Vodafone announces 14.4Mb mobile broadband roll-out, but will we notice?

Vodafone announced today that it has doubled the speed of its mobile broadband network... theoretically, in some places.

Vodafone already theoretically has one of the fastest networks in the UK with 7.2Mb advertised speed - although it was recently forced to admit that real-world speeds were more accurately 'somewhere between 1Mbits/sec and 5Mbits/sec'. 

The company says that parts of London, Birmingham and Liverpool have already been upgraded to the new faster networks, and that more areas will follow in the coming months. However, even if you live in one of the areas already benefitting from the upgrade, you may not notice a great deal of difference. With mobile broadband speeds affected by a number of factors including the number of users on the network and your physical distance from the nearest base station, advertised speeds and real-world speeds rarely match up.

Vodafone has admitted that customers within the upgraded areas are not likely to get speeds of anything like 14.4Mb, saying that likely speed are in the region of 1Mb to 5Mb, with no-one getting any more than 10.8Mb. The company remains positive about the developments all the same with Jeni Mundy, Vodafone UK's chief technology officer commenting:  "Today's network upgrade means customers can be reassured we're consistently enhancing the quality of our network in response to demand." 

The new roll-out will make Vodafone the first mobile broadband operator in the UK to provide the new, faster HSDPA.