Vodafone GigaCube Broadband Review Ireland 2026
Vodafone GigaCube is the 5G home broadband you buy for the contract, not the price. €25 a month for the first six months on a 24-month term, then €40, with a flat €2.50 rise every April. The free Huawei router, the 3-month term and the 14-day return are what Three does not give you. If full fibre is at the Eircode, buy the fibre.
Vodafone GigaCube review: key takeaways
- ✓Vodafone no longer calls it GigaCube. The same product sits on vodafone.ie as “5G Unlimited Broadband” under mobile broadband. Same idea: a Vodafone SIM inside a Huawei H155-383 5G router, plugged into a wall socket, no phone line, no engineer.
- ✓Pricing in August 2026: 24 months at €25 for the first six months then €40; 12 months at €35 for the first six months then €40; a 3-month term at a flat €40. No setup fee and the router is free on all three.
- ✓Year one on the 24-month term is €390 (6 × €25 + 6 × €40), not the €300 a twelve-month promo would imply. The 24-month total before April rises is €870 — against Three’s €30 × 24 = €720 for a new customer (Three’s €25 is an existing-customer exclusive, and it adds €3 every April too).
- ✓Vodafone writes the April rise into the plan page: “each April, the monthly price of your plan will increase by €2.50”. That applies in contract on the 12- and 24-month terms. Two Aprils inside a 24-month deal is another €5 a month by the end.
- ✓What you get that Three 5G does not sell: a 3-month contract, a 14-day “send it back if it does not work at your home” return, and an address-level coverage check by the sales team before the order goes through.
- ✓Vodafone publishes no Mb figure. The promise is “fastest available speed in 5G area” with automatic 4G fallback. Our 300 Mb headline is a conservative planning number for Irish 5G, not a Vodafone guarantee — do not sign on a speed nobody has promised you.
- checkThree contract lengths — 3, 12 or 24 months — where Three 5G offers 12 or 24
- checkVodafone 5G is live in selected areas of all 26 counties; umlaut-certified best mobile network ten years running
- checkRouter is free on every term and moves house with you inside the Republic
- check14-day no-cost return if the 5G signal does not hold up indoors
- closeThe €25 promo lasts six months, not 24 — year one is €390, not €300
- closeFlat €2.50 rise every April, in contract, on the 12- and 24-month terms
- closeNo external antenna sockets on the Huawei CPE 5 — window placement is your only lever
- closeVodafone publishes no Mb figure: “fastest available speed in 5G area” is the whole promise
How Vodafone GigaCube scored
Six categories, scored from published prices, contract terms, coverage and technology — not invented lab Mbps.
Vodafone GigaCube at a glance
Plans and prices (August 2026)
Introductory monthly prices. Thereafter is what the same plan typically costs after the deal — the number that decides whether you stay or switch.
| Plan | Intro / mo | Thereafter / mo | Contract | Download | Upload |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited 5G · 24 months (€25 for 6 months) | €25 | €40 | 24 months | 300 Mb | — |
| Unlimited 5G · 12 months (€35 for 6 months) | €35 | €40 | 12 months | 300 Mb | — |
| Unlimited 5G · 3 months | €40 | €40 | 3 months | 300 Mb | — |
Who it’s for
People who need a router this week and genuinely cannot commit to two years: a six-month let, a house sale that keeps slipping, a new-build whose Open Eir drop is “next quarter”, or a holiday home used for a season. The 3-month term at €40 is the product. The 24-month term is only worth it if you are sure fibre is not coming and Three 5G does not cover the room where the router will sit. Skip it entirely if SIRO, NBI or Open Eir FTTH is already live at the Eircode — Vodafone will sell you that 500 Mb fibre at €25 for six months then €40, the same standing price as this router, and it is a better connection in every way that matters.
Get it if
- You need a connection this week and you can only promise three months — a short let, a sale in progress, a seasonal house
- Fibre is “next quarter” at a new-build and you would rather pay €40 for a few months than sign Three for 24
- A phone on Vodafone 5G already pulls a strong signal in the room where the router will sit, not just at the gate
- You want a no-cost way out if it fails: Vodafone’s 14-day return covers exactly that
Skip it if
- SIRO, NBI or Open Eir FTTH is live at the Eircode — Vodafone’s own 500 Mb fibre is €25 for six months then €40, the same standing price, and better on every axis
- You want the cheapest 24-month 5G: Three is €30 for all 24 months (€25 for existing Three / 48 customers), Vodafone is €25 for six then €40, and both add an April rise
- Indoor Vodafone signal is marginal and you were planning on an external antenna — the Huawei CPE 5 has no sockets for one
- You work from home on video all day or game competitively — upload and latency on 5G are the wrong tool
Networks they sell
5G home (Vodafone mobile network). Vodafone’s own 5G and 4G mobile network — live in selected areas of all 26 counties, and umlaut’s “best mobile network” in Ireland ten years running. Not a wholesale fibre line, so none of the Open Eir, SIRO or NBI rules apply: there is no install appointment, no UAN, and no speed tier. The Huawei router picks 5G where it can and drops to 4G where it cannot. Coverage at the Eircode — and the signal in the actual room — is the whole product.
Our verdict
Vodafone GigaCube scores 7.7 in August 2026, a tenth behind Three 5G on 7.8, and the gap is almost entirely price. Three sells 24 months at €30 every month for a new customer (€25 if you are already on Three or 48) with a €3 April rise; Vodafone sells 24 months at €25 for six months and €40 for eighteen, then bolts on €2.50 each April. That is why Value sits at 7.4 against Three’s 8.2. Everything else is as good or better: Coverage 8.2 because Vodafone’s 5G footprint spans all 26 counties and the network keeps winning umlaut’s Irish test; Service 8.0 because the same Vodafone support desk took Switcher.ie’s 2026 Best Technical Support award; Contract 7.8 because a 3-month term, a free router and a 14-day no-cost return are genuinely more flexible than anything Three offers, with the €2.50 April clause costing it the points it would otherwise have.
The hardware is the Huawei H155-383, a “5G CPE 5” class indoor router with Wi-Fi 6 and support for up to 128 devices. It is free on every term, ships in one to two days, and runs off a standard wall plug. The thing to know before you buy is what it lacks: the CPE 5 family has no external antenna sockets on the manufacturer datasheets we checked, so if the living room is a 4G-only brick box there is no plan B beyond moving the unit to a window or an upstairs sill. Three’s router can take an external antenna; Vodafone’s answer is the 14-day return instead. That trade is fine if you test properly in the first fortnight, and useless if you do not.
Speed and reliability get 7.4 and 7.2 because a mast is not a fibre and Vodafone has not promised you a number. The plan page says “fastest available speed in 5G area” and leaves it there. Irish experience with Vodafone 5G routers — the Irish Times review of the earlier H122 unit, boards.ie threads on the Huawei CPE line — is consistent: placement decides everything, a good 5G cell is comfortably fibre-like for streaming and calls, a weak one falls back to 4G and tens of Mb, and the evening dip is real in busy cells. Upload and latency still lose to any full-fibre line, which is what back-to-back video calls and competitive gaming punish.
So when is it the right buy? When you need a router this week, cannot or will not sign two years, and Vodafone 5G is strong in the room. Take the 3-month term at €40 and leave when fibre lands — that is the product’s real use case. Eir 5G is the only rival with something shorter, a 30-day plan at around €29.99, but it charges a €99 activation fee that Vodafone does not. When is it the wrong buy? On a 24-month term to save €5 a month for six months: Three is cheaper over the whole two years (€720 against €870 before April rises), and Vodafone’s own fibre — 500 Mb at €25 for six months then €40, 1 Gb at €35 then €50 — is at the same Eircode if a line exists. Check the address first, plug it in by a window, run the speed test at 8pm on day ten, and send it back on day thirteen if the number disappoints.
We score Vodafone GigaCube on contract fairness, year-two cost, coverage (whether Vodafone 5G reaches the house), the technology in the box, and service — not on a lab Mbps we did not measure. Prices are August 2026 figures read from Vodafone’s own mobile-broadband plan page and kept in the provider dataset we maintain for every Irish retailer. Vodafone publishes no advertised download figure for this product, so the 300 Mb we list is a planning headline, clearly labelled as such. No provider can pay for a better score.
Vodafone GigaCube broadband: frequently asked questions
Does Vodafone still sell the GigaCube in Ireland?+
Yes, but not under that name. As of August 2026 vodafone.ie lists it as “5G Unlimited Broadband” on the mobile-broadband page: a free Huawei H155-383 5G router with a Vodafone SIM, from €25 a month. It is the same plug-in home broadband people still search for as GigaCube. There is no GigaCube-branded page any more.
How much does Vodafone 5G home broadband cost per month?+
On a 24-month term it is €25 a month for the first six months, then €40. On 12 months it is €35 for the first six months, then €40. The 3-month term is a flat €40. The router is free on all three and there is no setup fee. Vodafone also states the price rises by €2.50 each April on the 12- and 24-month terms.
Is Vodafone GigaCube cheaper than Three 5G broadband?+
Not over a contract. Three’s 24-month Unlimited 5G is €30 every month for a new customer, about €720 in total before its €3 April rises (€25 a month, or €600, only if you already have a Three or 48 account). Vodafone’s 24-month term is €25 for six months then €40 — roughly €870 before two April rises of €2.50. Vodafone only wins if you need the 3-month term with no activation fee, the free router with a 14-day return, or a Vodafone 5G cell that is stronger at your house than Three’s.
What router comes with Vodafone 5G broadband and is it free?+
A Huawei H155-383, a “5G CPE 5” class indoor router with Wi-Fi 6, Ethernet ports and support for up to 128 devices. It is free on the 3-, 12- and 24-month terms, arrives in one to two days and plugs into a normal wall socket. It does not have external antenna sockets, so window placement is your only way to improve a weak signal.
Does Vodafone 5G home broadband have a data cap or fair-use limit?+
It is sold as unlimited data with no hidden charges, and the plan page lists no monthly cap for home use in Ireland. Data roaming is not included — the SIM is for use inside the Republic of Ireland. Like every Irish “unlimited” mobile product, normal fair-use and traffic-management terms still sit in the small print, so read them before you run a business off it.
Will Vodafone 5G broadband work at my address?+
Vodafone 5G is live in selected areas of all 26 counties, with automatic 4G fallback. The sales team checks coverage at your specific address before the order is placed, and you get 14 days to return the router at no cost if it does not work at home. Test it yourself inside that window: speed-test at 8pm in the room the router lives in, not on the doorstep.
Does the Vodafone 5G broadband price go up every April?+
Yes. Vodafone’s plan page states that each April the monthly price of the plan increases by €2.50 on the 12- and 24-month terms. A 24-month contract signed in August 2026 would see April 2027 and April 2028 rises, taking the €40 thereafter price to around €45 before the term ends. Factor that into any comparison with Three or with fibre.
Can I take Vodafone 5G broadband with me if I move house?+
Yes. Vodafone says you can unplug the modem and reconnect it at a new address anywhere in the Republic of Ireland, with no engineer and no re-installation. The catch is coverage: a strong Vodafone 5G cell at the old house tells you nothing about the new one, so check the address with Vodafone before you move the contract rather than the router.