Vodafone UK is to embark upon a multi-million pound
investment to both extend the coverage and simplify the service
offerings of its
mobile broadband network in the UK.
Beginning in June 2008, and expected to compete by Autumn,
Vodafone UK’s mobile broadband networks will now cover Birmingham,
Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Reading. These five
cities and town respectivley will join London and major British
airports where Vodafone rolled out a mobile broadband service in
2007.
As part of its plans to simplify the way it sells mobile
broadband services to customers, Vodafone says that customers can
expect to see more information at the point of sale to help them
understand the time it will take to download files, films and
music on the mobile broadband network.
Vodafone will offer mobile broadband services using what it
calls 7.2 and 1.8 and technology which offer typical speeds of
delivery that differ roughly by a factor of three.
For example with the former, Vodafone says that users can
expect to receive a 20-minute (150 Mbyte) video in 10 minutes and
within 25 minutes with option 1.8. For a 5 Mbyte presentation it is
either 20 or 50 seconds; one or three seconds for a 250 Kbyte Word
document.
The number of emails a customer can expect to download or the
number of web pages they can browse will also be more clearly
illustrated. Details will be made available in store, online and
through contact centres from June.