Vodafone has become the first UK broadband provider (opens in new tab) to offer a Wi-Fi 6E-enabled router to its customers, promising the new technology will enhance wireless internet coverage in the home.
Wi-Fi 6E represents the latest development in wireless connectivity, using high-level 6GHz spectrum to enhance speeds, increase capacity, and reduce latency. These result in multi-gigabit transmission rates that allow businesses and households to make the most of their full fibre connections.
Given most consumers use equipment supplied by their broadband provider, the arrival of the first compatible routers is significant and Vodafone hopes it will give it a technological advantage over the competition.
Vodafone Wi-Fi 6E
The ‘Vodafone Ultra Hub’ and the ‘Super Wi-Fi 6E’ are available with the operator’s ‘Vodafone Pro II’ price plans, which offer speeds of up to 910Mbps, and promise to connect up to 150 devices simultaneously.
The router will automatically switch to Vodafone’s 4G network if there is a fixed line outage and the company promises that if any customer cannot receive a signal throughout their entire home, they will be able to leave their contract without penalty.
“Vodafone Pro II sets the new standard for the UK broadband market,” said Vodafone consumer director Max Taylor. “It combines the UK’s fastest and most reliable Wi-Fi technology in the all new Vodafone Ultra Hub router with the UK’s largest full fibre footprint.”
Vodafone’s footprint claim is based on the fact that its services are powered by a combination of Openreach and CityFibre’s wholesale networks, rather than its own infrastructure.
Meanwhile BT is not a customer of CityFibre and Virgin Media O2’s gigabit network still largely comprises cable technology, although it does plan to roll out fibre to the premise (FTTP) across its entire footprint before the end of the decade.