Vodafone has switched on its 5G service in both Portsmouth and Southampton, and it’s done so ahead of EE, Three and O2. It’s almost surprising that these two significant cities have only recently got 5G, and only on one major network, but more are sure to follow.
For now, 5G coverage is patchy even on Vodafone though. In the case of Portsmouth, the bulk of the city has what Vodafone describes as ‘limited coverage’ which seems to mean it’s poor or patchy even outdoors, but is present.
Things improve when you get to regions like North End, Rudmore, Landport, Hilsea, and Stamshaw, large areas of which have good outdoor coverage and in many cases good indoor coverage too.
As for Southampton, you’re again looking at ‘limited coverage’ across most of the city, with pockets of good indoor and outdoor coverage in The Polygon, Maybush, and Shirley.
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Expect improvements
It’s not clear exactly when Vodafone switched on 5G in these cities, but it was likely relatively recently, so the currently limited coverage may well improve soon.
If you live in one of these cities and are desperate for 5G then it could be worth switching to Vodafone (or VOXI, which shares its infrastructure), but given that coverage is currently limited, and other networks will likely launch 5G in Portsmouth and Southampton soon, it could equally be worth waiting.
Vodafone as a whole seems to be doing a solid job with its 5G roll out. While its 44 total 5G locations in the UK trails EE (with 80) and Three (with 68) it’s ahead of O2’s 30, and it’s also the only network to allow 5G roaming – bringing the total number of places you can get 5G in across Europe up to 114.
