Vodafone has gone live in the UK with the internet services partnerships it announced in February at Barcelona’s3GSM World Congress.
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The services integrate eBay, YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo! Mail and Google into Vodafone live! as well as AOL and Windows Live mail services.
At launch in Barcelona, the operator was reluctant to commit to a pricing model, suggesting there would be a mix and match policy, and it looks to have stuck to that.
Vodafone has offered a flat rate and per-usage pricing model to customers. Customers signing up to a data pack will pay £7.50, giving them up to 120MB of data for mobile internet use per month. If customers use more than 120MB they will be charged in the same way as customers who have not signed up for the pack. A customer not signing up to a data pack will pay £1 for 500KB of usage each day. Usage of less than 500KB will incur a proportionately lower charge. Once the customer goes over 500KB they will experience no further costs until they have used 15MB. Pay As You Talk customers will be charged in the same way as a contract customer who has not signed up to a monthly data pack. They will pay £1 for 500KB of usage each day. Usage of less than 500KB will incur a proportionately lower charge. Once the customer goes over 500KB they will experience no further costs until they have used 15MB.
As well as pricing changes, Vodafone has changed its portal to include Google search on the home page. There is also quick access to account details and an area to store links to favourite sites. “Favourites” can be saved by clicking on the “bookmark” icon on any page on the Mobile Internet or by pressing a “mobile favourites” button while on the computer which will ensure that the address is sent to the phone. Customer can also enter the address via their handsets.
“Vodafone Mobile Internet will revolutionise the way our customers use the internet,” says Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone UK. “They now have the freedom to explore a much wider world on an extensive range of handsets, experiencing the familiarity of the internet they previously enjoyed via a computer.”