Vodafone Dongle Review
| User Rating |
Vodafone is a London-based global telecommunications company with over 330 million subscribers worldwide. The largest mobile technology company in the world, Vodafone provides its UK customers with a wide array of mobile broadband packages.
These days with customers demanding broadband services on the go, many are eschewing traditional home broadband in favor of an all-inclusive mobile plan.
Vodafone offers its customers the choice of contracts ranging from one to 18 months in duration, as well as more flexible pay as you go plans.
Vodafone Mobile Broadband Data Limits and Speed
Vodafone monthly contract plans have some of the largest data allowances in the industry, with 3 or 5 gigabyte offerings. These data caps are relatively flexible, with heavy users given the option of paying a £15 tariff for each additional gigabyte.
Vodafone’s 3G Network promises speeds up to 7.2 Mb/s and 14.4 Mb/s in select areas. These figures are largely theoretical, however, and Vodafone has indicated a more practical top speed will range between 9 and 11 Mb/s. Realistically, the average transfer rate will oscillate from 2-6 to Mb/s depending on the quality of the signal and the number of connected users. Regardless, these bandwidth figures are considerably higher than most of their competitors.
Customers can generally experience better speeds after midnight and during the day. For more on which areas have been upgraded to receive a 14.4 Mb/s signal, check the Vodafone website for details.
Free Mobile Broadband Laptops
In addition to their mobile broadband plans, Vodafone also offers Samsung and Dell laptops with no upfront cost. These pricing plans spread the cost of the phone over time, typically over the length of an 18 or 24 month contract.
In fact, Vodafone is the only major UK provider to deliver free Dell laptops equipped with mobile broadband capabilities. Vodafone also provides 3 gigabyte plans with dual-core Acer laptops for streaming media use.
Vodafone Mobile Broadband Benefits
Vodafone provides its customers with a number of distinct features, such as special USB dongles that come with an additional 4 gigabyte memory card slot. As the largest global telecommunications company in the world, they provide excellent international service and high bandwidth rates in the UK.
For pay as you go consumers, Vodafone is the only mobile broadband service whose top-ups don’t expire 30 days after purchase. Although there are cheaper offerings on the market, Vodafone balances the increased cost with reliability and speed of service.
So far the broadband speed seems good and despite living in a weak signal area I can still download files and browse the internet well.
My only concern is the dongle software. I have problems every now and again connecting to the mobile service, but after a few tries it usually does begin working.
I don’t know if it’s an issue with my laptop or if the Vodafone dongle software is just a little buggy, but it’s almost enough to make me want to switch mobile broadband providers.
I use Vodafone mobile broadband mainly for my business laptop and I’ve not encountered any problems in the last four months since I got it.
I can connect at the full 7.2mb connection in London and Nottingham and have no trouble downloading large files at the same speeds as my 8mb home broadband connection.
The only downside was the somewhat restrictive content control filter they add by default. But after a call to Vodafone they confirmed my date of birth for security purposes and removed the block.
After doing a few coverage checks for my area (Manchester), I decided to sign up to Vodafone’s mobile broadband service and have been pretty impressed so far.
I wanted a mobile dongle to use on my commute to work and have found that the speeds I’m getting from Vodafone have been much faster than my fixed line connection.
I think it’s important to make sure the network you’re looking at has good coverage in your area before you sign-up. Because if not, you may get stuck with a dongle that has poor reception and therefore severly limits your mobile broadband access.
I’ve been using the Vodafone dongle for around 4 months now and haven’t noticed any real problems with the signal, the connection seems to be very stable. Right now I’ve got the dongle plugged into a 3G wifi router which lets me access the service wirelessly around my house.
The mobile dongle is a good fit for my needs, the amount of monthly data I use (5GB) means that it’s actually cheaper for me to use Vodafone’s mobile broadband service than it is for fixed phone and broadband – plus I have the ability to use my broadband dongle anywhere I travel.