Some UK cities to get faster Vodafone mobile broadband

Vodafone has rolled out speeder mobile broadband connectivity to the areas of the UK that have the most users.

Parts of Birmingham, Liverpool and London have all been upgraded to a top speed of 14.4 Mbps, although whether they get anywhere near that depends on where they are while surfing and how many people are logging on at the same time.

Indeed, Vodafone was keen to ensure there can be no ambiguity over exactly what the broadband makeover will do for customers. "Whilst 14.4 Mbps is the theoretical peak rate, customers can expect to see typical speeds of anything between 1 and 4 Mbps with a practical maximum speed of 10.8 Mbps," it said in a statement.

"Customers trust us to deliver a mobile network that they can rely on wherever they are and whether they are individuals, or a small, medium or large business," Jeni Mundy, Vodafone UK's chief technology officer said in a statement.

"Today's network upgrade means customers can be reassured we're consistently enhancing the quality of our network in response to demand."

The move will ensure greater network reliability and faster downloads and other areas of the UK will also benefit from upgraded technology so that their mobile broadband speeds can be boosted too, according to Vodafone.

More than 80 per cent of the equipment Vodafone customers are already using will be primed to take advantage of the upgrade, meaning only the unlucky few will have to upgrade their phones, data cards or dongles if they want to benefit.