Vodafone to launch 5G service in July

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Though not expected in the UK until 2020, if you are a Vodafone customer the long wait for 5G is very nearly over.

The British telecoms company has announced that it will turn on its 5G service on July 3 in seven cities in the UK, becoming the first network to officially announce a release date.

The cities in question are Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and London. And if you are a Vodafone customer you may not necessarily have to pay more than your current plan, as Vodafone has said that 5G will cost the same as 4G.

Users will need a 5G-compatible handset or router to take advantage of the technology, but there will be a few 5G phones available to choose from before the roll-out.

As of May 23, Vodafone will be offering Xiaomi Mi Mix 5G with pre-orders for the Samsung Glaxaxy S10 5G and Huawei Mate 20 X 5G planned for later this month.

If you’re not in one of the cities where Vodafone is initially launching 5G, however, you won’t necessarily have to put up with slow browsing speeds for long. Later in 2019 the network also plans to bring 5G to Birkenhead, Blackpool, Guildford, Newbury, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton – though it may be a while before the entire UK has full coverage.

Other network providers such as EE, Three and O2 all plan to launch 5G services at some point this year as well, though, like Vodafone, they’ll initially be limited to a handful of cities.