It might not have the low prices of Three or the blazing 4G speeds of EE , but Vodafone seems to have found its own niche in the mobile networks market. Improved 4G performance has seen it inching closer to EE, and it’s developing a strong 5G presence. And while it used to offer a bewildering range of bundles, some of questionable value, it now has some good SIM-only deals. When it comes to the all-round package, Vodafone has become a real contender.

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Vodafone review: What do you get?

You might still want to compare prices if you’re buying a new smartphone on a contract, as while Vodafone is now a lot more competitive, it’s still a little more expensive than the cheapest option. An iPhone 12 , for example, starts at £53 a month plus £29 upfront with a 50GB data allowance, which works out at £1301 over the 24-month term. That’s £300 more than you’d spend for the same plan on iD Mobile and £76 more than you’d currently pay for the same phone with 100GB on Three.

Go for the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G, and prices start at £42 a month with 25GB and £19 upfront. At £1051 all in, that's a pretty good deal, but Three is cheaper still at £39 a month plus £29 upfront including 100GB of monthly data, which works out at less than £1000 over two years.

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The value picks up once you start looking at Vodafone’s SIM-only plans. True, the low data plans aren’t much of a bargain, at £12 for 1GB and £16 for 5GB, but things are better once you hit 100GB for £20 on a 24-month contract, which compares well with similar deals from Virgin Mobile and BT Mobile , although Three, O2 and EE will all give you a slightly larger allowance for the same monthly fee.

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Most of Vodafone’s plans are 5G ready at no extra cost, while Vodafone also sells a selection of Unlimited plans. It’s hard to recommend the Unlimited Lite plan, even at £20 per month, because it limits your connection speed to just 2Mbits/sec. We’re also a bit reluctant on the straight Unlimited plans, as these have a maximum download speed of 10Mbits/sec. However, the 5G ready Unlimited Max plans are a different matter, as they’ll give you the fastest speeds available and start at just £25. Only Three and iD Mobile offer cheaper unlimited plans.

Vodafone’s other major selling point is its Entertainment deals, which bundle in a choice of streaming services for 12 or 24 months to match your plan. The options include YouTube Premium, Spotify Premium and Amazon Prime Video, all of which would cost you between £8 and £12 a month on a separate subscription. As the Entertainment packages are generally £7 more than the more basic bundles, they’re well worth thinking about if you plan to subscribe to the service in question anyway. If you’re thinking of taking broadband services from Vodafone, you can save £2 if you’re also a mobile subscriber.

Vodafone review: Coverage and connection speeds

Vodafone comes a rather distant second to EE when looking at 4G performance, but it’s still comfortably ahead of rivals O2 and Three. The latest research from RootMetrics gives it a UK median download speed of 21.1Mbits/sec, behind EE (42Mbits/sec) but in front of Three (13.9Mbits/sec). What’s more, Vodafone shared a RootMetrics award with EE for network accessibility, while coming second across all other categories. In RootMetrics’ tests across 16 major metropolitan areas, Vodafone posted median download speeds of over 50Mbits/sec in two while dropping below 20Mbits/sec in four fewer markets than in the previous set of tests. The network is improving all the time.

This is also reflected in Vodafone’s coverage. There are still some remote coastal areas and parts of Scotland where you won’t get a 4G signal, but in most places it won’t be a problem, and Vodafone claims its network covers more than 99% of the UK population.

Vodafone is also off to a fairly strong start with 5G. Availability was sometimes limited in RootMetrics’ last set of 5G tests – well below 5% in some major UK cities – but coverage does reach 44% in Liverpool and 24.9% in Bristol. Some of the speed results were also impressive, with Vodafone reaching a median 5G download speed of 216.6Mbits/sec in London and 188.9Mbits/sec in Glasgow. The further Vodafone rolls out its 5G network, the more these numbers should improve.

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Vodafone review: Roaming

Inclusive data, calls and texts remain free to use inside the EU, and Vodafone has a Global Roaming scheme to cover other destinations. With its Roam Further add-on, you can use your allowances in the US, Australia and a range of other places, and this is either free with the Unlimited and Unlimited Max packages, or £6 per day with the less expensive plans. Your data allowance is included, but Unlimited customers have a data cap of 25GB per month. Data above your allowance will cost you £3.95 for 1GB or £19.75 for 5GB, which isn’t bad value when you see some networks charging £5 or more per megabyte.

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Vodafone review: Other services and spending caps

Like EE and Three, Vodafone supports Wi-Fi calling, so you can make and take calls over a wireless network instead of 3G or 4G. These don’t save you any money – they come out of your normal allowance – but it helps you stay in touch in locations you might not otherwise get a decent signal. Vodafone is also more flexible than EE or Three, as this feature is supported on a wider range of plans and phones.

You can set data caps for a Vodafone contract, either through the website or Vodafone’s smartphone app. You’ll get an alert when you’ve run through 80% of your data allowance, another when you’ve used it completely, and more for each further 250GB of data you consume.

Vodafone review: Customer service and satisfaction

Every year Ofcom publishes a customer service report, and for a few years Vodafone struggled with poor scores for overall satisfaction and customer complaints. In the latest report there’s good news on overall customer satisfaction, with Vodafone lagging just behind Tesco Mobile and O2 but being ahead of Virgin Mobile and Three. However, it still has more customers with reason to complain than the average, and more complaints to Ofcom per 100,000 subscribers. While it’s heading in the right direction, Vodafone still has some work to do to get this right.

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Vodafone review: Verdict

Vodafone’s commitment to boosting speeds and expanding and updating its network has put it in a solid second place behind EE, and some of its plans and entertainment bundles are arguably better on all-round value. If it can keep rolling out its 5G services and improve its customer service scores, it’ll be in an even stronger position. As it is right now, it’s not quite up there with EE as the best mobile network, but it’s closer than anyone else to matching EE’s pace.