Vodafone GigaCube Review: 4G & 5G Home Broadband With No Phone Line

Vodafone GigaCube is 4G or 5G home broadband with no need for a phone line. GigaCube plans start from £30/month.

If you’re looking for an alternative to traditional fixed-line home broadband, Vodafone’s GigaCube can give you a high-speed home broadband connection that’s delivered using 4G or 5G mobile technology.

In the UK, you can now get the Vodafone GigaCube from £30/month. This entry-level plan gives you 100GB of data per month. If you want a larger allowance of data, it’s £40/month for 200GB of data, £50/month for 300GB of data (available on 4G only) or £60/month for unlimited data (available on 5G only).

Customers on the Vodafone GigaCube service will receive an inclusive 4G or 5G GigaCube home broadband router. This is a Huawei B818 on 4G GigaCube plans and a Huawei 5G CPE Pro on 5G GigaCube plans.

In this article, we’ll review the Vodafone GigaCube service. We’ll start by looking at Vodafone’s 4G and 5G home broadband plans and how they compare to Vodafone’s other fibre broadband plans. We’ll also look at the download speeds available on the service, the router you’ll get included and alternatives available from other networks.

Vodafone GigaCube Plans

In the UK, Vodafone currently offers two different types of GigaCube home broadband:

• Vodafone GigaCube 4G: With a range of plans from 100GB of data for £30/month to 300GB of data for £50/month, Vodafone’s 4G GigaCube service offers average download speeds of 23-35Mbps. It’s the most widely available GigaCube service with 99% UK population coverage.
• Vodafone GigaCube 5G: Vodafone’s GigaCube 5G service offers faster download speeds (150-200Mbps on average). It’s currently available in selected postcodes across the UK, with plans ranging from 100GB of data for £30/month to unlimited data for £60/month.

Alongside this, Vodafone also offers a range of fibre broadband plans, with a 4G Broadband Backup service included on Vodafone Pro Broadband plans. You can also get 4G mobile broadband from Vodafone if you’re looking for a service that you’re able to use on the go.

In this following section, we’ll look at Vodafone’s GigaCube broadband plans in more detail.

GigaCube 4G Broadband Plans

Vodafone’s most widely available GigaCube service is the Vodafone GigaCube 4G. It offers average download speeds of 23-35Mbps which can be comparable to Vodafone’s Superfast 1 fibre broadband in some areas.

The GigaCube 4G service is available without the need for a phone line or cable connection, with plans ranging from £30/month for 100GB data to £50/month for 300GB data.

The following table shows Vodafone’s GigaCube 4G plans:

Unfortunately, the largest data allowance available on Vodafone’s GigaCube 4G service is currently 300GB per month. Although this is a fairly decent data allowance, it still falls some way short of the average UK household’s broadband data consumption (about 400-450GB per month). This somewhat limits the usefulness of Vodafone’s GigaCube 4G service as a complete replacement for a fixed-line home broadband service.

For unlimited data, you can get a plan from 4G Internet instead costing £31.99/month plus £99 upfront with 4G coverage from Vodafone. Alternatively, choose Vodafone’s GigaCube 5G service for an unlimited data plan if you’re living in a Vodafone 5G coverage area.

If you like, Vodafone’s GigaCube 4G broadband service is also available on a one-month rolling plan. There’s a £100 upfront fee when you take the Vodafone GigaCube on a one-month contract. You can then change or cancel your plan at any time.

GigaCube 5G Broadband Plans

If you’re living in a postcode that has 5G coverage from Vodafone, you can also choose a GigaCube 5G plan. This can give you an average download speed of 150-200Mbps in 5G coverage areas (around two to three times faster than a typical fibre broadband connection).

The following table shows Vodafone’s GigaCube 5G plans:

Service	Data	Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3)
Vodafone GigaCube 5G	200GB data	£28.00 per month plus £45.00 upfront 18 month contract	See deal
Vodafone GigaCube 5G	Unlimited data	£35.00 per month plus £15.00 upfront 18 month contract	See deal

If you’re looking to replace your home broadband connection, we’d recommend choosing the unlimited data plan. This is because the average UK household uses around 400-450GB of data per month on their home broadband service.

The GigaCube 5G service is also on a one-month rolling plan with an upfront fee of £325 for the 5G router.

GigaCube vs Fibre Broadband Plans

If you’re able to get Vodafone’s Superfast fibre broadband where you live, you’ll normally be far better off choosing a fibre broadband plan instead of the GigaCube service. This is because you can get a fibre broadband plan with an unlimited data allowance from just £24 per month:

Service	Download Speed	Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3)
Fibre 1	38Mbps average download	£24.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Fibre 2	67Mbps average download	£25.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Full Fibre 100	100Mbps average download	£28.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Full Fibre 200	200Mbps average download	£29.50 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Full Fibre 500	500Mbps average download	£32.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Full Fibre 900	910Mbps average download	£38.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal

In addition, you can upgrade to a Vodafone Pro Broadband plan from £37 per month. This gives you a number of additional features such as Super WiFi (giving you a guaranteed wi-fi signal in every room of your home) and 4G Broadband Backup (which combines fibre broadband with a 4G-based backup connection).

The following table shows Vodafone’s Pro Broadband plans:

Service	Download Speed	Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3)
Pro Fibre 1	38Mbps average download	£37.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Pro Fibre 2	67Mbps average download	£38.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Pro Full Fibre 200	200Mbps average download	£39.50 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Pro Full Fibre 100	100Mbps average download	£41.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Pro Full Fibre 500	500Mbps average download	£42.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Pro Full Fibre 900	910Mbps average download	£48.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal

For more information, see our Vodafone Pro Broadband review.

Vodafone GigaCube vs 4G Internet

As an alternative to getting your 4G home broadband service directly from Vodafone, consider getting your 4G home broadband service through 4G Internet instead. They’re a specialist provider of 4G home broadband, making use of 4G coverage from either Vodafone or O2 (this depends on the mobile network offering the best coverage in your area).

On 4G Internet, you’ll currently pay £31.99/month plus £99 upfront for unlimited data on a 12-month contract. This is much better value than Vodafone’s GigaCube 4G service where you’ll only get 200GB of data for £40/month.

Service	Data	Monthly Cost
4G Internet WiFi Router	Unlimited data	£31.99 per month plus £99.00 upfront 24 month contract	See deal

On 4G Internet, you can also get a professionally-installed 4G antenna which will give you better speeds and performance in areas with a weaker 4G signal. The full installation costs £399 upfront which includes the cost of the 4G antenna, mount, 4G router and engineer setup.

For more information, see our 4G Internet review.

Vodafone GigaCube Speeds

According to Vodafone, the average download speeds available on their service are as follows:

• 23-35Mbps on 4G (e.g. for customers using a 4G GigaCube in a Vodafone 4G coverage area)
• 150-200Mbps on 5G (e.g. for customers using a 5G GigaCube in a Vodafone 5G coverage area).

To get a personalised estimate of the speeds available where you live, enter your postcode on Vodafone’s online coverage map. Once you’ve done that, you can tap on the “Data speed info” button to see a range of expected download speeds and upload speeds available where you live.

Check Vodafone Download Speeds (vodafone.co.uk) →

An external 4G antenna may improve the speeds and reliability of your GigaCube home broadband service. However, you’ll need to set up and configure the external antenna yourself as Vodafone doesn’t offer an antenna installation service for the GigaCube.

One thing that’s worth noting is Vodafone’s comment about GigaCube users being subject to “data de-prioritisation”. This means GigaCube users have a lower order of priority on Vodafone’s 4G and 5G network. As such, if the mobile network is congested in your area, the speeds may be slowed down on your GigaCube service:

The speeds achieved while using the GigaCube are subject to network coverage and capacity. Speeds may vary significantly. Your plan may also be subject to data de-prioritisation. Data de-prioritisation means that some data traffic will receive less priority over other traffic on the Vodafone Network. During peak periods or congestion, we may manage the Vodafone Network by de-prioritising the internet traffic of certain data users. This could mean that during periods of congestion, Gigacube speeds may be different to the speeds experienced using our other services supplied over the Vodafone Network.

Vodafone GigaCube Routers

When you sign up to Vodafone’s GigaCube service, you’ll be sent one of their GigaCube home broadband routers. This will be the Huawei B818 on GigaCube 4G plans and the Huawei 5G CPE Pro on GigaCube 5G plans.

When you plug in the GigaCube router, it will connect to Vodafone’s 4G or 5G network in the background. From that, it will produce a wi-fi network for your other devices to connect to.

You can connect up to 64 devices at the same time to the GigaCube’s wi-fi network including your laptop, tablet, smartphone, smart TV and other smart home devices. The GigaCube 4G supports dual-band Wi-Fi 5 technology (802.11ac). Meanwhile, the GigaCube 5G also supports the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology (802.11ax).

Both of the GigaCube routers include 2 Gigabit Ethernet sockets allowing you to connect wired devices to your home network if required. There are also two TS-9 sockets for attaching an external antenna which can improve the performance of your connection.

The following table shows the detailed technical specifications of Vodafone’s latest 4G and 5G GigaCube home broadband routers:

	Vodafone GigaCube 4G (Huawei B818)	Vodafone GigaCube 5G (Huawei 5G CPE Pro)
Home Broadband Plans
Price:		From £28/month
Data:		200GB - Unlimited
Unlimited Data:		£35/month
Contract Length:		1-18 months
Mobile Connectivity
5G Connectivity:	-	Up to 2330 Mbps download
5G Bands:	-	5G NR band n78
4G Connectivity:	Category 19 LTE	Category 19 LTE
4G Download Speed:	Up to 1600 Mbps download	Up to 1600 Mbps download
4G Upload Speed:	Up to 150 Mbps upload	Up to 150 Mbps upload
4G Bands:	LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 32, 38 & 40	LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20, 28, 32, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 & 43
External Antenna:	Yes, 2x TS-9 connectors	Yes, 2x TS-9 connectors
Home Network Connectivity
Dual-Band Wi-Fi:	Yes	Yes
Wi-Fi Connectivity:	802.11a/b/g/n/ac	802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax
Wi-Fi Devices:	Up to 64 devices	Up to 64 devices
Ethernet:	2 Gigabit Ethernet ports	2 Gigabit Ethernet ports
Phone:	-	1 RJ11 phone port
Other
Dimensions:	10.3 x 10.3 x 22.5 cm	9.9 x 10.7 x 21.5 cm
Weight:	614g	700g
Model:	Huawei B818	Huawei 5G CPE Pro
Colour:	White	White
Review:	Vodafone GigaCube 4G Review	Vodafone GigaCube 5G Review

Unfortunately, Vodafone’s Super WiFi and other Pro Broadband features are not available on the GigaCube router.

Prior to January 2021, Vodafone supplied the Huawei B528 router on the GigaCube 4G service. This worked in much the same way but was a bit more limited in terms of the functionality it provided. For instance, only 20 devices could use the Wi-Fi network at the same time and only one Gigabit Ethernet socket was provided. In addition, 4G performance was limited to Category 6 LTE speeds (up to 300Mbps download and up to 50Mbps upload).

Alternatives

If you’re looking for another 4G home broadband or 5G home broadband service, the best value plans are currently available on Three Broadband.

On Three, you’ll currently pay just £19/month for unlimited 4G home broadband and £19/month for unlimited 5G home broadband.

Service	Data	Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £2)
Three 4G Hub	Unlimited data	£19.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal
Three 5G Hub	Unlimited data 150Mbps average speed	£19.00 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract	See deal

See all Three Broadband deals →

Three also offers a range of a shorter 12-month and 1-month home broadband plans.

You can also get 4G home broadband from the following providers:

• 4G Internet is a specialist provider of 4G home broadband, making use of coverage from Vodafone and O2. You can get their unlimited 4G home broadband service from £31.99/month. They also offer professional 4G antenna installation for £399.
• EE has a 4GEE Home service. This gives you a 4G home broadband service from £35 per month for 100GB of data. You’ll need to pay £50 per month to get unlimited data on EE.
• BT also offers 4G home broadband with coverage from EE. On BT, unlimited data is available from £45 per month. However, this is capped at a maximum download speed of either 15Mbps or 30Mbps depending on your plan.

For more information, see our full guides to 4G home broadband and 5G home broadband in the UK.

If you’re looking for a fibre broadband service with a 4G-based backup, you can also consider BT’s Hybrid Connect and Vodafone’s 4G Broadband Backup.

Coverage & Availability

Vodafone’s GigaCube service uses a wireless 4G or 5G connection, instead of a phone line or cable which is used for traditional fixed-line home broadband. For this reason, the coverage profile of Vodafone’s GigaCube service is very different from their regular home broadband service. In other words, you might still be able to get the Vodafone GigaCube in places where fibre broadband isn’t available.

At present, Vodafone’s 4G network covers around 99% of the UK’s population. Meanwhile, Vodafone’s 5G network is available in major UK towns and cities. You can check the availability of both 4G and 5G coverage by entering your postcode on Vodafone’s online coverage map:

Check Vodafone Coverage (vodafone.co.uk) →

This will also give you an estimated range of download speeds and upload speeds available. Tap on the “Data speed info” button after entering your postcode.

If you’d like to check the availability of Vodafone’s fibre broadband service where you live, you can check it through this page instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Information

For more information about the GigaCube service, see Vodafone’s official website. You can also read our in-depth Vodafone Broadband review and our guide to Vodafone’s 4G mobile broadband service.