Vodafone is Expanding its 4G Coverage- But Not Fast Enough

Vodafone recently announced that on the 28th of September 4G will be switched on in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield. That’s good news for Vodafone customers, but not as good as we’d hoped and not reason enough for anyone to really consider taking out a 4G contract on Vodafone over EE.

The problem, simply, is that Vodafone’s expansion is far too slow. Sure EE had a head start and that couldn’t really be helped, but EE also was and is expanding a lot faster, to the point where while Vodafone currently only has 4G coverage in London, EE has coverage in 105 towns and cities, giving 4G access to roughly 60% of the UK population.

EE’s gone one better too, because while the network is still expanding its coverage at a breakneck pace it’s also going back and upgrading sites to deliver double speed 4G in certain locations. So far double speed 4GEE is available in 20 towns and cities, which is far more than either Vodafone or O2 have brought any sort of 4G coverage to.

Speaking of O2, its situation is arguably even worse than Vodafone’s as while it’s currently got a live 4G network in slightly more places (London, Leeds and Bradford), its expansion plans seem just as slow as Vodafone’s and its prices are steeper - as steep in fact as EE’s, a network which has enough coverage to at least justify its prices.

Three meanwhile is little more than a blip on the radar. Sure, it might be a threat one day with its promises of unlimited data and low prices, but right now it doesn’t even have a live 4G network.

EE is way ahead, and with such slow launches and conservative expansion plans from the competition that doesn’t look in any danger of changing any time soon.