It's annoying when you get a brand new phone and you get perfect signal everywhere - at work/college, out in town, at friends' houses - except at home. Now thanks to Vodafone you can use your home broadband connection to set up a mini network in your own home, ensuring that you get perfect signal everywhere.
The Vodafone Access Gateway is about the size of a wireless router, and plugs directly into your broadband connection. This small box extends a mini mobile network throughout your home, allowing you to take advantage of greater voice and 3G data coverage.
We can see this being an advantage to people who use their mobile as their main line, but don't completely see the point of extra 3G coverage. If you're at home, and you've got a broadband connection, chances are you'll have a computer. Surfing the web through a 3-inch touchscreen with a tiny Qwerty isn't as good as surfing the web through a 17-inch monitor with a full size keyboard, right?
For Vodafone, this makes complete sense as it means massively reduced carriage costs, as any calls you make will be piped through your broadband connection which you're paying for. Whilst it's not offering reduced rates or free calls at the moment, we imagine that such an offering would be in the pipeline.
The Vodafone Access Gateway will be available to order in store and online from the 1st of July. The Gateway will be available on price plans from as little as £15 a month, or for a one off fee of £160.