Vodafone Broadband & Fibre Plans

​We review Vodafone's broadband and fibre plans, its Sky TV packages and weigh up the pros and cons of the service

Updated 18 October 2019

Vodafone is one of New Zealand's largest telco companies and offers four core broadband and fibre plans. While it has faced criticism from customers for outsourcing its support centre to India, it's one of only a few ISPs to offer 24/7 support. In this review, we look at the plans offered, the speeds, minimum term contracts and cancellation terms, Sky TV add-on options and other features.

​Overall, when we review the price and benefits offered, we see Vodafone as offering a run-of-the-mill service for home internet users.
 
Our review covers:

• Prices and Plans
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Vodafone's Broadband and Fibre Plans
• Vodafone Broadband and Fibre Review - Our Verdict

Vodafone Broadband and Fibre Review: Prices and Plans

Plan Essentials:

1. Vodafone offers four plans, all of which have 12 or 24 fixed-term commitments.
2. Existing Vodafone monthly mobile customers will save $10/month on the below prices. 
3. If you cancel your contract before the end of the term, Vodafone charges fees of between $199 and $299.

Plan 1 - Ultimate Home

• Connection: ADSL, VDSL, Fibre 100 or UltraFast HFC 200
• Data: Unlimited
• Price: $97.99/month
• Minimum term: 12 months, with a $199 early cancellation fee.
• Additional Benefits: Free installation and 24/7 support. Fibre connections have access to VodafoneTV. 
• Joining credit: If you have an existing ISP, Vodafone will offer $200 credit towards your monthly bills if you switch.

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Plan 2 - Smart Connect

• Connection: ADSL, VDSL, Fibre 100 or UltraFast HFC 200
• Data: Unlimited
• Price: $82.99/month
• Minimum term: 24 months, with a $299 early cancellation fee.
• Additional Benefits: Free installation
• Joining credit: If you have an existing ISP, Vodafone will offer $200 credit towards your monthly bills if you switch.
• Be aware: Vodafone promotes this as a 'no frills' plan. This means you won't have access to phone support. Instead, you'll be limited to online chat (which may be difficult if your connection is disrupted). Also,  Fibre connections do not have access to VodafoneTV. 

Plan 3 - Everyday Home

• Connection: ADSL, VDSL, Fibre 
• Data: 240GB
• Price: $72.99/month
• Minimum term: 24 months, with a $299 early cancellation fee.
• Additional Benefits: Free installation and 24/7 support

Plan 4 - Everyday Home

• Connection: Home Wireless (i.e. Vodafone 4G signal)
• Data: 60GB
• Price: $49.99/month
• Minimum term: 12 months, with a $199 early cancellation fee.
• Additional Benefits: Free installation and 24/7 support

Know this:

1. There are no 'monthly' contracts - Vodafone requires a minimum 12 or 24 months commitment on its plans.
2. When you reach the end of your plan’s data allowance, you will be charged $2 per 1GB. Be aware, uploads and downloads count towards your monthly allowance.

Broadband, TV, Phone and Mobile Bundles

Vodafone offers a couple of add-ons, which are charged on top of the monthly broadband or fibre plan. 

Phone: For an additional $10/month on any plan, Vodafone offers a home phone with free national calling. Specifically, you'll be able to make unlimited landline to landline calls.

TV: Vodafone offers five TV packages that include

1. Unlimited data with a Fibre or VDSL connection
2. Vodafone TV Box, allowing you to record up to 500 hrs of content
3. 24/7 Broadband Help
4. Complimentary Standard installation
5. A $200 Broadband Credit when you switch to Vodafone from another provider. 
6. A fixed price, 12-month contract with a $199 early-cancellation fee. 

However, the plans are not cheap - you'll pay almost close to $2,000/year for a Sport or Entertainment package, and over $2,000 a year if you want Sky's movie channels. The packages include:

1. Intro - $97.99/month, offering free to air channels
2. Sky Starter - $122.99/month, offering free to channels and a number of Sky's cable channels (VICE, TAB trackside, MTV, among others) 
3. Sky Sport - $152.89/month, offering all Sky Sport channels, Sky Starter channels and free to air channels
4. Sky Entertainment - $152.99/month, offering Sky Starter, SOHO and Sky's entertainment channels (including UKTV, Fox News, CNBC and CNN, among others). 
5. Sky Premium - $192.89/month, offering all channels within the Starter, Sport, Entertainment packages, as well as Movies and free to air channels.

Our view: With Sky TV losing subscribers by the thousands every month, its biggest selling point is arguably the sport channels. Unless you need a 24/7 sports channel, the Vodafone Sky TV plans offer little value given many of the channels can be watched online for free. 

Vodafone Broadband and Fibre Review: Coverage

Fibre is progressively being rolled out around New Zealand, and currently is in every city. To find out if you can access Vodafone Fibre, click on the broadband map and enter your address. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are extensively covered, but there are instances where fibre cables are yet to be laid in some neighbourhoods.

If you don't yet have Fibre, then Vodafone offers VDSL which is the next-best-thing. Failing that, there's ADSL. If you don't live in a location that has any broadband option, the Vodafone mobile network supports the Everyday Plan.

Vodafone Broadband and Fibre Review: Performance

Vodafone primarily markets VDSL and Fibre connections, with download/upload speed being the biggest differentiation factor. Currently, there is a limitation in availability of UltraFast fibre connections. Depending on your location, the following outlines the speed you can expect:

1. VDSL

• Vodafone states that download speed is between 15-70 Mbps, and upload speeds are between 5-10Mbps.
  
• VDSL is available in 60% of New Zealand homes.

2. Fibre - depending on your location, you'll be offered one of the following options:

• Ultra Fast 30 – up to 30 Mbps download, 10 Mbps upload 
• Ultra Fast 100 – up to 100 Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload
• Ultra Fast 200 – up to 200 Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload
  

3. Fibre UltraFast HFC

• Vodafone UltraFast HFC is not available everywhere.
  
• Currently, only select areas in Wellington, Christchurch and Kapiti have access.
  
• In those locations, Vodafone states "download speeds of up to 700-900 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 90-95 Mbps" on its website.

Vodafone Broadband and Fibre Review: Customer Support and Satisfaction

• Vodafone appears in the media frequently, primarily for its broadband and home phone division. A Stuff article in March 2019 saw the Vodafone New Zealand CEO respond to frustrated Vodafone customers directly, accepting there were issues with its customer service. 
• In the recent reviews MoneyHub cited, our research team noted issues around billing, long waits for calls to be answered and an Indian-based call centre. 

 
Some complaints concerned the process of getting connected. A lot of the issues are, in fairness, outside of Vodafone’s control. We believe the same problems would arise regardless of who the fibre ISP was. We explain the process below. 
 
Getting Connected – What You Need to Know to Avoid Frustration

• If your property doesn’t have Fibre connected, Vodafone, like all fibre ISPs, relies on working with the local fibre provider in your area.
• Once the fibre provider confirms and appointment, Vodafone arranges to send their router so your technician has it on hand when they make the connection.
• If there is a limitation in local fibre technicians, which Vodafone has no control over, your connection may be delayed. This would be the same whatever ISP you selected to sign up to.
• Be aware that the installation process will depend on the type of property you live in.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Vodafone Broadband and Fibre

Advantages

1. Existing phone customers save $10/month - if your phone plan is paid monthly and qualifies, this is an additional saving
2. $200 credit for switching - Vodafone offers up to $200 to switch from other providers, meaning a $16.50 discount per month. 
3. 24/7 support - despite the report staff reductions, there is 24/7 freephone technical and accounts support available, as well as live chat services.
4. 3G and 4G interest plan - if you're living outside of an area with fibre, VDSL or ADSL, the Vodafone offers an affordable fixed data limit from its mobile network.
5. Sky TV integration - you'll save a few dollars a month if you combine Sky Sport with a Vodafone plan, but the saving over a year would be less than $40 based on today's prices.

Disadvantages:

1. Pricing - there are simply better deals out there, with Stuff Fibre being one example, which offers similar (or better) plans for less and without $199 and $299 cancellation fees.
   
2. Limited Ultra Fast Fibre locations - Kapiti, Christchurch and Wellington appear to be Vodafone's core focus areas for fibre.
   
3. Customer service - as mentioned above, the troubles at the call centre continue to cause concern among Vodafone customers (as seen in various online reviews from a number of sources). 

Vodafone Broadband and Fibre Review: Verdict

1. Vodafone struggles to offer a market-leading broadband or fibre deal. With monthly prices well above market leader Stuff Fibre, limited locations for ultra-high-speed and ongoing issues with customer support, there's nothing to get too excited about. 
   
2. Existing Sky TV subscribers may see some value, but not much. As an example, the Sky Sport Vodafone Broadband/Fibre package, priced at $152.89 per month, is simply Vodafone's Ultimate Broadband/Fibre plan ($97.99/month) with a Sky Sport subscription ($57.98/month), which would otherwise cost $155.97 per month. The saving is around $3/month or $37 a year. 
3. Vodafone may offer 24/7 support, but the Indian call centre remains problematic to customers.

How To Get The Best Vodafone Broadband and Fibre Deal

• MoneyHub’s partner, Broadband Compare often beats Vodafone's standard prices.
• Know this: If you sign up for a 12-month plan, you will need to pay a $199 cancellation fee if you leave before the end of the term. If it's a 24-month plan, the fee will be $299.

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