Data Throttled Abroad

[jsmyth16]

Hi all, first post here. Took out a vodafone contract around 2 months ago to be able to get proper, unrestricted 4G in France this summer. Was previously with Three and 3G roaming & throttling was awful, so I switched. 

I've arrived in France via Eurotunnel, and a group of 5 of us have driven right down to the south of France. 2 of us are on vodafone, 2 on giffgaff, and 1 on BT mobile. The problem is, the 2 vodafone phones are getting awful speeds, on both 3G and 4G, while all other phones work perfectly.

Friends on giffgaff can easily load pages, maps and Spotify easily, all on 3G. Friend on BT Mobile gets 4G and is getting 40+ Mbps. But myself & the other vodafone phone, have not once seen a speed above 0.2 Mbps.

I have tried SFR, Bouygues and Orange, all are the same. The other phones have tried all networks too, and they all work fine.

Vodafones website literally says "We never throttle abroad, so you'll enjoy full speed roaming". This is clearly not the case? I have a Global Roaming plan, and 20GB of data. Could anybody help me?

As an example, I've just taken my vodafone phone and friends BT phone and put them beside each other. Both are connected to exactly the same Cell ID, and using 2600MHz 4G on Orange F. Speed test on BT gives 45Mbps consistently, and loads everything flawlessly. Speedtest on vodafone, gives 0.15 Mbps, and things like Maps, Facebook etc take a few minutes to load. What is going on? :smileysad: I'm going to have to buy a local SIM at this rate, I'm so disappointed in vodafone. 

[jsmyth16]

Ok now discovered that the speeds appear to jump back up to full speed as soon as midnight hits. And go right back down again in daytime. Got 0.1 Mbps just before 12, tried again at 12:10 and got 38 Mbps. 

Others have confirmed this as well as me (different night, a few days ago , so this issue has not been fixed tonight) . If I'm right, this is breaching the new EU laws that have come into place, and Vodafone are clearly lying when they say they "never throttle abroad". What do I do? 

[planetf1]

I hope this is a technical blip. I switched to voda after getting such poor experience with three roaming (before they removed the throttling), and Vodafone being consistently excellent.......

I seriously hope they haven't just broken this. 

[hammy434]

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@planetf1 wrote:

I hope this is a technical blip. I switched to voda after getting such poor experience with three roaming (before they removed the throttling), and Vodafone being consistently excellent.......

I seriously hope they haven't just broken this. 

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It sounds like it's intentional if it works just after midnight. I also specifically chose Vodafone because their data roaming worked, unlike O2/3, and Vodafone themselves state here https://www.vodafone.co.uk/explore/costs/travelling-abroad/global-roaming/index.htm?cid=ppc-mec-auto...

"Full-speed roaming –
with no restrictions

Have you heard of ‘throttling’? It’s where networks slow your data speed to restrict your usage. Unlike other networks, we never ‘throttle’ – at home, or abroad – so you’ll always enjoy full-speed roaming.
On 4G where available." so I don't see how they can just start throttling... they're doing what they make fun of their competitors for doing... I hope Vodafone fix this as it's terrible and one of the biggest reasons I chose them...

[hammy434]

Spoke to livechat. They basically just completely ##~## me and said they don't throttle abroad, and that if I had any problems I could just contact them when I go abroad... This is happening to multiple people in multiple EU countries BTW, France, Portugal, Greece, etc so far been <1Mbps speeds. Not good enough. Really hope they sort this mess out!!!

[rasseru16]

I had the exact same problem in Luxembourg BUT this was only on Vodafone's partner network "Tango" which was severely crippled in speed, both of H+ and 4G+.

Sent a tweet to Vodafone UK but just got a bog standard UK signal issue reply...

https://twitter.com/rasseru16/status/869951975777079299

[hammy434]

Lots of people complaining on twitter, look at the replies on this! https://twitter.com/VodafoneUK/status/882263606552907776 something better get done...

[jsmyth16]

OP here. There are now countless examples of this around the EU on twitter, even Lord Sugar had issues and tweeted them. The other person on vodafone with me here is a business customer, and it's also happening to him.

meanwhile friends on other UK networks can use their phone perfectly here, fantastic speeds. This has seriously made it difficult to do many things abroad, such as look at the map (doesn't load at all) , check emails, even load this forum. Despite great 4G signal, EDGE speeds. And it's 100% not the mast here.

I will be looking to leave vodafone ASAP, proper roaming was the reason I joined them. 

[chgokev]

I was in two EU countries over the weekend and had the same issue.  I was in countries that I travel in regularly and know what to expect from the networks while roaming.  The phone showed 4G however I only got EDGE-level speeds (0.25Mbps) during the day.  After midnight everything started working as normal again and I received speeds of 50Mbps+.  This was consistent in both countries that I was in and very different from my experience one month ago.  Friends who are also on Vodafone and travel in the EU frequently report the same issue.  Countries confirmed now are: Spain, Greece, Portgual, Germany, Poland, and France.  

It is fairly obvious that Vodafone have started throttling - not the local network.  Otherwise it wouldn't happen in so many countries (whether there are affiliate Vodafone networks or not).

It is very frustrating given that Vodafone's marketing specifically says that they do not throttle when roaming and that is the primary decision factor in me choosing Vodafone as my provider.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/explore/costs/travelling-abroad/global-roaming/index.htm?cid=ppc-mec-auto...

[jayiwa]

I have a very similar experience. I'm a frequent traveller to Italy, and I also have a local Italian sim card (also Vodafone).

In the past when I had to pay £3 a day for EU roaming I always got a decent speed ranging from 20-60 Mbps (I'll try to avoid using the term "full speed"). But since the new EU roaming regulation is in place, the speed has never surpassed 1 Mbps. I tried using the same phone with my Italian sim card, and the difference is clear, my Italian sim card gives the same old speed of 20-60 Mbps. So, nothing to do with my phone, or the coverage area.

I've advocated how good Vodafone data roaming speed to all my friends, but looks like this time I'll struggle to convince anyone.

I also have another contract with Three. In the past when I needed a proper internet connection I'd opt to pay £3 and used Three as a secondary option. But ironically on my recent trip, Three on 3G roaming was much better than Vodafone's rather-throttled 4G & 3G speed.