New 76Mbps Package - Extremely Slow

[xeron_2]

Hi,

I recently moved house and purchased the Vodafone 76Mbps broadband deal. We started using the internet from the 9th Dec and are finding the service frustratingly slow. The following results are from Speedtest.net over the past 3 days

Download speeds:

• Evening 5pm-11pm (via LAN): circa 10Mbps - 15Mbps
• Evening 5pm-11pm (via Wifi): circa 5Mbps - 10Mbps
• Midnight (via LAN): circa 30-40Mbps

Upload speed: consistently around 17Mbps

Sync speed at the router has been consistent over the past 3 days and never moved from:

• Download: 59.0 Mbit/s
• Upload: 18.6 Mbit/s

Vodafone broadband checker:

• Estimated download speed range: 49Mbps to 69.18Mbps
• Minimum guaranteed download speed: 40.25Mbps

According to 'Samknows' website, based on my postcode, my exchange is:

• Exchange name:     Moorhill
• Exchange code:     STMRHLL

DSL Status > Error Counter

• FEC Corrections (Downstream: 827, Upstream: 0)
• CRC Error (Downstream: 69, Upstream: 151301)
• PPP session uptime: 1 day 6 hours

Is there something that can be done to increase speeds to a suitable level? Otherwise going to need to look elsewhere because 5-10Mbps in the evening is unusable and unacceptable from a 76Mbps package.

Thanks

[BandOfBrothers]

Hey @xeron_2

This is from the Vodafone Support Page found > What-should-I-do-if-I-m-having-problems-with-broadband-connectivity.

"When your broadband is installed, we'll optimise your connection to ensure you get the best possible speed. However, doing this can sometimes cause some short drops in service or unexpectedly slow speeds for the first 10 days and in extreme cases up to 30 days. Please don’t turn off or reset your router during this time."

To add i do not use Vodafone Broadband but as I personally connect wirelessly I found the following helped me. 

I changed wireless channel in the Router as some get congested. 

And as some phone / tablets etc devices prefer the frequency 2.4gzh or 5ghz I split the frequencies in the router and switched from one to the other to see which was best. 

Also when looking at my stats on a speed check from Ookla Speed test I also looked at the ping stat which can help troubleshoot. 

One of my friends who prefers a wired connection changed his Ethernet cable which helped. 

Also some can be affected by speeds dropping in the evening when more people are Online. 

[xeron_2]

This evening's results via Ethernet cable. 4Mbps download speed (sync speed 59Mbps).

Is my exchange overloaded, or do I have a line fault? (Exchange = Moorhill)

[xeron_2]

Getting lots of FEC corrections on the Upstream if this is affecting things? Some quick research suggests where others have had this happen, the vodafone router might be faulty / have interference.

Below is using the Test Socket behind the faceplate. Uptime:  2hours (due to uplugging router to use test socket)

[xeron_2]

This morning, Vodafone ran a few initial line tests remotely - no fault found. Time to answer call: approx 20min.

Once home in the evening, I called to complete the further diagnostics and ping tests. However, never got to speak to anyone, waited in queue for 35min, then hung up out of frustration.

Tonights results

Uptime: 15 hours

[machare]

If you can get better download speeds during the early hours of the morning I would suspect your problem is contention on the backhaul from the cabinet.  Hard to get that sort of problem corrected.

[xeron_2]

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@machare wrote:

If you can get better download speeds during the early hours of the morning I would suspect your problem is contention on the backhaul from the cabinet.  Hard to get that sort of problem corrected.

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Interesting, you mean my connection is fighting for speed against others in the cabinet? Will this be the case whatever supplier I go with using the BT Openreach Network? (Vodafone, Sky, BT etc)? Assume the Virgin Media network might give different results since it's separate to Openreach.

Morning speeds have generally been around 40Mbps

[WileE2017]

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Interesting, you mean my connection is fighting for speed against others in the cabinet? Will this be the case whatever supplier I go with using the BT Openreach Network? (Vodafone, Sky, BT etc)? Assume the Virgin Media network might give different results since it's separate to Openreach.

Morning speeds have generally been around 40Mbps

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If your morning / afternoon speeds are pretty much full speed and then say after 6pm it drops significantly then it would suggest contention at the exchange.

I suggest you start screenshotting your speeds 3 from the morning / 3 afternoon and 3 evening,  using speedtest.net as this is what Vodafone require you to use.  Also ensure you have a windows PC as they don't seem to accept any screenshots that are from a PC that is not is safe mode!  So you have to use windows!.

After 1 month of trying to get my issue solved I have finally had a text confirming contention at my exchange and apparently they are moving me to a less congested fibre cable.   So I anticipate within 3 months I will be back in the same boat,  time will tell.

[xeron_2]

Here I was somewhat hopeful 🙂 But seems like my experience is going in a similar direction to yours above.

Took 1hr 10min to get through to an operator on Thursday evening. A couple of further tests were done, no issues with the line revealed from these tests. Was then given a fault reference number because the sync speed is well below expected and download speed is significantly below expected. Called ended there and next step: Technical support level 2 were supposed to call be back within 48 hours to test/organise an engineer visit.

UPDATE

Today is Saturday after 11pm, no call received from Vodafone. Really disappointing because this means I'll have to wait another hour to speak to a frontline operator, for them again to refer me to Technical support, who will 'maybe' decide to give me a call within 48 hours.

What's really frustrating on this is the operator noted I'm on holiday from the 21st Dec, so if the engineer visit doesn't happen before then, it'll be the new year.

[TJ]

@xeron_2 We're really sorry to hear you're still having issues with your speeds and apologise that you've not been called back. 

I've sent you a private message with details on how to get in touch so we can look into this for you.