---
title: "Vodafone UK hotspot limits: hotspot your data, within the plan’s speed · Kilobat"
url: "https://kilobat.app/hotspot-limits/vodafone-uk"
description: "What Vodafone UK publishes about tethering: hotspot your plan’s data at no extra charge, the 100 Mbps cap on some Unlimited plans, and how to check usage."
---

Hotspot limits · United Kingdom

# Vodafone UK hotspot limits

**Checked 1 November 2026** against Vodafone UK’s own pages. Plans change: your plan’s terms win.

Vodafone UK lets you share your phone’s data as a hotspot at no extra charge. There’s no separate hotspot allowance; what limits it is your plan’s data, and on some Unlimited plans its top speed.

Hotspot data

Your plan’s data; Vodafone Basics says you can hotspot all of it.

After it

The plan’s own rules apply when data runs out; Vodafone publishes no hotspot-only slowdown.

Video

Vodafone publishes no hotspot-specific video limit.

Check

The My Vodafone app, or My Vodafone online.

## Hotspot allowance

- On Vodafone Basics, you can share your data allowance with another device at no extra charge, and tether or hotspot all of your data if you want.
- Unlimited plans have no limit on how much data you use in the UK, subject to Vodafone’s Acceptable Use Policy.

## Speed after the allowance

- Vodafone doesn’t describe a lower hotspot speed. The speed limits it publishes are for the plan as a whole.
- The Unlimited plan, and some Unlimited Plus and Premier plans, have a maximum download speed of 100 Mbps. Unlimited Xtra plans get Vodafone’s fastest uncapped speeds.
- Vodafone tells you when you’re close to your monthly data limit, and again when you’ve reached it.

## Plans without hotspot

Vodafone publishes no current plan that excludes tethering.

## Video

Vodafone UK publishes no video limit for hotspot use.

## Check what’s left

1. Open the My Vodafone app and look at your data usage, or sign in to My Vodafone online.
2. On the phone itself, **Settings › Mobile Data** (iPhone) or **Data usage** (Android) shows which apps used the most data.

## What Kilobat can tell you

If every speed test and big download on your hotspot stops near the same speed on different occasions while the ping stays normal, Health says it looks like a hotspot cap. A weak signal or a busy cell wanders instead, and Kilobat says nothing then. It also notices video held near 1.5 Mbps while other downloads run faster. It can’t see your allowance or tell a hotspot cap from a plan that caps everything: check on the phone too.

It’s free in Health on any phone hotspot, with the measurements behind it in Kilobat Pro, and in the terminal with `kilobat hotspot`. More in [the docs](https://kilobat.app/docs/usage#hotspot-throttling) and [saving hotspot data](https://kilobat.app/save-hotspot-data).

## Questions

**Is a 100 Mbps cap a hotspot limit?**

No. It’s the plan’s top download speed, on the phone and the hotspot alike, and much faster than the hotspot slowdowns some carriers use. A laptop stuck at a few Mbps on Vodafone is more likely the signal.

## Sources

- [Vodafone UK: Unlimited data plans (speed and usage FAQ)](https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/unlimited-data-plans)
- [Vodafone UK: Vodafone Basics SIM only (tethering)](https://www.vodafone.co.uk/sim-only/vodafone-basics)
- [Vodafone UK Help: Managing your data usage](https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help/mobile/managing-your-data-usage)

Checked against Vodafone UK’s own plan pages, terms and help articles on 1 November 2026. Allowances and speeds differ by plan and change often; what your own plan says wins.

## See what your hotspot is really doing

Kilobat is a Mac menu-bar app that shows which apps use your hotspot’s data, holds back updaters on metered networks, and says when downloads keep stopping at the same speed.

[Download for Mac ↓](https://kilobat.app/downloads/Kilobat-1.31.1.dmg?via=site)

```
brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat
```

## More carriers

- [EE](https://kilobat.app/hotspot-limits/ee): What happens at the end of your allowance depends on the plan, not on tethering.
- [O2](https://kilobat.app/hotspot-limits/o2-uk): O2 publishes no hotspot slowdown; heavy tethering on Unlimited can lead O2 to review your usage.
- [Three](https://kilobat.app/hotspot-limits/three-uk): Three publishes no hotspot slowdown; some unlimited SIMs have a top speed of 100 Mbps.