Vodafone UK on Wednesday quietly returned to the residential fixed broadband market with a low-cost service pitched at existing customers.
Called Vodafone Connect, it comes with a WiFi router and offers a choice of three broadband speeds: 17 Mbps, 38 Mbps, and 76 Mbps. The service comes with unlimited data and free off-peak calls to U.K. landlines.
"We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to bring you a great value home phone and broadband bundle that’ll supercharge your browsing, streaming and gaming," said Vodafone UK, in a blog post.
Prices start at £2.50 per month plus £16.99 line rental for the slowest connection. After the first 12 months the price ticks up to £5 per month plus line rental (see image).
Customers will also be charged a £30 activation fee and could also face a £60 charge if Vodafone needs to provision a new phone line.
At the moment, Vodafone Connect is only available to existing customers in Manchester and select areas of Berkshire, Hampshire, and Surrey. In a blog post, the telco said it will soon add Essex, Hertfordshire, and York.
"We’ll roll out to the rest of our existing customers later this year. We’ll be opening it up to everybody else in the autumn," Vodafone said.
Vodafone UK used to offer ‘Vodafone at Home’, a fixed broadband service, via BT’s infrastructure, but it scrapped the service in late 2011 and its customers were transferred to BT’s low-cost brand, Plusnet.
However, the 2012 acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide kicked off a new chapter in Vodafone’s long-term strategy that has seen it steadily bulk up on fixed assets across Europe and roll out bundled services.
After mounting speculation, in November 2014 Vodafone finally confirmed its plan to return to the U.K. fixed market.
Owning its own fixed infrastructure "puts [Vodafone] in a far stronger position. It is a real differentiator," said Paolo Pescatore, director of multi-play and video at CCS Insight. "The company needs to turn around its fortunes in the U.K. and this is a step in the right direction."
Vodafone Connect also comes with a companion app for iOS and Android devices that gives users control over some of the more advanced settings on their router, such as beamforming and prioritising – which optimise the connection to specific devices – as well as parental controls, and ‘Guest WiFi’, which as the name suggests, controls Wi Fi access to guest devices.
"Put simply, Vodafone Connect means unlimited home broadband data allowances, great prices, extras galore and connection to the our network both at home and away. What’s not to love?" said Vodafone.
"We expected more features to be included such as cloud storage and content including pay TV, which are paramount in providing a truly comprehensive multi-play services offering," said Pescatore. "For now, its rivals shouldn’t be too overly concerned."
