Vodafone Mobile Broadband
In a nutshell | ||
![]() Last updated February 2016 Vodafone is one of the more expensive of the mobile broadband networks, but it is also one of the fastest. A key advantage of the Vodafone service is the ability to roam in over 100 countries. |
Summary
Vodafone offers mobile broadband services via a USB modem that plugs into your PC or laptop and enables you to access the internet via Vodafone's 4G network.
Like the other mobile broadband providers, the Vodafone service is very easy to use. You simply plug the USB modem into your computer and connect to the internet. With a Wi-Fi modem, you can connect up to 5 devices wirelessly to the internet.
One of the benefits of using the Vodafone service is that you can use it in over 100 countries, using the international Vodafone network of operators.
Vodafone now also offers home phone and broadband services too.
User questions
Sorry - questions and comments on this page are now closed.
I am on holiday in france on the mid west coast but cannot access the internet on my mobile phone I am a Vodafone contract customer with talk mobile.
Asked by mickc1952@yahoo.co.uk
from scotland
on 18th Jun 2017
Vodafone Mobile Broadband user reviews
Sorry - reviews and comments on this page are now closed.
Average rating from 503 reviews:
Reviewed by kate
from england
on 11th Apr 2018
Why have you altered dongle top up method for broadband. I top up by
bt phone ring 03333 etc and I can top up.no more,you have altered
it,some idiot asking you what you want do now,and then telling you
vodafone has a problem.haven't we all, except we are paying for your
trashy service. GET A GRIP.
Rating:
Reviewed by mark
from uk
on 28th Mar 2017
Why have you taken payment for one dongle top up of twenty five pounds
nine times ??????,
My bank has stop my cards,and online banking,
because of strange tranactions,
Why would I want to top up 9
times for a service I dident want, they wont refund
Me and say
its a mistake and offered me twenty five pounds as a gester of good
will.
This has left me badly over my over draft limit and with
no money, why ??? How ??? Can this happen.
I will change
network, but first want my money back !. This has never happend to me
before, and the Vodafone store in Bedford was unable to help, quote,
not there problem, I am left feeling somewhat rip off,
Even my
bank carn't make ends of it.
So much for pay as you go
!!!... Thats why I will never sign a contract...
Thanks
nine times for nothing !!!!
And mean time what am I to live on
?
Rating:
Reply by mark
from uk
on 30th Mar 2017
Just to up date, you have taken another payment, making the grand
tolal 10 payments of
Twenty five pounds that adds up to 250
pounds 30 months credet, when I just wanted one top up of twenty five
pounds....
What are you playing at !!!
I want my money
back, have no money as over drawn at my bank...
Vodafone you
have compleatly wiped me out... No money for food or anything...
This is pay as you go ??? Big time.....Rip off...!!!!
Reviewed by Tracy
from Uk
on 6th Mar 2016
When we have credit the service is acceptable, however it is expensive
and topping up is a nightmare. When the system works it is easy and
quick, however in our experience it doesn't work for around 50% of the
time. For example, yesterday we tried to top up by phone using debit
card and they told us that they couldn't process the payment. When I
asked why, they were unable to say other than that to tell us it
wasn't a problem with our card. They advised us to go and buy a
voucher, as we'd definitely be able to top up then. Sowe did; 15 miles
later I returned clutching said item and attempted to top up on line.
Here I was led to fill in all my details only for the final screen to
freeze - I have tried four times over three hours, always with the
same result.
I have also tried the top up phone line
four times; this says that the service isn't available right now.
The generic number just gives me another number to call to
check my balance before wishing me a cheery goodbye.
The
words 'You will definitely be able to top up if you buy a voucher' are
ringing in my ears. We are using pay as you go as we are in temporary
accommodation whilst our new house is being refurbished and won't be
going anywhere near Vodafone when the time comes for us to buy
contracted services. Staff on the telephone helpline are best
described as disinterested.
Rating:
Reviewed by John
from UK
on 9th Jan 2016
Appalling. Just bought a Vodafone mobile wifi (pay as you go). Credit
runs out in no time, simply checking emails - and I download NOTHING.
£45 in just over a week so far, which is a con (Vodafone should
stop its misleading '30 days' nonsense). Will have to switch. I notice
from the other comments that this has been going on for years.
Dreadful.
Rating:
Reviewed by Jock
from Alba
on 28th Feb 2015
Terrible just terrible, you know its a really bad sign when a
broadband company is incapable of building a website that actually
works. The dongle disconnects itself whenever it pleases (usually
every 90 seconds), downloading anything is just an impossible task.
The only good thing about Vodafone is that they have allowed me to
really appreciate my broadband service provided by 3.
Rating:
Reviewed by Mark
from UK
on 7th Dec 2014
After 3's payment website became virtually unusable, I got an iPad
mini SIM from Vodafone. Worked, but when I tried to register to add
credit Vodafone kept sending an SMS message with the code "Message".
All my mobile phones either didn't allow the SIM, or didn't get the
SMS message. I had to buy a Vodafone 1GB dongle and put the iPad SIM
in that to register. Also, sometimes the iPad connects to a web page
but the page is blank.
If you're with 3 then take the hit
of renewing via phone as it's still far better than Vodafone!!!
Rating:
Reviewed by nick roberts
from wales
on 22nd Nov 2014
Sony nero and vodafone connection throw your money away.dont alter my
complaint again.
Rating:
Reviewed by Marion
from UK
on 19th Sep 2014
Have had a vodafone broadband dongle for a number of years and was
fairly pleased with it for a while. In the last few months though
topping up on line (purchasing a data Pack) has become an absolute
nightmare. Twice logging in to my account just to find it closed,
supposedly for improvements and then when I did manage to log in to
purchase data,took £20 payment for 3gb of data debited from my
bank account (have proof of this on bank statement) no data
supplied.After eventually managing to find a phone number for vodafone
helpline (another nightmare) person on phone states that nothing
showing on my account so the only thing I can do is go to vodafone
shop with bank statement to get refund of £20. Absolutely
useless. To be avoided.
Rating:
Reviewed by LarryLa
from UK
on 25th Aug 2014
I'm one of the poor souls locked in to long term contracts with
Vodafone. (Tony below)
Until about 2 years ago I was a
happy Vodafone 3G user. My family had 4 Samsung phones GS3 . Then the
signal where we live started to be degraded, then the coverage on the
train line from London to Cambridge became really bad, then the A1
drive from Peterborough to Newcastle became unreliable.
2
of us switched to three (3) to get international use free of charge,
and discovered how good their service was compared with vodafone.
Over the last year, with GS3, GS4 and GS5 devices we have
now had a chance to compare 3 with Vodafone directly - same people in
a car or house using same devices but different SIMs.
3
wins hands down. Better coverage, better speeds except in very rare
cases. Best of all we can have unlimited data on three.
We often end up with the Vodafone devices using the 3 devices as
mobile hotspots so save money and get better performance - especially
when Vodafone coverage is really poor.
Two of us are
stuck with Vodafone for another year or so - but we are tempted to pay
the early termination fee to be able to change - to get the better
coverage on 3.
FInally, I recently read that Vodafone
failed to meet its 3G coverage obligations set by OFCOM (other
networks all passed) - they have been saving money vs deploying
network - so that might explain why their service is so poor
recently.
Rating:
Reviewed by ann
from uk
on 18th Aug 2014
I have found that having the £10 top up very good, it lasts me
for 30 days, however the past two top ups have only lasted 2 weeks. I
have used my lap top in the same way. I don't watch films or video
clips,
Rating:
Reviewed by Kathy
from England
on 8th Jun 2014
I used Vodafone dongle. Got no use at all from it and the worst part?
It caused my MacBook to crash losing absolutely everything. I spent 3
hours at Apple store who managed to restore around 70% but all my
precious photos are permanently lost. Needless to say the Vodafone
store denied it was the result of the dongle. Strange. I had never in
3 yrs experienced one single problem until I put the dongle in the
computer.
Foolishly, I then purchased a mobile WIFI device, very
expensive. I can begin to describe how slow it was, seriously, I
painted an entire room while waiting for a website to upload. I ended
up not using it and using an internet cafe.
All in all my
experience with Vodafone dongle and mobile WIFi was devastating and
expensive.
I have to add this final comment, which reflects
overall the quality of product and service.
When I returned to
the store to ask them to stop billing me due to the problems their
product caused me, I spent TWO HOURS, I'm not exaggerating, while the
manager, rang customer service, who transferred him to another dept,
who transferred him back to customer service and that honestly went on
for 2 hours, for one simple request, cancel my monthly account. Had I
not be so furious, it would have been funny. The manager eventually
disappeared to the back of the store out of frustration, leaving me
holding the phone and customers asking 'where's the manager'.
Seriously, for the sake of all your data and documents, don't risk a
dongle! By the way 1 star was the lowest rating I could give, I'd give
it -10 if I could.
Rating:
Reviewed by Chantelle
from N. Ireland
on 9th Apr 2014
I am well pleased with this dongle after suffering for months with the
slow and unreliable service of the O2 one. The only let-down for me is
that you have to have a Vodafone mobile number to be able to top up
online, which is a little inconvenient and means buying vouchers all
the time instead (not always available), and also the age restriction
which cannot be lifted without a credit card is unfair (am blocked
from gambling sites etc.), why should I have to prove myself via a
credit card when a drivers license or passport could do the trick in
store and save many people a lot of faffing around?
Rating:
Reviewed by Tony
from UK
on 26th Feb 2014
RUBBISH!!! I DON'T recommend that you invest in Vodafone's
Pay-As-You-Go mobile broadband. I've been with them for 3 years, and
the service - never that good - just gets worse and worse. In the day
I may get 3G about 10% of the time, and even in the middle of the
night only about 40% of the time: Most often I get speeds comparable
to the dial-up speeds we all suffered back in the 1980s! Often, even
when it starts off 3G, the speed is choked right back after just a few
minutes. But of course, they charge me for broadband 100 percent of
the time! PAYG used to be anonymous: You bought a top-up voucher at a
newsagent, entered the numbers, and away you went. Then about 4 months
ago everyone on PAYG was forced to register - Goodbye anonimity! Since
then topping-up is no longer enough - you also have to log-in and
convert your credit to a 'package'. Month after month I cannot do this
on their website, because the links are broken. You press the right
buttons, but nothing happens! Each time my credit runs out, I have to
travel to a Vodafone shop, pay for parking, and usually wait 20-30
mins, just to get things going again! Listen to this.. this is an
internet & communications company, right? Do you think they allow
you to email customer support? No! I have the choice of *writing a
letter and sticking a stamp on it*, or making an expensive premium
telephone call on my PAYG phone! Talking to the invariably young shop
staff is useless - even if some are well-meaning. They know nothing
technical, they look too nervous about losing their jobs to tell you
what's really going on, and in any case are only trained to sell,
sell, sell! Terribly greedy, company that reeks of contempt.. Take my
advice (and those of many others!), DON'T TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGE
POLE!!! On PAYG I can at least walk away. Pity the poor souls
locked-in on long-term contracts!
Rating:
Reviewed by Derek
from Scotland
on 5th Jan 2014
I use the non expiry Vodafone Dongle, signal has never been good
(GPRS) almost useless to use for anything as I live outside main town,
but if I use near town (Aberdeen) get 3g+ and holds signal. I have
also tested Virgin and T-Mobile and both excellent in my area so only
use Vodafone as backup now!
Rating:
Reviewed by Ricky O'donnell
from SCOTLAND
on 30th Dec 2013
I received a text from vodavone stating i had to claim my rewardz
before xmas or i would lose 190 points.I have tried to claim them ever
since!!!
The website either crashes , or more annoying, lets me enter all my
details, then tells me i have entered wrong postcode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
have 2740 points, stick them. RIP OFF
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOOK FORWARD TO THE NEW YEAR WITH A NEW COMPANY
GOODBYE ..........
Rating:
Reviewed by A Prof from UK on 6th Oct 2013
Wish I'd seen these reviews before I read one that claimed Vodaphone mobile
broadband were good and swapped to them - I rarely get over 100kbps and often
get 0 - total useless rubbish - wasted £60 on dongle and top ups and need to
find something better - may go back to 3 even though they extracted excessive
revenue from me on my previous mobile data contract
Rating:
Reviewed by Polly
from UK
on 11th Aug 2013
Rubbish. I have a 3 Connect dongle and Vodafone dongle. After the Voda software installed, it launched whenever I inserted my 3 Connect dongle, but didn't work, of course. It also ran full time in the back ground and successfully blocked my wire connected satellite internet connection. I tried to uninstall Voda software...it left behind over 5,200 spurious Registry entries (including some in the 3 Connect directory) and nearly 2,500 spurious files. That is not an uninstall. By an order of magnitude, it is the worst uninstall I have ever experienced. As a direct result, not only have I thrown the dongle away, I shall also not renewing three long term Vodafone mobile phone contracts. (I have issues with text spam not being stopped, too) RUBBISH!!!! Plus of course, they are UK tax avoiders.
Rating:
Reviewed by Jacky from England on 14th Nov 2012
Vodafone I didnt have a signal for 10 months before they let me leave and was
paying for 3 connect on top of my contract, they tell lies insult you and are
the rudest people ever when you complain.
Rating:
Reviewed by mike Cann from England on 22nd Jun 2012
Had pay monthly 250MB as I only need to use occasionally. I had nothing but
hastle from day one Did not use anywhere near 250 MB and got charged £11.01
for the month.Only accessed emails once and searched for a website twice in
a month whilst away from home. Real difficulty in accessing paper billing, oh
i wonder why. because you will see they are ripping you off. Not very helpful
call centre in India. Nightmare from start to finsih. Resulted in me deciding
to cancel the agreement. When i did so I found that it had been cancelled already
at the end of the first month without my request, hence I got stuffed with a
high tarriff. Having given the 30 notice for cancellation as required in the
contract they terminated the service virtually immediately. I have nothing positive
to say about Vodaphone other than it is some of the worst service I have received
from a mobile phone provider. Buyer beware you could be robbed blind.
Rating:
Reviewed by jacky faulkner from England on 6th Jun 2012
I havent had any signal for 4 months on my pc and because of this ive been taking
it to town to get a signal, they say i am still using it and cant help me,i
have had to pay for 3 dongle on top of my vodafone contract,ive been told not
to use it at all for 3 months then they will have to help me,they are robbing
me.Every time i speak to them or write they say i have got a signal or they
are working on it to improve it, its been4 months now how much longer will it
take.
Rating:
Reviewed by Sarah from UK on 29th Apr 2012
Absolutely appalling. Had a 18 month contract which has almost come to an end.
During that time I've had 3 months of dongle problems (no connection at all)
passed between customer services, techies and local Vodafone shop. Eventually
I got a family member to fix it. Also I use the internet a lot for online gambling
/ gaming sites. Just recently every so often "due to a temporary fault" Vodafone
do not allow me to access these sites stating they are unable to confirm content
control??? Today I was already playing (and winning money) when they just decided
to kick me off and not let me back on to the sites. They seem to have a lot
of "temporary faults"!! Not a very happy Vodafone customer. 3 here I come at
the end of the contract.
Rating:
Reviewed by L. Richards from UK on 9th Apr 2012
You do not get 3 gb of data for £15 topup now. They cut it down to 2gb of data
without letting the customers know.
Appalling service, very expensive. The most expensive of all the networks. Have
been with Vodafone for 3 years now and I am going through my £15 topup in under
a week now whilst not watching videos, listening to music or downloading/uploading
anything. Customer service is very poor indeed. I have an enormous amount of
Freebee rewardz to claim but the site crashes and gives excuses when trying
to redeem my rewardz. Told customer services about this twice on the forum but
given a set of rules to follow which I have done and no further help. I want
what is owed to me. I have spent hundreds and hundreds of pounds using Vodafone
and as soon as the bank holiday is over, I'm calling Sky to set up a proper
connection with them. This service is so dire. I dont know how people put up
with it. I will NEVER EVER use Vodafone again and I'll be putting my reviews
all over the internet and telling all friends and family to stay well away.
Rating:
Reviewed by Carol Oakley from England on 20th Mar 2012
POOR SERVICE, POOR SIGNAL, VERY EXPENSIVE!!! Need i say more?
Rating:
Reviewed by megan from UK on 17th Mar 2012
i have to top up my vodafone dongle (pay as you go? its a white and red usb
one) with top up vouchers, and i am spending like £100 a month, and i dont even
use websites like youtube!! ..
i tried buying a top up online with a card the minimum was £15 so i did that
thinking i would get better data. since i only get 250 MB for £5 , but when
it put the credit on my dongle it took it off £5 at a time! 750 MB for £15 ?
thats just what
Rating:
Reviewed by Caroline from England on 12th Mar 2012
DO NOT EVER TAKE OUT A VODAFONE DONGLE, THEY WILL INVENT THINGS WRONG, SEND
IT FOR REPAIR, WILL COME BACK WITHOUT EXPLANATION AND STILL OVERCHARGE YOU EACH
MONTH. CANCELLED BY PHONE BACK IN JULY 2011 AND THEY CONTINUED TO TAKE MONEY.
MY FAULT FOR NOT CHECKING BANK STATEMENT. NOW CANCELLED AND THEY ARE DEMANDING
MONEY FROM ME !!! WHEREAS I CANCELLED DUE TO THEIR LACK OF SERVICE AND LIES!!
AVOID AT ALL COSTS....
APPALLING SERVICE, STAFF AND COMPANY, ANY ONE IDEAS OF HOW TO ACTUALLY SPEAK
TO SOMEONE IN AUTHORITY?
Rating:
Reviewed by Jake from UK on 9th Mar 2012
They say the mobile broadband is supposed to last 28 days? Thats if you never
use it. If you do, it will stretch for 3 days or so if you are moderate (which
meand no video, no music, no entertainment.PERIOD, and limit yourself to text
sites. Poor deal and misadvertisement.
Rating:
Reply by mamaunsell from UK on 11th Oct 2012
and when I went over the allocation they charged me £12.50 a day, when my contract
runs out I will never use them again
Reviewed by David Abbott from U.K. on 5th Mar 2012
The worst after sales service I have ever experienced. Fault on dongle. Taken
to Vodafone shop who wanted to send dongle away for repair with turnaround of
10 days.No replacement offered. 10 days without broadband? Thank you Vodafone.
Switched to 3.
Rating:
Reviewed by neal from uk on 28th Feb 2012
Using it in kent ...absolute rubbish and wont hold a signal for any length of
time, don't go Vodafone, you are paying for a service that basically don't work!
Rating:
Reviewed by Ton Agan from UK on 27th Feb 2012
Just bought one today, PAYG, put had £15.00 on it to start, signal was very
low,(I live in Kent). Used it for about an hour, bbc news channel and some emails,
balance is now at £10.00, so works out at £5.00 and hour for a slow service.
Wish I'd found this link before.
Rating:
Reviewed by Susan Poultney from UK on 17th Feb 2012
I have had a dongle from Vodafone less than a week! I was told it would last
28 days, ha! be lucky if lasts 3 days. I've had to put credit on it 3 times
in the last 6 days, i will be contacting Vodafone about this.. I haven't even
used Youtube.. previously had one from T.Mobile which i might go back to.. at
least that lasted 28 days!! Vodafone.. absolute RIP OFF!!
Rating:
Reviewed by Vince from UK on 17th Feb 2012
Performance at home only 10 miles from the Voadfone HQ is poor, only 10’s
of BPS. Normally at work in Croydon very good see better rates than my home
BT 20meg broadband (actual 500bps). Today in Croydon 17th Feb virtually no throughput
what so ever, great signal though.
All the providers are patchy, Vodafone talk about huge investments and resilient
IP backbones, but the technology anit there yet to rival fixed line services.
One day!! Not today though
Rating:
Reviewed by ben202 from London, UK on 16th Feb 2012
Subscribed to the monthly mobile wifi and it lasted 3 days. I live in central
London but couldn't get any consistent 3G signal at home or otherwise. Almost
always connected via GPRS which meant I could finish shaving by the time google
page loaded, let alone do anything useful with the internet. So much for blabbing
about >90% coverage but if Vodafone couldn't fulfil the basic function of decent
internet connection, they ain't getting my money.
Rating:
Reviewed by SPENCA from S/E ENGLAND on 14th Feb 2012
I WAS GOING TO WRITE A COMMENT ABOUT MY [PAYG] VODAFONE DONGLE BUT I CANT GET
A SIGNAL..... HEY WAIT A MINUTE I GOT 1 BAR...... OH NO I HAVENT ITS GONE AGAIN.......
Rating:
Reviewed by mike hurley from uk on 10th Feb 2012
rip-off, poor value, misleading to the beginer, and back to rip-off... general
all round very expensive, and impossible to top up with a visa card for over
a week now, as site is down. never again.
Rating:
Reviewed by Paul Whalley from England on 8th Feb 2012
Vodafone have performed pathetically throughout my contract. The signal was
poor when I had any at all and when phoning to complain I was advised to stand
outside with my laptop (hard in the rain!!!). Eventually I gave up complaining.
Rating:
Reviewed by barry mays from scotland on 27th Jan 2012
hi i have vodaphone broadband keeps cutting me of tried to call them on hold
forever then cut me off!! have emailed them 2/3 times now never get back to
you real poor c/service thinking of moving to orange
Rating:
Reviewed by thomas from england on 25th Jan 2012
vodafone mobile broadband in eastchurch is totally abysmal almost non existant
internet pages shut down as it takes sooo ! long to load one is better sending
a letter
Rating:
Reviewed by allan from england on 23rd Jan 2012
having used a vodafone mobile broadband dongle for nearly two years now, and
having had slow and sometimes useless service throughout that time, i just wanted
to add my voice to the seemingly endless stream of dissatisfied users out there.
how someone can do a survey, and say that vodafone mobile internet is outstanding,
is either a liar-or is badly informed. maybe if the reviewer had personally
USED the product, he or she would be able to offer a true account of just how
diabolical a 'SERVICE' it is. to say service is a stretch of the imagination,
as mostly it's lack of service that we (the poor consumers) have to put up with.
Rating:
Reviewed by Anna from UK on 17th Jan 2012
The PAYGO Dongle service is quite poor and cuts out regularly. On good days
I have 2 bars of service which is quite limiting and slow. It was just tiresome
trying to register and took me all of an hour. Topping up either online or by
voucher is stupid and tedious every single time (7months now). There is just
no consistency as to when it expires and the website is repetitive with very
poor navigation. All and all, a truly an annoying experience!
Rating:
Reviewed by joan anne may from uk on 17th Jan 2012
I cannot top up my broadband for my pc because I have windows 7. Ridiculous
!
Rating:
Reply by jacky faulkner from England on 6th
Jun 2012
Hi Joan,i havent had a signal for 4 months on my pc window 7,i have had to get
a 3 dongle on top of my vodavone contract,i am able to top up with this ,the
3 shop told me not to use vodafone for 3 months then they havent got a leg to
stand on, hope this helps.
Reviewed by Mike from UK on 12th Jan 2012
Vodafone PAYG Dongle £15.00 2GB last up to maximum 7 days if your lucky. I am
a very light user just used to check emails in. No downloads, No uploads, No
Streaming video. But still used in 7 Days. Vodafone are aware of a fault but
will not do anything about it. running a similar laptop on another PAYG supplier
but only 1GB still running exact same email programme 1 month with extra left
on before having to top it up. Buyer Beware
Rating:
Reviewed by Rob from uk on 12th Jan 2012
Had a contract,24months netbook,£20 per month.The contract expired,vodafone
carried on taking direct debit.I wrote to them,they took more money,I wrote
again,they took more money.I had the bank stop it.Then vodafone sent letters
to say I owe them money.Letters to directors,no response.I have now got a letter
from DRS,a debt collecting service,and a bad credit rating,because I stopped
them stealing from my account.A court case is now being prepared,not just against
vodafone but individuals as well.Avoid these cretins like the plague.
Rating:
Reviewed by kate
from UK
on 8th Jan 2012
absolute nonsense. Dongle is plugged in, light flashing, so USB port is working but it keeps either saying its not recognised, or the signal drops out. So basically it is a useless piece of plastic.
Rating:
Reviewed by steven from scotland on 6th Jan 2012
My Vodafone mobile internet is useless.live in falkirk.do not go with Vodafone
if you live in this area.they are expensive and not worth the money
Rating:
Reviewed by Bella
from UK
on 5th Jan 2012
Have just found this site after googling 'I hate Vodafone GPRS' with some bad words. It is completely useless. At the moment it is disappearing every few minutes. I don't know if this review will even get sent. I cannot get 3G unless I stand on one hand with my laptop balanced on my toe. What a fraud!
Rating:
Reviewed by dave simpson from united kingdom on 2nd Jan
2012
can't get vodafone broad band to work on windows xp
Rating:
Reviewed by Henry O'Flaherty
from UK
on 23rd Dec 2011
Is there a more useless piece of kit than a Vodafone "Dongle"? Considering it's performance,endurance and reliability, should it not be called a "Dangle"? It is in the same class as the Ford Edsel,the Amstrad E-mailer, the Sinclair C5 and of Itcourse the chocolate teapot. It is as useful as teats on a bull,and falls under the category of Cannot Recommend A Purchase.
Rating:
Reviewed by Louise from UK on 21st Dec 2011
Had a contract dongle with vodafone, recently got cut off from the internet
for "abnormal use". Have still been charged the excess price for exceeding the
standard limit. Called the customer service, got no help whatsoever - in effect
the response was "Your fault for exceeding limits, you're now cut off, but we'll
still take your money for the rest of the contract time.No you cannot cancel
the contract." Have formed a written complaint, and will be switching service
providers in the next few days. My personal recommendation for anyone considering
Vodafone as a mobile internet provider, go elsewhere if at all possible and
if Vodafone is the only one with coverage, I would seriously consider not having
internet access at all - it'll save money at least.
Rating:
Reviewed by Kevin from Ireland on 19th Dec 2011
I use a vodafoFone dongle payg on wifi toped up on thursday and by sunday its
gone and that was a 5g bundle.hate it and its slow,,stay ayay,im in the west
of ireland,,
Rating:
Reviewed by Miss Woolley from England on 16th Dec 2011
Just want to say that although I haven`t been using my internet recently ( i`ve
been doing a little test ), my internet usage has been going down which i`m
not happy about at all. I`m with vodafone and get 2gb per month and 1gb of wifi
per month ( although i`m not sure on how to use that ) for £15.00, but if I
exceed the 2gb within the month period, vodafone automatically charge £15.00
per 1 every extra gb. Now i`m making sure I don`t exceed my 2gb, but it proberly
will anyway with the credit that`s being stolen from me, then there`s another
£15.00. I think i`m not too happy with my internet provider and soon will be
cancelling my direct debit with them.
Rating:
Reviewed by Charlotte from UK on 8th Dec 2011
I have had a Vodafone PAYG dongle for some time as it is the only one that will
work where I live. Over the last month or so, I've been using it about same
but find I need to top up every 7-10 days instead of 21 days. I am very disappointed
but don't have an option
Rating:
Reply by jacky faulkner from England on 6th
Jun 2012
Hi Charlotte just to say they all do this not just vodafone so its no point
changing for this reason.
Reviewed by Fabienne from UK on 28th Nov 2011
I started using a netbook at home recently (I go on the Internet mainly), with
a Vodafone pay-as-you-go dongle. It could be quite slow at times, but is absolutely
fine at the moment. What really annoys me, though, about this dongle is that
I had not realised that the top-up (£15) expires after 30 days! It is going
to expire in a few days' time, and I still have quite a lot of credit left.
I am not happy at all about this, it might be all right for people using the
dongle intensively, but what about people like me who don't? I will have to
find another solution, I just don't know which one though, as I don't want a
contract. I wish this could be changed, as I find it quite disgusting, and it
is really spoiling it for me.
Rating:
Reviewed by gainsoul from england on 28th Nov 2011
when bought was told 3gb but am only getting2,and lucky to get 2 weeks out of
it,poor signal,just a substandard product sold very misleadingly.
Rating:
Reviewed by mrslow from england on 28th Nov 2011
tottaly rubish,customer service and shop staff useless,stick disconnecting itself,ping
on average is about 2000m/s!!!max 4000m/s(should be under 200m/s)poor,poor and
100 times poor
Rating:
Reviewed by bridgie from ireland on 25th Nov 2011
my vodafone broadband is very slow,cant watch you tube videos,im very disapointed
iv been very loyal to them been with there network for over 8years and when
i rang to get the problam fixed they said that there was nothing they could
do.I cant get wi fi at all.very very disapointed..
Rating:
Reviewed by judith from scotland on 22nd Nov 2011
if vodafone is the best dongle i dont want to see the worst because vodafone
dongle is slow slow slow slow. you cant watch utube because is so slow downloading
anything takes forever and in a nutshell its rubbish
Rating:
Reviewed by brymedia from u.k on 20th Nov 2011
2 gig for £15 and that lasts me 6 days is the most amount of days of very light
- usage,it's a con and cannot wait for virgin-media for proper BROADBAND. Funny
how every post on this page is negative because up and down the country every
student from Glasgow uni to London are all complaining about the same issues
that this k3570z and the older versions are all sluggish,slow,non-responcive,cut
you off your browser as the list is endless,to set the record right these little
Dongles were all tested in CHINA where they put a satalite up many years ago
and on normal b/band you can d/load a film in 2 minites. But these monkeys like
vodaphone bought right in to it all and now because all we want is some sort
of customer reassurance there is nothing at all no boosters.no help. it's a
joke and i can't wait to smash this to bits with a hammer when the virgin-media
man arrives at the door.
Rating:
Reviewed by Mal from UK on 18th Nov 2011
I use Vodafone for work and their reception, outside London and other major
cities, is uniformly terrible. I am unable to get a usable mobile signal at
home, at the office, or at either of the hotels I have stayed in over the last
week. Their solution - rather than erecting more masts or negotiating with other
providers to use theirs - is to have me pay for a suresignal unit at home and
another at work. Doesn't help me when on the road though. In return our company
pays them a fortune every month.
Rating:
Reviewed by Miss ?? from UK on 15th Nov 2011
Vodafone has gone down hill these past few years, with everything that has gone
on with the blackberry and then their site goes down to! They have ripped me
off before and their stores are useless with phone related problems! The only
reason why I stay on this network is for the calling circle so I hope another
phone company comes up with an identical or similar idea, please! And I didn't
even want to give them a star on this review but that option was not their (hint
for any other review sites)
Rating:
Reviewed by Rich from Powys wales on 12th Nov 2011
Vodafone internet is all but useless in llandrindod wells hopelessly slow and
drops out so much its not worth bothering if I go across the border to hereford
it works if you anywhere without three g forget it
Rating:
Reviewed by rich from UK on 10th Nov 2011
After reading a few reviews from this site and another I can conclude that yes,
it appears that my PAYGO data allowance has indeed been slashed from 3 to 2
GB. I discovered that when I topped it up and checked my account and am thoroughly
regretting posting the original glowing comment. I am thoroughly disgusted that
instead of putting the price up they have sneakily whipped a whole gig from
my allowance which in effect has cost me another £7.50. Scummy underhand tactics
indeed, well for that price I might as well upgrade my home internet, bin the
dongle when it runs out or use it as a storage device and certainly think twice
about changing my mobile phone - I thought Vodafone was supposed to be a good
deal, NOT ANYMORE. No stars. Bag dog. BAAAAD Dog.
Rating:
Reviewed by rich from uk on 9th Nov 2011
Hi, I have been using a Vodafone dongle for the past year or so. I got it as
a backup because my usual AWFUL broadband - Talk Talk (Yeah don't laugh but
you get what you pay for) I read the reviews so I didn't expect much, it is
ok but not not brilliant, you can't watch youtube without it having a heart
attack every couple of minutes but other vid sites seem ok and you can check
your email and do a bit of surfing. Not happy about the 1gb data cut but at
the end of the day you can always go elsewhere with a PAYGO and the best thing
is that when I bought it I registered it under a false ID, top up using cash
only, never put my details online my laptop is a self build and technically
I am surfing completely anonymously which suits me quite well.
Rating:
Reviewed by Harry from UK on 1st Nov 2011
Disgusting. When I bought my PAYG dongle it was advertised at 3gb for a 15 pound
top-up. Then in August, without telling anyone they cut it down to 2gb, a 33%
cut for the same price! I suppose they thought no one would notice but actually
it was easy to notice because I was only topping up once per month, then suddenly
I was topping up twice per month. Not appreciating the contempt they displayed
for their customers, I voted with my feet.
Rating:
Reviewed by Marls from uk on 29th Oct 2011
Hi guys. I've been using a Vodafone dongle & truly it was dreadful.
Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from Cardiff on 21st Oct 2011
Total ripoff - the charges for this are extremely excessive and is very slow.
I appear to have used 11Gb in a month - absolutely wrong! The problem is that
I'm locked into a 2 year contract!!!!
Rating:
Reviewed by Alan Greenwood from UK on 20th Oct 2011
Awful! Too slow to be of any practical use. Bought from Carphone Warehouse where
it was cheap but advertised as fast.
Rating:
Reviewed by peter smith from uk on 17th Oct 2011
vodafone dongles do not work due to they need constant software updates.
Rating:
Reviewed by Howard Miller from UK on 15th Oct 2011
To be fair the actual operation of the thing works very well. What I didn't
realise (and the guy in the shop lied to me about) was that if I go over my
limit it's 5p per MB. This doesn't sound much but (if my maths are correct)
that's around 50 quid per GB!!! That's shocking!!! To add to the insult, I can
find no way to see how much I have used this month. The app thing doesn't work
properly (Mac version) and the web site is shocking and useless. Luckily for
me, I'm still in my days return period :)
Rating:
Reviewed by qwertyuiop from England on 15th Oct 2011
i recently changed to vodafone broadband dongle and it is terrible when you
browse the internet it is slow you cannot view youtube videos because it is
slow or play online games and i also used their app to see what the coverage
is like on their website and it said their was no coverage at all. also it is
£15 for 2gb of data but if it reaches the end of the month and you still have
data left which i always do it doesnt carry on when you next top up.
Rating:
Reviewed by astik from india on 12th Oct 2011
its the best one with the most facilities tha can be given.
Rating:
Reviewed by Gordon_M from Scotland on 8th Oct 2011
In a word - coverage. I use mine a lot, because I'm paying for it and I have
to. Coverage anywhere I really need to use it is rubbish, normally defaults
to GPRS because even when it does get a 3G signal it just won't download anything,
and it does spend it's time switching between GPRS and 3G, even when you tell
it not to. ... but This year I took it with me to the south of France, because
I didn't want to pay ripoff hotel wi-fi connection charges. What a revelation.
Worked first time, ran at 3G all the time, uploaded and downloaded like a champ.
Hence my conclusion that it isn't the dongle that's the problem, it is poor
network coverage or capacity - don't blame the dongle. Still not having another,
tethered Iphone next time, and not on Vodafone if I can help it. Fairness point
- I suspect all moble broadband providers are the same.
Rating:
Reviewed by David from UK on 28th Sep 2011
I used a Vodafone dongle in a wireless access point. I bought it so I could
leave it switched on for use as a backup, and for in our caravan. I found that
even when I was not using it, my credit went down by around 45p per day. I disabled
the wireless access point in case someone else was using it without my knowledge.
Same thing. It seems Vodafone charge you every time the device connects to the
network, even if you don't send/receive data. This equates to paying £15 a month
and getting no data. I used up my credit and dumped the sim. Now I am with a
network that doesn't rip me off.
Rating:
Reviewed by Amber from england u.k on 21st Sep 2011
I`ve had pay monthly vodafone dongles for 18 months 15 pounds a month.i`ve had
bad experience of vodafone network.i bought my dongles in carphone warehouse.
they are not helpful about my problem. no signal in my area.they are liar, carphone
warehouse staff said good signal.rubbish no signal at all.we go back to carphone
warehouse after 4 days to cancel my contract they dont accept.we go back again
to try and speak to the manager he said they cant do anything about it.we tried
to ask help in one of vodafone staff he said go back to carphone warehouse because
i bought my dongles to them not in vodafone shop. i am distress of this problem
because i am paying for 18 months not using it.i regret that i signed this contract.i`d
have tmobile dongles i dont have problem very very good signal.i dont recommend
vodafone network, they are rubbish not worth it.they just want our money and
they are not reliable.i am not going back to their network! RUBBISH,RUBBISH,RUBBISH
NETWORK!WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME! DISHONEST!O STAR!
Rating:
Reviewed by BILL from SCOTTLAND on 21st Sep 2011
COVERAGE MAPS ARE NONSENSE. LIVED IN 3 DIFFERENT LOCATION IN ARGYLL AND HAVE
NEVER GOT A 3G SIGNAL. DOWNLOAD SPEEDS (WHEN I CAN GET ANY CONNECTION ARE LESS
THAN 1KBPS AT THE BEST OF TIMES. AVOID VODAFONE DONGLES LIKE THE PLAGUE. THE
ROYAL MAIL IS A FASTER METHOD OF COMMUNICATION THAN VODAFONE MOBILE INTERNET.
MAY THE ENTIRE MANAGEMENT OF VODAFONE SUFFER THE SAME DEGREE OF FRUSTRATION
AND RAGE THAT THEIR THRID RATE SERVICE HAS INFLICTED ON SO MANY OF THEIR CUSTOMERS
Rating:
Reviewed by old skool from..... from 20 years ago on 21st
Sep 2011
i got the perfect solution to high internet charges!close and un plug your lap
top and toss it in the nearest bin(couple of smacks with a hammer first=optional)then
go outside and live a little. stop being victims to this damnable age of technolo
gy!anyway thats all i have to say now where,s that bin. ps whatever ahmed! wonder
who you work for.
Rating:
Reviewed by fed up from fed up land on 17th Sep 2011
vodafone is a total rip off! slow slow slow!
Rating:
Reviewed by Peter from UK on 11th Sep 2011
This should have minus score added. I'm not happy going from 3GB down to 2GB
... So now i'm with 3 simple as that.
Rating:
Reviewed by David (dch) from Scotland on 8th Sep 2011
I`ve been stuck in hospital for the 8 months due accident and a stroke @ 41
and in wheel chair typing with 1 hand on screen key board. I have ask a nurse
take me to v/p shop. The have messed up my rate but did refund me. Toped up
last week 3gig and find 2gig, sorry must go, may 1 finger is sore. key trainning,
haledavid@windowslve.com
Rating:
Reviewed by Abdulaziz
from UK
on 3rd Sep 2011
worst dongle i ever had,very very slow speed, signal ranges from one to three whether I'm indoors or outdoors but either ways performance is zero because web pages simply won't load or maybe load half and then gets stuck.Exact location: Great Ormond Street, London I will ask for a refund as this is a worthless dongle
Rating:
Reviewed by Jay from Northern Ireland on 30th Aug 2011
Bought on 25.08.2011 a 10£ web & Text freebeee what should give me 500MB.. I
got today 30.08.2011 a txt what said my my data use has exceeded my freebee
limit . 500MB in 5 Days for checking email's on my mobile !!! This is an rip
off !!
Rating:
Reviewed by kev from scotland on 29th Aug 2011
absoloute rubbish avoid at all costs
Rating:
Reviewed by Jay from Northern Ireland on 27th Aug 2011
UPDATE : Now Vodafone give you 2GB for 15 BPD ! This is an rise up of 30% in
the recession ! Thanks to the government who let us alone with such rip off
Companies . Slow broadband as hell to unusable. Service not visible... shame,
but everything seems ok so long the profit is enough to fill shareholders pockets..
-5
Rating:
Reviewed by andy from scotland on 26th Aug 2011
well all you have to do is read other reviews to realise vodafone is rubbish,
40 min to log in to hotmail, doesnt load fast enought to actually get to read
any of them. Thankfully im a pay as u go,£15 for 3 gb when I bought it, only
mannaged 1.2gb in the 30 days even though pc connected for this period,no carry
over, when I renewed I got 2gb for £15? down loads are so slow they often break
connection and you lose what ever you have already tried to down load !!!. If
you want a truly fast connection for free join your local library... 800+ MB
in less than 20 mins, not mobilebut shockingly FAST I would rate voda fone NEGATIVE
rating stars truly crud crud. Ps the only reviews that seem positive were probably
put there by vodafone
Rating:
Reviewed by Gavin from Ireland on 25th Aug 2011
Its back to the days of dial up and if you ring customer service its always
your computer or cable or ?...... and now have to stay with them for the next
year fell like crying!!!!!!
Rating:
Reviewed by Rachael from UK on 25th Aug 2011
I think I've just wasted 3 days of my life I will never get back trying to sort
out my mobile broadband with Vodafone. I was told I was in high 3G cover area
but when getting started at home, in an inner-city area, it was unable to find
any 3G signal whatsoever. Every once in a while one bar would flicker into life,
but I never managed to connect online. Money and time was wasted on the phone
to their support department (although very friendly) and in the store where
it worked perfectly. Eventually, the store were really good with me and gave
me a full refund. I went across the road and bought a dongle with 3 and it works
perfectly. Say no more.
Rating:
Reviewed by John from uk on 24th Aug 2011
Have 3 bars out of 5 right now. Good signal so it says. Joup. Took me just 5min
to get to this page. After I lost connection 3 times. Looking for another provider
because this service is just a joke.
Rating:
Reviewed by Mark
from UK
on 24th Aug 2011
Dismal. Despite having a signal which is apparently excellent, my connection is ranging from 150bps to the dizzy heights of 22Kbs. Broadband? This make dial-up look like a turebo-charged option. Utterly dreadful. Have tried it on a laptop and two notebooks - all same results. Have since googled and found that what I experience is typical. Vodafone mobile internet is effectively unusable. It even times out on its own site it takes so long to download. Last time I use Vodafone fraudband. Useless and customer service TRULY could not care less. On the upside, I gather every other provider is at least one order of magnitude better.
Rating:
Reviewed by Josh from UK on 21st Aug 2011
Download speed is good but rip off prices if you go over your allowance. £15
per gb and you don't even get to carry it over to next month if u don't use
it all . Personally i wont be renewing my contract with these prices and would
not have signed up if i knew this.
Rating:
Reviewed by Michael woodcroft from U.k on 17th Aug 2011
Extremely poor. Topped up and had less credit than i had previously, then all
of a sudden credit has just gone. Steer clear.
Rating:
Reviewed by jeff from uk on 11th Aug 2011
Vodafone are terrible. I was lied to and signed up for two year deal. Within
2 weeks the service stopped. I was told time and time nothing wrong with the
mast in my area. After three weeks complaining someone actually sent an engineer
& guess what, yes found faulty. I still get intermitent service & regret ever
leaving T-Mobile. Had no problem with them. Still got another year of contract
with these idiots.
Rating:
Reviewed by Magz from Ireland on 10th Aug 2011
Terrible! Ir will probably disconnext me four or five times before I even finish
this post. My boyfriend is using an o2 Dongle in the next room and happily streaming
youtube videos and playing games online. It takes me ten or twenty tries to
even open a facebook page. It used to be not so bad, but for the past two weeks
I cant get anything done. Im definately changing over to O2. 0/5 Stars.
Rating:
Reviewed by Kieran from UK on 9th Aug 2011
Appalling coverage. I have lived in 5 locations with this dongle - city, country,
high, low, and EVRYWHERE . . .this service is a a complete disaster. Avoid.
Oh, and they also lied to me on the phone. I had gone over my limit and needed
to split the bill over 2 payments . . .'no problem at all!' they said, and promptly
took the whole lot, gaining me a bank charge. So, all in all, lies about coverage,
and lies when you deal with them. PS the call centre was in Cairo.
Rating:
Reviewed by ahmed javed from india on 8th Aug 2011
above written lines are all lies. Don't believe them
Rating:
Reply by Kasseer from UK on 22nd Feb 2012
haha another positive review from india...where are their call centres again......?!
Reviewed by Jason trinder from UK on 6th Aug 2011
VODAFONE very very poor. Their signal map checker on their website is completely
false. If you want to check your true coverage check a prog called Atlas. Never
had such a poor service!! Non existent 3G and keeps dropping from Edge. This
on the iPhone. Would certainly not recommend them again!!!
Rating:
Reviewed by KL from UK on 5th Aug 2011
Horrible & terrible! Expensive +++++ & slow +++++. NEVER sign up for this service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have been warned
Rating:
Reviewed by ttillop from uk on 2nd Aug 2011
broadband is a joke, slow and painful, do not think about geting it
Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from UK on 1st Aug 2011
Wish I hadn't changed from O2. The network coverage is just terrible. All too
often I just can't get any mobile network coverage at all and yet according
to the coverage maps should be better than O2. And it's not even as if it were
cheaper. I will be changing back as soon as I can and I would advise anyone
thinking about using vodafone for mobile internet (and that includes any smartphone)
to look elsewhere.
Rating:
Reviewed by JK from UK on 30th Jul 2011
Awful! Have had a Vodafone dongle for a month - it works only when it feels
like it !!! I've had it replaced and the new dongle is the same. Don't waste
your time or money on this rubbish. I've just gone back to using my HTC's wifi
hotspot facility and connect to the internet through that.
Rating:
Reviewed by Alistair McLay from UK on 29th Jul 2011
My company already had a Blackberry, phone, email and internet service with
Vodafone we were quite happy with and so when we needed greater mobile connectivity
I took out the dongle package above. Quite quickly I realised I needed greater
than the 3Gb usage included as the additional usage charges were £15 for every
additional 1Gb. Customer support increased my allowance to 5Gb. The company's
bill last month for around 15Gb usage was £96!!! T-Mobile and 3 offer either
unlimited or 15Gb usage for around £15-£20 per month! I asked to cancel with
reluctance and disappointment when I discovered Vodafone did not offer a greater
usage package. But the cherry on the cake was the ETF of £170 they charged me.
I could not get them to agree to either reduce or waive this fee, even at the
threat of moving my overall contract away when it was up for renewal within
a few months. Terrible value, terrible service. This company does not value
your custom and they are extorting money from you. Avoid like the plague.
Rating:
Reviewed by S from UK on 29th Jul 2011
Poor network perfomance,No connection during work hours.
Rating: