Vodafone offering 4G backup for nbn customers

Vodafone have today announced the first piece of their NBN puzzle with plans to give all Vodafone NBN customers a modem with 4G connectivity built-in.

While their launch won’t come till later in the year, and they haven’t even announced their pricing plans or begun their user trials, Vodafone is demonstrating a point of difference from the get-go.

Telstra announced the Frontier Gateway modem in February which offers the same technology with 4G connectivity when the fixed line connection is unavailable – however, Vodafone’s point of difference here is they are making it available to all customers by default.

There are two key times when NBN customers might be keen to stay connected.  Firstly when activating their service.  If you’re a first time NBN user it may take some hours or days for your service to be active.

If you’re switching from one telco to another on an NBN connection there will also be a period of time between telcos when the service is not active.

And of course, there may be times when your connection just isn’t working.  For whatever reason.  At these times – you’re covered.

Immediately, the Vodafone 4G connection will kick in, at a speed limited 12/1mbps connection speed but enough to ensure you can access the net even if it’s in the most basic form.

The device is called the Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub™ modem and will be provided to all Vodafone NBN customers.

Vodafone General Manager of Fixed Broadband Matthew Lobb says the company spent a lot of time talking to Aussies about what they are looking for “Over the last year, we have spoken to many Australians about their internet experience to understand their concerns and needs,” said Mr Lobb.

“They have told us that they don’t care about the kind of technology their internet runs on, they just want it to work.

“At launch we are proud to offer all Vodafone nbn™ customers access to the best of both worlds – our amazing mobile and broadband networks.

“We have listened to people’s concerns about missing out on internet access or paying out of their own pockets for mobile data while they wait for their service to be installed or repaired.”

Device specifications for Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub™

• Supports up to 32 devices simultaneously
• Compatible with ADSL, VDSL and NBN
• Ethernet WAN
• 1 x Gigabit Ethernet port
• 2 x Fast Ethernet ports
• 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n certified®
• 5GHz Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac certified®
• Integrated 4G LTE capability with 3G backup
• 1 x Multi-function USB 2.0 Port
• CPE Remote Management
• DLNA Certified®
• Easy push button connection to pair wireless devices (WPS)
• VPN Pass-through for PPTP, L2TP and Ipsec.
• IPv4 / IPv6 support
• QoS support
• Customer facing GUI for Advanced Settings Management