Vodafone mobile broadband customers are in line for a massive broadband speed upgrade, delivering connections of up to 14.4Mb.

The upgrade will potentially double the maximum broadband connection speed that the provider’s customers can expect to receive. The faster service is available now in busy areas of selected cities of the UK, including Birmingham, Liverpool and London, with plans to roll out the improved service across the UK in months to come.

The roll out is earmarked principally for parts of cities with higher density populations where demand for bandwidth is heavy. However, the broadband supplier has yet to announce which specific areas will be first in line for the upgrade.

According to Vodafone, around 80 per cent of the company’s mobile broadband dongles, datacards and 3G mobile phones can support the improved speeds. However, the speed that customers experience may be affected by the strength of signal they receive. This means that although 14.4Mb is theoretically possible, it is more likely that their maximum actual speed will be 10.8Mb.

Commenting on the announcement, Jeni Mundy, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone UK, said: “Customers trust us to deliver a mobile network that they can rely on – wherever they are and whether they are individuals, or a small, medium or large business.

“Today’s network upgrade means customers can be reassured we’re consistently enhancing the quality of our network in response to demand.”

Vodafone’s efforts to improve the mobile internet experience for UK consumers follows the company recently officially lending its support to Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology as a viable alternative to home broadband connections.

Addressing a crowd at the Wireless 2.0 Conference last month, Professor Michael Walker, Research and Development Director at Vodafone, refuted suggestions that LTE was a poor substitute for fixed line broadband and pledged that the company’s LTE roll out would avoid the pitfalls experienced with 3G.