I would just like to share my experiences that I have recently had with Vodafone. At this point I will point out that my experiences in this review refer to Vodafone's Pay as you go service, not monthly contract.

On the whole I have found them to be good in terms of the services that are offered and the network in general. However I have recently found myself in the need to have a major winge with regards to how easily accessible their customer services are.

As stated though generally I have found them to be good in many respects. I think we are all very quick to slag off companies when they get things wrong, but not always so quick to sing their praises when they get things right. In the interests of providing a balanced view, I will list both the good and the bad points as I have found them.
I will start by listing the good points, followed by the not so good points.

GOOD POINTS
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The Pay as you go service offers a very wide range of price plans to suit your lifestyle.
The main two services offer are "Anynet" and "Anytime". Both of these plans cost 30p per minute. "Anytime" offers 30p per minute for the first 3 minutes and then 10p per minute after that. "Anytime" offers 30p per minute for the first three minutes the same but then allows you to add "stop the clock". With this option the price of the call is frozen at 3 minutes up to a maximum of 60 minutes. There are many other offers such as passport which enables you to take your tariff abroad.

A very good feature is the "friends and family" package. This allows you to add 4 Vodafone numbers to a circle of friends. For £5 per month, this allows each member of the group to call each other for up to 60 minutes without being charged. As long as the call does not exceed 60 minutes, there is no limit as to the amount of calls that can be made during the month. The big advantage of this service is that a call can be made to another group member at any time of the day regardless of whether there is credit on the phone or not. This is a great service if you have kids, as you have the knowledge that they can always call home if they are stuck, even if they have no credit on the phone. There is an upgrade to £7 per month which will allow you to add 6 numbers to the group.

Depending upon how much you use the phone, Vodafone offer a free weekend option. If you spend £5 during the week, you will qualify for free calls and texts on Saturday and Sunday. I would say however that if you are spending £5 per week on a mobile then a monthly contract should be considered as there are more benefits such as inclusive calls.

Network coverage I have found with Vodafone to be very good. There are a few black spots where signal is weak or non existent, but I have found these to be very few and far between, even in remote areas.

Topping up with Vodafone is very easy. Vouchers are obtainable from most supermarkets, petrol stations, corner shops etc. A useful feature with Vodafone is the ability to top up by £5. Although this is offered by some other networks (Orange is the only other that comes to mind) most have a minimum top up of £10. The £5 option is very useful to people on low wages, or for those who only use a mobile on seldom occasions.
Top up is also available by either registering a credit / debit card, thereby allowing you to top up your phone wherever you happen to be.

Your account is also very easy to manage via the Vodafone web site. There is the option to change your price plan, top up, manage your calling groups or even add extra services. If you purchase just a sim card to put into an existing phone, you can send all the settings for GPS, SMS, WAP etc via their website to update your phone automatically without the need to spend ages doing manual input, or spending hours on the phone to an advisor.

NOT SO GOOD POINTS
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There are three bad points I have found with Vodafone, the first two being a major point and the other not quite so major.

I recently had a problem with my friends and family group in that one of the numbers was unable to call any other group members without having any credit on the phone (defeating the whole point of having the friends and family feature). I had specifically set this service up as the person in question very rarely has credit on the phone. Because this person suffers with illness, the free call to another family member was an ideal solution especially as they could do this without having to top up the phone.
I contacted Vodafone on four separate occasions before they actually managed to rectify the problem. Each time I contacted them I expressed a concern to resolve the matter urgently due to the illness of the other person concerned. On each occasion I was told a different story and told the problem would be resolved within 72 hours. In view of the nature of the service Vodafone are offering with this feature, I find it abysmal there willingness to resolve an issue with any sense of speed. The matter was eventually resolved after 10 days, so much for having the use of a free call when you need it!!

My next complaint is the ability to actually contact customer services to report a problem. The only way to contact customer services is by dialling 191 from your phone. The problem is that this call costs a flat rate of 25p per call. I actually made 4 calls to get my problem sorted which cost me £1. Admittedly Vodafone did refund the cost of the calls (but only after complaining and asking for the contact details for oftel), however it seems very poor customer relations that you are expected to pay for Vodafone for the privilege of sorting out their cock up.
I asked Vodafone the question "What if I only topped up by £5 per month to cover the freinds and family option, thereby having no spare credit, how would I report a fault?" The answer was, "You wouldn't without topping up your phone first". To me this is mind blowingly poor and a kick in the teeth for customer service.

My final complaint is an anomaly in the top up procedure. For some bizarre reason it is possible to register a solo debit card for topping up by phone, but not via the internet. Apparently the web site is not able to accept this type of card. My answer to this one would be quite simple....update your website so that it does?

SUMMARY
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Overall I have been pleased with Vodafone. The network appears to be good and able to handle a large volume of traffic. I have certainly not experienced the problems with some networks where you cant make a call or send a text because the network is busy.
The range of facilities offered are good and the price plans are either on a par with others or offer something a bit extra.
My observation is that although Vodafone have grasped the concept of the "customer" part of "Customer Services". All they need to do now is grasp the "Services" part of it.

Finally my review may or may not be of some help to someone deciding which network to go for. My opinion may well differ entirely from that of someone else, it is always good to get more than one. Hopefully I have tried to offer a balanced view of the good and bad.

Thank you for taking the time to read, and hope it has been of some interest.