Vodafone's new "Speed guarantee"

Hey all,

So was having a read up on this on the site earlier today, and it really got me baffled - I ran a check on my new address and it told me that i'll be eligible for the 55mbps package based on line speeds and what not, which is fine. According to the BT wholesale checker i'm on a 62/13 line at the moment in my current house and only achieving 47mbps on a shorter line distance than my new one. So how can Vodafone guarantee this speed or your get some of your money back, surely they wouldn't promise something that would leave them out of pocket for the most part?

Their broadband is definitely some of the cheapest i've seen at £28 a month already, yet they're happy to give out a 15% discount if you don't obtain that speed? Are they using something BT et al aren't to ensure that they can get customers to this 55mbps speed, or is it just a marketing gimmick and they'll actually end up saying that the minumum speed guarantee is based on the Openreach minimum handback threshold?

Anyone who can shed some light on this, it's got me a bit baffled if i'm honest!

Edited by Nitro93 (Mon 05-Mar-18 21:03:49)

In reply to a post by Nitro93:

According to the BT wholesale checker i'm on a 62/13 line at the moment in my current house and only achieving 47mbps on a shorter line distance than my new one.

If those are the maximum values given for your current line and if you are testing using a wired connection (no wifi) then your current line is under-performing somewhat. There can be many reasons for that and all are specific to your line with no particular reason to think that your new line will have similar issues.

If your new line is going to be even shorter then I think Vodafone are on a pretty safe bet. It certainly doesn't strike me as much of a gamble on their part.

Edited by Andrue (Mon 05-Mar-18 21:09:39)

In reply to a post by Andrue:

In reply to a post by Nitro93:

According to the BT wholesale checker i'm on a 62/13 line at the moment in my current house and only achieving 47mbps on a shorter line distance than my new one.

If those are the maximum values given for your current line by the checker then it's reasonable to assume that your new shorter line will have even higher possible values. The fact you're only getting 47Mb/s in practice (is that your sync speed?) imply that your current line is underperforming somewhat. There are many reasons for that and no particular reason to think that your new line will do the same.

So I'd say that Vodafone can be quite confident in their offer. They might be unlucky but I see nothing particularly surprising about it.

Sorry, I meant the other way round. So current house is 63/13 (currently only achieving 47mbps sync with 57mbps attainable) - New house i'm going to be moving to is 56/12 so is less, which is why i'm baffled given that the offer is cutting it pretty fine?

Its marketing - i.e. they'll make a little more from you on the 76 variant than 38 even when discount applied (I believe) and you need to remember to claim the discount each month, and many are bound to forget now and then too.

Thought as much, for a moment it had me thinking... what's so special that Voda are doing that BT Retail aren't?

I would be wary, particularly if you have just used an address checker rather than a phone number checker.

It might be safer to order the lower speed FTTC service and then make an in contract upgrade if Vodafone say they allow this and the max attainable speed makes you think the faster speed is worth the money.

In reply to a post by Nitro93:

Thought as much, for a moment it had me thinking... what's so special that Voda are doing that BT Retail aren't?

Not paying over £2bn per year for Premier and Champion's League TV rights perhaps?

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 05-Mar-18 23:18:38)

Thats ok as they are looking to take it out of my pension.

The guarantee seems pretty worthless. You can only claim if the line sync speed falls below the threshold, which is reasonably unlikely, and they don't have to pay out when your connection is slow because of contention when they don't provision enough backhaul (i.e. the reason they are cheap in the first place).

All the sort of things predicted when guarantees on consumer services are talked about...