Vodafone 5G turned on in 7 cities and it's the same price as 4G

Vodafone has officially switched on its 5G network in the UK, with seven cities treated to the next generation of connectivity to start with - and there's no premium to pay to access it.

The carrier hosted a 5G switch-on event in London to mark the day, with the capital along with Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol all getting 5G from today, July 3, 2019.

Interestingly though, Vodafone says it won't charge customers more for its 5G plans, keeping them the same price as 4G plans.

Vodafone also has launched new unlimited data plans as well, with three different price tiers with different top speeds. If you want the best 5G speeds, and unlimited data, you'll be paying £30 per month with the new Unlimited Max plan.

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For those on tighter budgets, or with less demanding usage, you also have the choice of Unlimited Lite (for £23 per month), which offers speeds of just 2Mbps aimed at those who only use their phones for basic actions such as social media.

The Unlimited plan will set you back £26 per month with a max speed of 10Mbps, which Vodafone says will be able to handle video calls and video streaming.

While Vodafone's 5G service has gone live in the seven cities, don't expect coverage to be available across the entirety of the locations.

This is still early days for 5G, and Vodafone (and the other networks) will gradually ramp up coverage in cities over the coming months.

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19 cities by the end of the year

Vodafone has committed to bring its 5G network to 19 cities by the end of 2019, which is three more than EE is promising, but still behind the 25 cities Three expects to have 5G coverage in before the year is out.

By the end of July 2019, Vodafone will also offer 5G roaming services in 20 European cities in Germany, Italy and Spain, allowing customers to access 5G speeds when abroad.

• BT is switching on its 5G network in Autumn