ISP Vodafone UK Launch FTTP Broadband for SOHO Businesses
Mobile operator and ISP Vodafone UK has today announced that they’ve extended the availability of their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband packages – via both Openreach and CityFibre’s national network platforms – to include small business (small office / home office) customers.
Previously, it was only possible to get Vodafone’s SOHO Business Broadband packages via Openreach’s slow Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) network, but after a long wait that has finally changed: “Thanks to partnerships with CityFibre and Openreach, Vodafone full-fibre broadband now covers 26 UK towns and cities, rising to 35 locations in the coming months as the rollout continues.”
At present, it only seems possible to order the new packages via the phone and the asymmetric upload speeds listed on their website appear to match Openreach’s FTTP products, rather than CityFibre’s. All the packages include free installation, a 36-month minimum contract term (shorter 24-month terms are optional), an “ultra-smart router” and we think that you also get a Static IP address (at least you did on their older plans).
The move is somewhat overdue because Vodafone’s residential customers have had access to FTTP plans on both networks for quite some time.
Andrew Stevens, VF’s Head of UK Small and Medium Business, said:
“Small businesses operate in an increasingly digital-first environment, one where virtual meetings, hybrid working and online commerce are the norm. People are now more likely to first encounter and engage with a typical small business online than they are ‘in real life’, and business owners need to know they can stay connected with remote teams to serve their customers and keep everything running smoothly.
We’ve made it really simple to switch to superfast full fibre, with no upfront installation costs – perfect for today’s busy SoHo businesses who want to prioritise productivity and growth post-pandemic.”
Prices start at £17.08 +vat per month for their entry level “Superfast 1” package with average download speeds of 38Mbps (9Mbps upload) and go up to £45 per month for their 900Mbps (105Mbps upload) “Gigafast Pro” package. We should add that ‘Pro’ packages add Mesh WiFi and an automatic 4G back-up.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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> So do you think they will switch to 900/900 ever?
Openreach? Probably not. Too much leased line revenue that they don’t want to cannibalise.
Vodafone via Cityfibre? I’d expect you to get 900/900 today, even if their literature says 900/105. They are sitting on the same Cityfibre network as everyone else, after all.
“VF are funny – turned me down on credit check for their £30 a month service”
Credit check, for broadband? Do all UK ISPs do that, or just VF? or were you buying a mobile (broadband) contract?
Credit checks are fairly common, especially for subscription services (broadband or otherwise). But most of the time these things happen in the background and people are rarely aware, unless they turn up a problem. The best thing to do then is to use something like Experian to identify where the issues are coming from and how to get your score up.
From experience, Vodafone’s consumer online system sometimes will say that you have failed a credit check, even if you haven’t.
Specifically, if you have cancelled your services with them within 3 months of applying for a new service their online system won’t let you and will give you the credit check failed screen – even though they haven’t actually carried out a credit check.
So for example, if you only have mobile with them but cancel it and then 1 month later decide to order home broadband with them, the computer will say no, you’ll be told you failed the credit check but there will be no record of any searches on your credit files. It’s just Vodafone’s system knows you were a customer 1 month ago and won’t let you take out new services for a further 2 months. Hope that makes sense.
At £17 plus VAT i doubt it will be very good? Thats the same as home user price and as a Vodafone home broadband user i can conferm that the service is crap, its up and down like a tarts knickers – customer service also beyond useless. I was waiting for CityFibre to connect my street up in Plymouth but they dont seem to provide any updates about when they will cover my area. Now posters have gone up on the street furniture that Grain are going to install fibre
Cityfibre FTTP broadband product is called “Residential Fibre to the Home”. Is this / has that product always been available for business end users?