Vodafone broadband vs EE broadband

Vodafone and EE both offer full fibre broadband across the Openreach network, with options to bundle mobile for a monthly discount.

EE now provides a WiFi 7 router as standard on full fibre, while Vodafone use WiFi 6 - with 7 on premium tiers and speeds up to 2.2Gbps symmetrical via CityFibre.

The gap between them comes down to price - Vodafone is cheaper at most speed tiers, includes a home phone line as standard, and their call add-ons cost significantly less.

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At a glance: Vodafone vs EE

Top picks: Vodafone and EE broadband deals

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Price

Winner: Vodafone is cheaper than EE across most speed tiers - though EE pulls ahead significantly at 1.6Gbps.

Vodafone and EE both run on the Openreach network, so the underlying network is identical. What differs is what you pay for it. Vodafone has positioned itself as the lower-cost option across the board, and the pricing reflects that consistently - from entry-level full fibre through to gigabit speeds.

The clearest comparison is at 150Mb, where most households will land. Vodafone's Full Fibre 150 is £22.50 a month; EE's equivalent is £26.99. That's a £4.49 gap at the starting point, and it holds as you move up through the tiers.

At 500Mb, Vodafone is £25 against EE's £28.99. At 900Mb, it's £29 versus £29.99 - the gap narrows toward the top of the standard range, but Vodafone still comes out ahead.

For households in CityFibre areas, Vodafone's pricing advantage widens further. Full Fibre 150 drops to £21 a month and the 910Mb plan is just £23 - cheaper than EE's equivalent Openreach tiers. The top-tier 2.2Gbps symmetrical plan comes in at £46, offering speeds EE don't offer at all on their network.

At 1.6Gbps on Openreach the picture reverses. EE's Full Fibre 1.6Gb is £39.99 a month; Vodafone's Pro 3 Full Fibre 1.6 is £56 - a £16 difference in EE's favour. Vodafone mobile customers get £4 off Pro 3 plans, bringing it to £52, but EE is still meaningfully cheaper at that tier.

Both providers offer mobile bundle benefits, but they work differently. Vodafone mobile customers get £2 a month off the broadband price directly - £4 on Pro 3 plans. EE's equivalent is EE One, which doesn't reduce the broadband bill at all; instead, eligible EE mobile customers get a data boost to unlimited on their mobile plan, which EE values at up to £20 a month in mobile savings. Useful if you're data-heavy on your phone, but it does nothing for what you're paying for broadband.

For households keeping a home phone line, Vodafone include a digital line at no extra cost. EE charge £5 a month. On calls, Vodafone's anytime plan is £8 a month; EE's is £18. For anyone who still uses the landline regularly, that difference adds up quickly.

Both providers build annual price rises into their contracts. New customers signing up now won't see a rise until 2027 - £3.50 a month for Vodafone, £4 a month for EE - and there's no exit right when it does.

For most households, Vodafone is the cheaper choice. EE's only pricing advantage is at 1.6Gbps on Openreach - a tier where the decision is rarely about cost alone.

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Packages

Winner: Vodafone includes a home phone line as standard, matches EE's premium extras for less, and reaches more homes via CityFibre.

Vodafone and EE both offer tiered broadband packages with options to add WiFi boosters, a router upgrade, and 4G backup. The structure is similar on paper, but the key differences add up quickly:

• Vodafone includes a home phone line on every plan; EE charge £5 a month extra
• Vodafone's standard router is WiFi 6; EE now ship a WiFi 7 router as standard on full fibre
• Vodafone's Pro 3 upgrade bundles a WiFi 7 router, boosters, and 4G backup together; EE charge separately for each
• Vodafone reach CityFibre homes as well as Openreach; EE are Openreach-only

Full fibre

All standard Vodafone full fibre plans come with the WiFi 6 Power Hub. From there, customers can add:

• Super WiFi - up to three WiFi 6 boosters, £7/month
• Pro 3 - WiFi 7 router, boosters, and 4G backup bundled, £8/month
• Xtra - Apple TV 4K box, 3 months Apple TV+, and unlimited anytime calls, £8/month

Xtra can be combined with any tier. The Apple TV 4K is a streaming device rather than a pay TV service - there's no ongoing channel package included.

EE's full fibre plans ship with the Smart Hub 7 Plus - a WiFi 7 router - as standard. Add-ons include:

• WiFi 7 booster - £10/month
• Smart Hub Pro + WiFi 7 booster - £15/month combined
• Connectivity Backup - 4G mobile backup, £10/month
• WiFi Optimiser - app-level bandwidth prioritisation for gaming, video calls, and streaming, £5/month

EE also offer EE TV - a more comprehensive pay TV option than Vodafone's Xtra, and the cheapest way to get TNT Sports in the UK.

Vodafone is cheaper at almost every comparable speed tier.

The biggest cost difference is at the premium end - Vodafone's Pro 3 bundles the router upgrade, boosters, and 4G backup for £8 a month extra. Matching that with EE's individual add-ons - Smart Hub Pro with booster at £15, plus Connectivity Backup at £10 - comes to £25 a month. Even at the standard level, Vodafone's Super WiFi boosters are £7 a month against EE's WiFi 7 booster at £10.

The one area where EE has a clear edge is TV - EE TV is a proper pay TV service, not a streaming box, and it's the cheapest route to TNT Sports.

Multi-gigabit

Both Vodafone and EE offer 1.6Gbps plans on the Openreach network.

Vodafone go further in CityFibre areas, where their Pro 3 Full Fibre 2.2 plan delivers up to 2.2Gbps symmetrical at £46 a month - upload and download matched.

EE's 1.6Gbps tops out at 115Mb up, so while the download headline is similar, the upload difference is significant for anyone who needs it.

At 1.6Gbps on Openreach, EE is the cheaper option at £39.99 against Vodafone's £56 - a gap that only narrows to £52 with the Vodafone mobile discount.

For customers in CityFibre areas, Vodafone's 2.2Gbps plan offers speeds and symmetrical uploads that EE don't have an equivalent for - though at £46 a month, it's still more expensive than EE's 1.6Gbps plan.

Part fibre

For households not yet passed by full fibre, both providers offer a part fibre option over Openreach's FTTC network. Both average around 67Mb - the speeds and underlying infrastructure are identical.

Vodafone's Fibre 2 comes in at £22.50 a month; EE's Fibre 67 is £24.99. Vodafone also include a home phone line as standard, while EE charge £5 a month extra. Both providers will upgrade customers to full fibre for free when it becomes available in their area.

At part fibre level there's nothing to separate the two on performance. Vodafone is cheaper on price and includes a home phone - for most households it's the better option while they wait for full fibre.

Both providers offer 24-month contracts and free setup.

On paper, Vodafone and EE look like comparable options - similar speed tiers, similar add-on structures, and both with mobile bundle benefits. In practice, Vodafone is cheaper at every standard tier, bundles more into their premium upgrade for less, and includes a home phone line that EE charge extra for.

EE's advantages are real but specific - a WiFi 7 router as standard, a stronger TV offering, and cheaper pricing at the 1.6Gbps tier.

For most households, Vodafone is the better value package. EE makes more sense if you're a heavy TV watcher, particularly if TNT Sports is a priority, or if you're specifically shopping at the top speed tier on Openreach.

Read more about Vodafone broadband.

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Broadband speed

Winner: Vodafone offers faster top speeds and symmetrical uploads via CityFibre, though EE's minimum speed guarantees are stronger on Openreach.

Vodafone and EE both offer full fibre and part fibre broadband over the Openreach network, so for most households the available speed tiers look similar on paper. The difference is what happens at the extremes - the top end, the upload speeds, and the floor you're guaranteed if things go wrong.

EE's range runs from 67Mb on part fibre up to 1.6Gbps on full fibre. Upload speeds are asymmetric throughout - at 1.6Gbps you get 115Mb up against 1.6Gbps down. This is an Openreach limitation, not an EE one; every provider on that network - BT, Sky, Vodafone included - faces the same constraint. For customers without CityFibre available, there's no way around it on a fixed line.

EE offer the following broadband speeds:

Vodafone's Openreach range is comparable, running from 67Mb part fibre to 1.6Gbps full fibre with similarly asymmetric uploads. The difference comes with CityFibre, where every plan is symmetrical - 150Mb up and down, 500Mb up and down, all the way to 2.2Gbps both ways.

Vodafone offer the following broadband speeds on Openreach:

Vodafone also work with CityFibre, bringing full fibre broadband to 4.7 million more homes across the UK, and where this network is available, speeds are faster too - with symmetrical uploads across all plans and multi-gigabit options of up to 2.2Gbps symmetrical. In CityFibre areas, Vodafone customers get these speeds instead:

Where both CityFibre and Openreach are available at the same address, Vodafone will default to CityFibre - where prices are lower and speeds are faster. For remote workers, content creators, or anyone who uploads as much as they download, that symmetrical connection is a genuine advantage over anything EE can offer.

Advertised average download speeds, like those in the tables above, must be received by at least 50% of a broadband provider's customers during the peak hours of 8pm to 10pm when the network is busiest. As such, they're a reliable measurement of how fast a connection is likely to be.

Minimum speed guarantees

Both Vodafone and EE are signatories of Ofcom's voluntary code of practice on broadband speeds, meaning both provide a minimum guaranteed download speed at signup. If your connection drops below that threshold for three consecutive days and the provider can't fix it within 30 days, you can leave penalty-free.

EE's minimums are considerably higher than Vodafone's at every comparable tier. At 900Mb, EE guarantee 700Mb while Vodafone guarantee 455Mb. At 1.6Gbps, EE's floor is 1.3Gbps against Vodafone's 800Mb - a substantial difference in what you're contractually protected against.

We looked at one location with Openreach FTTP availability and were given these minimum download speeds with Vodafone and EE:

On Openreach, EE's stronger guarantees offer more protection if speeds disappoint - and for most customers, Openreach is where they'll be. Vodafone's CityFibre advantage is real but location-dependent. If reliable performance matters more than peak speed and CityFibre isn't available in your area, EE's minimum guarantees are worth weighing seriously.

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Router

Winner: EE ships a WiFi 7 router as standard on all full fibre plans - a genuine hardware lead, though Vodafone's Pro 3 bundles more for considerably less.

Every Vodafone full fibre customer gets the Power Hub as standard - a dual-band WiFi 6 router with four Gigabit LAN ports and WPA3 security. It covers the needs of most households comfortably, with mesh support available via the Super WiFi add-on.

EE's standard full fibre router is the Smart Hub 7 Plus - a dual-band WiFi 7 device, with one 2.5Gb LAN port, three 1Gb LAN ports, and a 2.5Gb WAN. Having WiFi 7 as standard without paying extra is a meaningful step up from Vodafone's baseline.

WiFi 7 delivers faster throughput, lower latency, and better performance in homes with many connected devices. The benefit is currently limited to devices that support the standard - iPhone 16 series, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and S25 series, and Google Pixel 8 onwards all qualify, but older devices connect over WiFi 6 regardless.

Here's how the standard routers compare:

At the standard tier EE has the hardware edge - a newer WiFi standard and faster LAN and WAN ports. For most households the day-to-day difference is modest, but for those with newer flagship devices the WiFi 7 connection delivers noticeably lower latency and better performance under load.

Both providers offer a premium upgrade. Vodafone's Pro 3 includes the Ultra Hub 7 - a dual-band WiFi 7 router - along with boosters and 4G backup, all for £8 a month extra. EE's Smart Hub 7 Pro is tri-band WiFi 7 and comes as standard on the 1.6Gbps plan including a booster. On other full fibre plans it costs £15 a month for the router and booster combined, with Connectivity Backup adding another £10 on top.

Here's how the premium routers compare:

Both routers are WiFi 7 with eight antennas, but EE's Smart Hub 7 Pro adds a 6GHz band - reducing congestion and improving performance in busy homes with many devices. The wired advantage is even clearer: four 2.5Gb LAN ports against Vodafone's one. For households running high-speed wired devices - NAS drives, gaming PCs, or 4K streaming boxes - EE's setup is significantly stronger.

Vodafone's Pro 3 is the better value bundle. A WiFi 7 router, boosters, and 4G backup for £8 a month extra is hard to match - EE's equivalent add-ons individually come to £25 a month.

EE has the better hardware at both tiers. For the 1.6Gbps plan - where EE's Smart Hub 7 Pro and booster come included as standard - the hardware case for EE becomes much harder to ignore. For everyone else, Vodafone's Pro 3 delivers more for less and remains the stronger overall value upgrade.

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Customer service

Winner: It's close - both sit at the top of the complaints rankings in Q3 2025, but Vodafone answers the phone significantly faster.

Customer service is rarely a reason to choose a broadband provider, but it matters when things go wrong. Looking at the past two quarters of Ofcom data, both providers have been among the more complained-about large providers.

In Q2 2025, EE recorded the highest complaint levels of any major provider - 10 per 100,000 customers for broadband, against an industry average of eight. Vodafone recorded nine. EE also topped the rankings for landline and pay-TV complaints in the same quarter, driven primarily by faults, service quality, and provisioning issues.

By Q3 2025, both had converged at 10 per 100,000 - sitting at the top of the complaints table alongside TalkTalk. On landline specifically, Vodafone recorded 4 complaints per 100,000 against EE's 6. For customers who rely on a home phone, that difference is worth noting.

When we look at complaint levels over time, both providers have been trending upward since 2023. EE's rise has been more pronounced - from a previously strong track record to consistently sitting above the industry average. Vodafone has more historically elevated levels throughout.

The broader satisfaction picture, from Ofcom's 2025 research, shows the two providers running close on almost every measure:

The figures are strikingly similar across most categories. The standout difference is call waiting time - Vodafone answers in 25 seconds on average, against EE's 2 minutes 53 seconds. For anyone who needs to speak to someone quickly, that gap is significant.

EE's advantage is their UK-only call centres and marginally better complaints handling satisfaction. Vodafone use a mix of UK and overseas call centres, despite bringing some roles back to the UK in recent years, and answer the phone significantly faster. On complaints, both have moved in the same direction - and neither is a comfortable choice on this measure alone.

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Verdict: Vodafone broadband or EE broadband?

Overall winner: Vodafone - cheaper across most tiers, more inclusive on home phone, and wider network reach via CityFibre.

Vodafone and EE are more evenly matched than the headline verdict suggests. Both run on Openreach, both offer similar add-on structures, and both have mobile bundle benefits. The differences emerge when you look at the detail.

Vodafone wins on price at every standard speed tier - from £22.50 at 150Mb against EE's £26.99. That gap holds through 500Mb and 900Mb, and Vodafone include a home phone line that EE charge £5 a month extra for. In CityFibre areas, Vodafone's pricing advantage widens further, and symmetrical speeds up to 2.2Gbps put them in a different category entirely for upload-heavy users.

EE has genuine advantages too. Their Smart Hub 7 Plus is a WiFi 7 router as standard - a full generation ahead of Vodafone's baseline Power Hub. Their minimum speed guarantees on Openreach are stronger at every tier. And EE TV is a proper pay TV service, not a streaming device - the cheapest route to TNT Sports in the UK.

At the premium end, the picture shifts. EE's 1.6Gbps plan is £39.99 against Vodafone's £56, and the Smart Hub 7 Pro comes included as standard. For shoppers at that tier specifically, EE is the better deal. For everyone else, Vodafone's Pro 3 bundles more for less.

On customer service, neither provider is a standout choice. Both sit above the industry average for complaints. Vodafone answers the phone in 25 seconds; EE takes nearly three minutes. EE use UK-only call centres. It's close - and not a reason to choose either.

For most households, Vodafone is the more straightforward choice - lower prices, an inclusive home phone line, and a strong upgrade path via Pro 3. EE makes the most sense for households prioritising hardware, TV, or shopping specifically at the 1.6Gbps tier.