Vodafone UK says it’s the first UK mobile operator to increase its mobile broadband speed to a theoretical 14.4Mbps maximum. Parts of of London, Birmingham and Liverpool have already been upgraded. The network upgrade doesn’t require any action from consumers; over 80% of all Vodafone datacards, dongles and 3G handsets will work with the 14.4Mbps service.
The average data speed received by a consumer will, as with existing 3G data, be affected by signal strength and the number of local users. A 14.4 Mbps theoretical peak rate is likely to mean a practical maximum speed of 10.8 Mbps, with typical speeds between 1 and 4 Mbps. [Press release]