Get better mobile coverage in your home
Despite considerable investment in infrastructure and new mobile phone masts there are still plenty of parts of the country where mobile phone coverage is poor, particularly indoors. This is not only in rural areas but even affects many suburban areas too.
Whilst many people would argue that a mobile phone is not so important in the home as they have landline phones, there are an increasing number of people, particularly younger people, who do not have landlines any more but rely upon their mobile phone. Plus if you need to ring another mobile phone the cheapest option is usually to call from your own mobile and use your inclusive minutes.
There has been considerable advertising recently from Vodafone about their new service, Sure Signal. This is a new branding, rather than a new idea, as the Vodafone femtocell was originally launched in the middle of 2009. This launch was low key and the device itself was expensive at the time.
Sure Signal has brought the costs down making it more affordable, particularly if you have multiple users within the same household. The only requirement for using it is home broadband with a minimum line speed of 1Mbps, plus a 3G mobile phone.
Plugging the device into your home broadband connects to the Vodafone network, boosting signal strength throughout your house and giving you a full 3G signal. Up to 32 numbers can be registered with four of these being able to use the available bandwidth at any one time. It also provides a signal for mobile broadband devices, all providing they have a Vodafone UK sim installed.
Available direct from Vodafone or via their own high street outlets starting from £50, dependent upon your tariff. We haven’t used one ourselves so cannot comment on their reliability or by how much the signal is boosted.