If you’re looking at buying a SIM from Vodafone, you might be wondering whether or not they’re any good.
Today, we’ve reviewed the Vodafone mobile network in the UK, using one of their pay monthly SIMs.
We’ve assessed Vodafone based on their 4G/5G speeds and coverage, customer service, value for money, and more, so you can decide if Vodafone is the right network for you to join.
Before we begin, if you’re searching for a new mobile plan, on Vodafone or any other network, use our comparison site to find the cheapest pay monthly phone plans or SIM-only deals on the market right now.
Contents
- Vodafone overview
- Coverage and speeds
- Roaming allowances
- Value for money
- Customer service
- Verdict: should you join Vodafone?
- Alternatives
- Conclusion
Vodafone overview
Vodafone is one of the big four mobile networks in the UK.
This means they operate their own network infrastructure, just like Three, O2, and EE. All other networks simply lease access through one of the big four providers, rather than having their own masts.
Vodafone is positioned as a more premium mobile network, compared to most smaller providers, and compared to some of the other big four as well.
They have a huge range of pay monthly phone plans and SIM-only deals on offer, and there are a few pay as you go SIM plans as well.
On their pay monthly plans, you can sometimes get an extra included when you buy, such as YouTube Premium, or Disney+.
And if you later sign up for a Vodafone home broadband plan, you can get a discount if you’re already a pay monthly mobile customer.
When you choose a phone, or a specific data limit, there are typically a few different tiers of plans you can choose from. Some have the types of extras we mentioned above, while others come with a lower monthly cost.
As with most of the other big four networks, all of Vodafone’s long-term plans come with mid-contract price rises, which it’s important to watch out for.
Also, Vodafone includes unlimited calls and texts to UK numbers on all of their plans, and they also support eSIMs and WiFi calling as well.
Coverage and speeds
According to data taken from user speed tests using speedtest.net, Vodafone has the second-fastest median 5G speeds in the UK at the moment.
From our testing, we see strong results with Vodafone 5G, typically over 200 Mbps in a suburban area in the West Midlands, and with a very low latency.
It is worth mentioning though, Vodafone puts speed caps on some of their plans.
Similar to EE, many Vodafone SIM plans are limited to 100 Mbps. The tests we were running were on an unrestricted SIM, meaning we could get faster speeds, but this is important to be aware of when buying.
We found that Vodafone’s 4G coverage was great, especially in towns and cities. We could get fast speeds almost everywhere.
On 4G, Vodafone performs well again, with fast download speeds, and good coverage.
On calls, we experienced no dropouts or performance issues in congested or remote areas.
The only criticism we have of Vodafone here, apart from their speed caps, is their 4G coverage isn’t as good as what EE offers in very remote areas at the moment.
While we could get signal in the countryside, sometimes we found we couldn’t get online in areas we could with an EE SIM, some of the time.
Roaming allowances
Vodafone’s roaming policies can be a bit complex.
Essentially, the roaming allowances you’ll get mostly depend on the type of plan that you have.
Roaming is included free of charge on nearly all tariffs in Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and the Isle of Man, which is great.
On most pay monthly plans, you also get 25GB a month that you can use in most European destinations.
In other countries, you might also be able to access to same 25GB limit, on more expensive tariffs, and you’ll also be able to use your calls and text allowances overseas.
Otherwise, if you have a cheaper pay monthly plan, you’ll have to pay £7.86 per day for non-EU roaming.
On pay as you go plans, you’ll typically need to buy a paid add-on to roam abroad. These Roaming Extras, as Vodafone calls them, can be pretty good value in the EU, but beyond that, they can get quite expensive.
So ultimately, if you want a pay monthly contract, or want to roam beyond Europe, Vodafone performs really well when it comes to international usage.
But if you want a pay as you go SIM with inclusive roaming in the EU, you might be better off with a provider like Tesco Mobile, which gives you the ability to use your entire allowance in Europe, completely free of charge.
Value for money
Vodafone is not generally the most price-competitive network on the market.
Three tends to offer better value on pay monthly and pay as you go SIMs with similar data limits.
Not to mention, Three has faster average 5G speeds, and doesn’t include speed caps on any of their plans.
Vodafone is sort of similarly priced to EE, most of the time – both are more expensive than Three and O2.
In terms of pay monthly phone contracts, Vodafone can be more cost-competitive, depending on the device you’re looking for.
But Vodafone’s pay as you go SIM plans are quite expensive, given the amount of data they include.
If you want a month to month Vodafone SIM, you might be better off with VOXI – this is a Vodafone subsidiary that piggybacks off their network, but offers much more flexible, lower-cost SIM-only deals.
Customer service
According to Ofcom data, Vodafone customer service performs better than Three and O2, and is about on par with EE.
This is based on the number of official complaints Ofcom receives from Vodafone customers, compared to other providers.
The good thing about Vodafone we found is, they’re easy to get in touch with over the phone, and their team is UK-based, although they can take a bit of time to answer the phone during peak periods.
The Vodafone live chat is also quite good. It’s easy to begin speaking with a real person, most of the time – you don’t have to battle with the chatbot too much before you’re connected.
Vodafone’s website can sometimes be a bit unreliable in our experience, but this mostly affects the frontend, where you buy from them.
The customer portal works well, as does their mobile app.
Verdict: should you join Vodafone?
There are a lot of things to like about the Vodafone network, especially compared to the rest of the big four.
- They offer fast 4G and 5G, with good coverage in our experience.
- The roaming fair usage policy is good, at 25GB. If you’re on a pay monthly SIM, Vodafone’s roaming allowances are quite generous.
- Vodafone offers good customer service, with a UK-based support team.
However, there are some downsides to Vodafone compared to other mobile networks:
- Their monthly costs can be quite high, given the amount of data you get.
- While Vodafone offers good signal, their 5G isn’t as fast as Three, and their 4G coverage isn’t as good as EE.
- They have speed caps on some of their plans.
Overall, we rate Vodafone 4 out of 5. It’s mostly their high prices that are holding them back, but if you don’t mind paying more for premium service, Vodafone is worth looking at.
Best Vodafone alternatives
If you’re not decided on Vodafone, here are some other networks it might also be worth considering.
1. VOXI
VOXI is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that piggybacks off the Vodafone network.
They offer simple, cheap, pay as you go SIMs, for a much cheaper price than buying from Vodafone directly – even though they offer the same performance, from our testing.
However, while VOXI does have pay monthly phones you can buy, Vodafone has a much better range of long-term contracts to choose from.
2. Three
Three has the UK’s fastest 5G network, and they typically offer lower prices than Vodafone.
The downside to Three is, their roaming allowances aren’t as generous as what Vodafone offers.
However, they have a much better range of SIM-only deals to choose from, including cheap pay as you go options.
3. Smarty
Smarty is an MVNO owned by Three, which uses their network infrastructure.
They focus on offering cheap pay as you go SIMs, while still giving you unrestricted access to the Three 5G network.
Their customer service is great, especially given how cheap they are. But like with Three, Smarty’s roaming allowances aren’t the best.
Conclusion
This is the end of our Vodafone mobile network review.
If you’re still not sure whether to join Vodafone, or use one of their MVNOs, leave us a comment below, and we’ll respond as soon as we can.
About the author
Tom is the founder of Green Smartphones. You’ll find him writing about phones on the Green Smartphones blog, or talking about SIM deals and mobile networks on our YouTube channel. He’s the Android expert on the team – currently using a Google Pixel 9, recently upgrading from a very long-suffering Note 20 Ultra. When he’s not working on Green Smartphones, you’ll find him playing football or hiking.