Not sure whether to buy a phone or SIM-only plan from VOXI or Vodafone?
In this article, we’ve compared these two mobile networks, based on their coverage and speeds, customer service, roaming allowances, and more, to see which is best, and help you decide which network to join.
Before we begin, if you’re searching for a new mobile plan, on any network, use our comparison site to find the cheapest pay monthly phone plans or SIM-only deals on the market right now.
Contents
- Overview
- Coverage and speeds
- Roaming allowances
- Value for money
- Customer service
- Verdict: should you join VOXI or Vodafone?
Overview
Vodafone is one of the big four (now big three) mobile networks in the UK, which operates their own network infrastructure.
On the other hand, VOXI is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that uses Vodafone’s masts to service their customers.
VOXI is owned by Vodafone – it essentially works as a sub-brand of the parent network, but for a different market segment.
Vodafone offers a range of pay monthly phone and SIM-only deals on their website. There are generally different tiers of SIMs available at different prices, each of which comes with different benefits.
For example, the most expensive SIMs normally come with unlimited 5G speeds, and inclusive roaming beyond the EU.
On the other hand, VOXI has more of a focus on rolling monthly pay as you go SIM deals – though they do now offer phones on a contract as well.
Their tariffs are much more simple than Vodafone’s, but they do offer plans with inclusive social media usage or music/video streaming, which can be helpful if a certain category of apps is usually responsible for most of your data usage.
You can also get short-term plans with Vodafone, but they’re generally a lot more expensive than the PAYG plans VOXI offers.
Also, some cheaper Vodafone SIMs have a 100 Mbps speed cap on 5G, which isn’t the case with VOXI.
No matter which plan you buy, VOXI and Vodafone both give you unlimited calls and texts to UK numbers, and also offer you the option of getting an eSIM, which is especially helpful if you want to use your new SIM as a secondary/backup plan, or you have a US model iPhone that does not have a SIM card slot.
Effect of the Three-Vodafone merger
Vodafone and Three (another big four network) have now merged their operations into a single company, which is 51% owned by Vodafone.
As a Vodafone customer, you can now begin to use Three network masts as well as Vodafone ones, in areas where Three performs the best of the two networks.
The merger is still being completed, but more masts are gradually coming online with this network sharing functionality across the UK.
Currently, VOXI customers cannot get signal from Three mobile masts. However, Vodafone is advertising other benefits of the merger for VOXI customers (through your access to the Three network) such as improved 4G coverage.
Coverage and speeds
We tested VOXI and Vodafone’s coverage and speeds in a few different types of suburban and rural areas, to see which has the best coverage and speeds.
We used an unrestricted Vodafone SIM for these tests, to ensure we didn’t have any limits when measuring download and upload speeds.
In general, we saw very similar results with both providers, when it came to the speeds and coverage they each offered.
As the speed tests showed, we normally received a download speed of about 100 Mbps with both networks, even over 4G.
On 5G, we would normally get download speeds of 150-200 Mbps, in areas with strong signal.
Using VOXI and Vodafone, we could get online and make seamless calls in a good range of rural areas, and never had any issues with signal quality, congestion, or dropouts when calling.
Therefore, we don’t think VOXI is given inferior network access from Vodafone, based on the results we saw.
In general, we tend to find that MVNOs owned by their parent network, like how Vodafone owns VOXI, tend to perform about the same, with very little or no traffic deprioritisation for the MVNO’s customers. This is the case with Vodafone and VOXI, from what we have seen.
Roaming allowances
Vodafone’s roaming policies can be a bit complex to understand.
Your roaming allowances depend a lot on the plan that you have.
As a pay monthly mobile customer, EU roaming is normally included free of charge, up to a 25GB monthly fair usage limit.
On more expensive plans, roaming in other countries such as Turkey, the US, and Canada may also be included, with the same 25GB monthly data limit.
If you have a Vodafone pay as you go plan though, you normally need to buy a roaming add-on to get inclusive data overseas.
On the other hand, VOXI’s roaming rules are much more simple.
In Ireland, the Isle of Man, Iceland, and Norway, roaming is included free of charge, up to 20GB per month. This is the same as on Vodafone’s plans.
In most other European countries though, you’ll need to buy a roaming add-on. There is also another more expensive roaming pass that covers other countries in North and South America, Oceania, Africa, and elsewhere.
Most other UK MVNOs include a certain amount of free roaming, at least in the EU, so VOXI isn’t a great choice if you want to save money when travelling in Europe.
However, it is good that they offer a roaming pass for countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Most other small networks make you pay per megabyte of data downloaded in these further-afield destinations.
Value for money
VOXI is almost always considerably better value for money than Vodafone, though there are a few exceptions.
If you compare their SIM-only deals with similar data limits, VOXI’s tariffs are a lot cheaper than the deals available on Vodafone’s website.
However, if you buy a Vodafone SIM through a reseller like Carphone Warehouse, their plans can be very cheap.
Also, on pay monthly phone plans, Vodafone can sometimes offer better value for money, depending on the phone you’re looking for.
It’s also worth mentioning, Vodafone typically has a better range of handsets to choose from than VOXI. Though, you can still get flagship phones like the latest iPhone when buying from the smaller of the two networks.
While VOXI does have a slightly reduced range, they still have a really good selection of phones on a contract to choose from, including refurbished models, and handsets from Motorola, HONOR, and Google.
Remember, use our SIM-only or pay monthly deals comparison engine to see whether Vodafone or VOXI offers cheaper deals on a given phone you’re looking to buy, or on a SIM plan with the data limit you’re looking for.
Customer service
One of the reasons people pay more for a Vodafone SIM instead of a VOXI tariff is for their customer service.
As a Vodafone customer, you’ll have a customer service phone number you can use to reach them, and their team is in the UK.
VOXI uses the same UK-based customer support agents, but to contact them, you have to use live chat. And it can be hard to get through to a real person, since there is an AI chatbot that answers your messages initially.
Once you do get in touch though, we’ve found both Vodafone and VOXI customer support is helpful, and fairly knowledgeable about common types of issues you might face. No matter which network you use, it’s the same support team you’re speaking to.
Of the two providers, only Vodafone has a mobile app, which is available on Android and iOS.
We’ve generally found it to be quite prone to glitches, on Android at least, and it’s not very intuitively laid out, so we haven’t had much use for this app.
Fortunately, you don’t need to use Vodafone’s app if you don’t want to – you can log into your account and get help through their website, and the same is true with VOXI.
Verdict: should you join VOXI or Vodafone?
We think in most cases, VOXI is a better choice than Vodafone – as long as they have the type of phone or SIM plan you’re looking for.
VOXI offers essentially the same connectivity for a cheaper price than Vodafone, although they don’t yet give you Three network access.
Roaming is generally cheaper and easier with VOXI, and we prefer the structure of their SIMs – short-term contracts, with certain app usage included data-free.
However, if you want a pay monthly phone contract, Vodafone has a better range of handsets available, with more inclusive extras, such as free roaming in countries beyond the EU.
If you do buy a Vodafone SIM though, just make sure to watch out for the speed caps they have on some of their plans, especially if you plan on using 5G to get online.
If you’re still not sure whether to choose VOXI or Vodafone, leave us a comment below, and we’ll help out.
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.