Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Some of ISPreview’s readers (credits Jade and Mike) have spotted that mobile network operator Vodafone (VodafoneThree) appears to have quietly added a new ‘Speed Boost’ add-on (Extras), which promises that data usage will be “prioritised on our network giving you the fastest speeds available in busy areas like train stations, stadiums, and crowded places.”
The Speed Boost itself appears to be time based, thus you’ll pay £3 (one-off) for 1 day of boosting, £5 for 7 days, £10 for 30 days (you can optionally also take the £10 option as part of a reoccurring payment). The daily option seems rather pricey for a feature with no clear guarantee of performance increase, but the value does improve for longer periods. The feature seems to be available to both Pay Monthly and PAYG plan users.
Vodafone’s product summary doesn’t provide any technical explanation for what they’re actually doing or enabling with Speed Boost. But digging into the link to their T&Cs did reveal some extra detail: “Speed Boost gives you network priority in busy locations, like train stations or events. With a Xtra Global Roam plan, you’ll get prioritisation in the UK only, for up to 200GB per month; any data used beyond this won’t be prioritised until the next billing cycle. Speed caps still apply. Speed Boost is compatible with 5G devices only.”
Somewhat confusingly, Vodafone then buries some key details about Speed Boost right down at the very bottom of their ‘Extras’ page. Seriously, Vodafone, why can’t you just put these key details right where the product is actually displayed, instead of splitting it across three different locations?
Speed Boost
Xtras: Compatible with 5G devices only. Users are prioritised as:
up to 10GB for 1 day
50GB for 7 day
200GB for 30-day
This is subject to your plan’s max speeds. Pay monthly plan required.
The reference to “5G devices only” makes us think that Vodafone might be utilising Network Slicing technology to give customers a dedicated data link, although that’s more of a 5G Standalone (5GSA) feature, yet they don’t specifically mention that as being a requirement (i.e. you’d need a Smartphone that’s 5GSA capable, not merely 5G capable). We’ve shot off a request to Vodafone in order to hopefully gain some clarification.
One other question mark is over whether customers with the operator’s Xtra Global Roam plan get Speed Boost included by default, since the T&C’s could be open to interpretation. According to one of Vodafone’s customers, Jade, they still had to add the boost to their plan. This thus also needs some clarification.
Otherwise, it sounds like an interesting feature, although we’d like to think that customers wouldn’t need it. Ideally, the operator should already be doing enough to ensure that there’s plenty of data bandwidth available for all of its customers in busy areas to receive a good service.