications brands today, with millions of customers all over Europe.
In 2012, it started to provide broadband services through BT’s Openreach network, offering straightforward, speed-focused deals for pretty low prices. Recently, it started to expand its services with Vodafone Pro broadband - a slightly more premium package with extra reliability and customer support.
However, Vodafone includes mid-contract price rises each year. And since most of its packages last at least two years, it’s worth keeping in mind that your monthly cost will likely be noticeably higher by the end of your contract.
Vodafone Pro II Fibre 1
My particular package was Vodafone’s Pro II Fibre 1. At 35Mbps, it’s not the fastest package on offer, but I find more value in having strong, consistent broadband rather than superfast speeds.
As mentioned above, Vodafone Pro packages are a bit more expensive, but they’re built to be much more reliable than a regular broadband service.
This is especially useful for me when working from home since I have the luxury of working anywhere in my house, without worrying about losing connection when I’m in important meetings.
Skip to the equipment section of this review for more details about Vodafone Pro packages and what else comes with the service.
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Coverage
Vodafone uses the Openreach network to deliver 97% UK coverage. This means you should be able to sign up for a Vodafone deal unless you live in a particularly rural area.
Of course, its full fibre deals aren’t widely available across the UK at the moment. But you can search with your address on our fibre broadband page to check if you can get Vodafone’s fastest packages where you are.
Because Vodafone uses the Openreach network, you’ll find its coverage is pretty similar to plenty of other providers. But a few other broadband networks may be available in your area, so it’s always worth checking what else you can get.
For example, altnet full fibre providers offer ultrafast speeds in hundreds of rural areas across the country. So even if you live in a particularly hard-to-reach area, full fibre could still be available to your home.
If you’re still struggling to decide which type of broadband you need, check out our guide on the different types of broadband.
Speed
Vodafone’s broadband speeds tend to compare fairly favourably with other providers, depending on your chosen plan.
While reviewing my Vodafone Pro II broadband package, I ran several speed tests throughout the day. I got around 35Mbps on average, which may not sound lightning fast. But in reality, this speed was still more than enough for my husband and I to stream, work, make video calls and browse the internet on our phones.
All in all, we had Vodafone broadband for a year. And in all that time, we didn’t experience any buffering or slow speeds.
But if you do have issues with sluggish internet speeds from your Vodafone connection, check out our guide to find out why your internet is so slow.
Vodafone speed options
Vodafone offers both part-fibre and full fibre broadband deals, which means its speeds range all the way from 35Mbps to 910Mbps. But there are many speed options you can choose along the way:
Fibre 1: 35Mbps (part-fibre)
Fibre 2: 67Mbps (part-fibre)
Full Fibre 150: 150Mbps
Full Fibre 500: 500Mbps
Full Fibre 910: 910Mbps
If you’re unsure how these speeds compare to your current package, you can take an internet speed test to see what you’re currently getting - and check how they compare with other deals in your area.
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Reliability
In the year I had Vodafone broadband, I didn’t experience a single outage or any noticeable buffering. I work from home, so I have to do plenty of video calls throughout the day, as well as streaming phone launches, browsing the internet and uploading images. And to have been able to do this without any issues has been an absolute godsend.
And, while my experience has been particularly great, our customer satisfaction survey results show that most Vodafone customers enjoy an extremely reliable broadband service.
However, if you are experiencing issues with your Vodafone broadband connection, take a look at our broadband outage guide.
Customer service
I’ve not had many run-ins with Vodafone’s customer service because I never really had many problems with my connection while I was with the provider. But using our 2023 broadband customer survey results, it looks like Vodafone’s customer service is seen as fairly average.
With a 3.62 score out of 5, the provider is far from the lowest performers in the survey (Virgin Media - who received 3.4). But it’s also a fair distance from the likes of EE, who recorded an excellent score of 3.93.
Ofcom’s complaints reports are another key sign of a broadband provider’s customer service. They highlight which providers received the most (and fewest) Ofcom complaints about their broadband service.
In the latest two quarterly reports, Vodafone has appeared towards the bottom of the table, receiving more complaints per 100,000 customers than most of the nine biggest UK providers.
If you’re having problems with your Vodafone broadband connection, the best thing to do first is get in touch with the provider and report it.
Other Vodafone services
Like many other providers, Vodafone offers a few different services that you could either merge into the same package or receive as extras. Its range of these services isn’t as extensive as the offerings from BT, Sky or Virgin Media, but you could still benefit from some useful add-ons.
Landline
Most home broadband connections will come with a landline option, and Vodafone is no different. So you can add a home phone service to your broadband package if you still make or receive lots of landline calls.
According to Ofcom’s July 2023 complaints report, Vodafone received the industry average number of complaints related to its landline service - at seven per 100,000 customers. This means its home phone performance is a bit more favourable than its broadband service in customers' eyes.
I don’t use a landline myself, but it’s worth pointing out that the connection is supplied by Openreach, not Vodafone itself. This is the case for most other providers, and it just means that the performance of that landline will likely not be down to Vodafone’s engineers.
Still, you’d have to contact Vodafone if you have any issues with your home phone, as their customer service teams will then organise a fix with Openreach’s technicians.
Mobile
This is Vodafone’s bread and butter. After all, it was a mobile network long before it was a broadband provider.
If you take out a Vodafone broadband contract, you’ll get access to a few exclusive benefits if you’re also a Vodafone mobile customer. It’s called Vodafone Together, and it gives you up to £3 off your monthly broadband bill, a 30% discount on extra SIM cards, free virus protection for 12 months and exclusive VeryMe rewards.
As a Vodafone mobile customer, the broadband discount and exclusive rewards are pretty helpful. Not every provider offers mobile network benefits with their broadband service, but of the providers that do, Vodafone has some of the better offers.
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TV
Vodafone doesn’t offer its own TV service like some other providers. Instead, you’ll need to sign up for a Vodafone Xtra package for an extra £12 per month, and you’ll be sent an Apple TV 4K box with three months’ free subscription.
Apple TV doesn’t have anywhere near the amount of content that a broadband and TV deal from Sky, BT or Virgin TV would offer. And unfortunately, it’s not even cheaper than some of the basic TV bundles on offer from those providers.
Even their basic packages will have more content than Apple TV right now, so it depends on what you prefer to watch - traditional broadcast TV or streaming services. Apple TV 4K would be better if you watch more streaming services.
Setup, installation and equipment
New customers will receive a Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub, which you should be able to plug in and set up yourself without needing an engineer. It’s very easy to set up - the router name and password are printed on a sticker attached to the Hub, along with a QR code so that you can get set up in seconds.
The hub has four Gigabit Ethernet ports and two WAN ports: one Gigabit Ethernet and one VDSL. Although you’ll receive the same router, regardless of which package you’ve signed up for, you’ll be told which port to use, depending on your chosen plan.
The Vodafone Hub is a pretty standard broadband router. But I had no issues with it in the year I had it, except that its signal was patchy and unstable towards the back of the house. Still, our home has an odd layout, and we suspected this might be an issue. So one of the Vodafone Pro II Wi-Fi boosters ultimately fixed the problem.
Vodafone didn’t charge us any installation fees, which was another incentive to sign up. Particularly as we were in the process of moving house, so we already had more than enough expenses to be going on with.
Our router arrived in time for the start date of our broadband contract. And once we’d plugged it in, it didn’t take long before we had a strong, stable Wi-Fi connection.
Vodafone Pro II Wi-Fi guarantee
Vodafone offers one of the most comprehensive Wi-Fi guarantees on the UK market, with premium ‘Pro II’ packages for those who prefer more internet security and connection strength.
I have a Vodafone Pro II package, which I use because I work remotely full-time and need the extra signal strength for video meetings and file uploads.
With Pro II, I can get up to three Wi-Fi boosters to dot around my home for no extra charge. And if my broadband connection cuts out for any reason throughout the day, the same boosters double up as 4G broadband routers so I can continue using the internet even if my fixed connection goes down.
As a result, Vodafone Pro II is a lot pricier than a normal broadband connection - often between £10-15 per month more than its standard deals. But compared to buying my own Wi-Fi boosters or 4G backups, the total cost is a little easier to justify, knowing that this equipment comes free with the package.
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Value for money
In general, Vodafone is considered to be one of the best-value providers available in the UK because its broadband-only deals are on offer for impressively low monthly prices.
For example, you can often get Vodafone’s 67Mbps Fibre 2 deal for £22-24 a month, which is a lot cheaper than BT’s 67Mbps Fibre 2 deal at around £30 a month. As for its full fibre deals, you can get 500Mbps average speeds for about £28-29 a month, versus the same speeds from Virgin Media for around £38-39 a month.
So if you just want a standalone broadband service, there aren’t many more affordable options than Vodafone. However, if you’d like a more premium service, such as its Pro II or Xtra offerings, you’ll have to pay at least £10 more.
I certainly find the security of Vodafone Pro II worth the extra monthly charge, but I’m not as convinced by the price of Vodafone Xtra since Apple TV 4K doesn’t have a very wide choice of content to watch.
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Vodafone price rises
In a positive move for the industry, Vodafone has moved away from inflation-linked price rises, which often wore away the charm of its low initial prices.
For customers taking out a new contract with Vodafone from July 2024, Vodafone will stop inflation-based price rises and introduce an annual fixed £3 price rise, regardless of their broadband contract.
This will be a welcome change for customers on more expensive contracts as an inflation-based price rise would have increased their bill by more than £3 a month. However, for customers on contracts paying a cheaper rate, this will likely add more than an inflation-based price rise. So this is something to think about when signing up for a new broadband contract.
The price rise does not affect people on social tariffs or anybody registered as financially vulnerable.
Most larger providers do this nowadays, but it’s never nice to experience. So, if you want to avoid mid-contract price rises, you can see which providers fix your price for the whole of your contract with our guide.
Vodafone social broadband tariffs
If you receive universal credit or another type of financial support from the government, you could qualify for one of Vodafone’s discounted broadband deals.
The provider has two social tariffs on offer, depending on your budget and what internet speed you want. Both are 30-day rolling contracts without any price rises after you sign up or exit fees when you leave.
Fibre 1 Essentials: 38Mbps | £12 a month
Fibre 2 Essentials: 73Mbps | £20 a month
Fibre 2 Essentials is a little expensive for a social tariff, but Fibre 1 Essentials is one of the cheapest social tariffs available. So if you want to opt for Fibre 2, you should make sure your household actually needs that speed before you sign up because it’s considerably more money per month.
Should you choose Vodafone broadband?
Vodafone is an excellent option for many households. Its low-cost broadband deals are perfect if you’re looking for a speedy service that can handle lots of internet usage at home, without any extra bells and whistles that you might not use.
And if you did want to pay for a more premium service, you would feel a lot of reassurance with a Vodafone Pro II package. It makes the internet connection far more reliable, especially for larger homes with lots of rooms to cover with Wi-Fi.
However, its other services, like the Apple TV add-on, don’t really seem worth the extra money for what they currently offer. And while the Pro packages help with the reliability of your connection, Vodafone’s customer service has been known to be less consistent, according to our survey results and Ofcom’s complaints reports.
It also incurs high annual price rises compared to other providers. So while its initial costs are low, you could end up paying considerably more than your agreed amount by the end of your 24-month contract.
All in all, I’d say the benefits outweigh the downsides of having Vodafone broadband - especially if you’re able to choose one of its Pro II packages.
It’s certainly not the only provider to have annual price rises and an imperfect reputation for customer service, so you should consider how well-priced and connection-focused it tends to be. If they are the most important things to you, then you can’t go wrong with choosing Vodafone.
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