9 January 2007
Vodafone launched its At Home service yesterday, which provides high speed broadband and landline services and includes calls to UK landlines and mobile phones for 25% less than BT for its mobile phone customers at just £25 a month.
With up to 8MBs broadband speed and unlimited monthly usage, it also beats AOL, which charges £30 for a similar service and unlike last year's broadband newcomers Sky and TalkTalk, Vodafone's service is available from every ADSL-enabled phone exchange, which accounts for roughly 97% of UK households.
By using BT Wholesale's network, rather than local loop unbundling, it should also make it easier to join and leave the service, although a minimum 18-month contract is required by Vodafone for its £25 offer.
A representative for broadband website ZDNet commented on the service, saying: "We commend Vodafone for at least nominally adding quality and value to a market that has not been doing well for either, even if it's more an effort to keep its own customers than to plunder the competition.
"But it needs to do more than keep them," the site warned. "It needs to keep them happy. That's the only way the company can turn promise into presence."
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