Broadband "dropouts" make any service unusable

[MHatfull]

I've been with vodafone since august 2017. We have a problem where every few hours our connection becomes so slow that it will throw us out of a game or stop a stream or any service requireing a reasonable connection. It is so slow in fact that DNS won't even resolve and there will be 100 percent packet loss on pingtests. I ran pingtests every minute for a day and you can see spikes of this occuring.

In our area (the center of the capital city) we can only get ADSL.

I have spent so so many hours on the phone and chat systems that I know the scripts they are reading from and none of it helps. We have opened a few tickets through the support line for Tech 2 but they claim everything is fine (without asking us) and closed the tickets. We have (on many occasions) been promised a callback to discuss the findings of the tech 2 team and to follow up on the creation of a tickets about this issue but Vodafone just don't call back.

I really don't know what to do. I am an IT professional so I know how this all works and I can tell that nobody is listening to what the problem is, only saying what I want to hear.

I have once called the support team and was greeted by someone slurring their words and unable to type, they were pretty obviously drunk. The actions they took never actually came to anything and there was no trace he had done anything.

Today we were told that our problems are because our wifi devices are using the wrong channel when I told the man that the desktops are using ethernet. He then told me that I needed to only have 1 device connected to the internet at a time for 24 hours on each of the different wifi channels. In my line of work I need to be able to receive notifications to respond to situations when I am on call. I am also not living alone so we can't use both our computers. This sounds crazy!

Quite frankly I'm done with my routine of chasing vodafone and I will file a complaint with the ombudsman soon if it isn't resolved. 

[Nabs]

@MHatfull Are you still using the Vodafone supplied router? If so ditching it and using your own (connection details can be obtained from Vodafone) router will likely resolve your issues.

[TJ]

@MHatfull We're really sorry to hear about all the problems you've been facing, from the drop outs, to the service you've received from the team.

As advised by @Nabs you're more than welcome to use your own router. You can contact our Broadband Live Chat team to discuss this. They'll provide you with the all the details you'll need to connect and a list of approved routers that can be used.

You may have been through these steps but whilst you're talking with them, they can also run diagnostics on your line - sync speed and through speed, also they'll go through some home checks to make sure its not a hardware issue, such as the Ethernet cable, microfilter etc.

Let us know how you get on and keep us updated.

[MHatfull]

We had an outage lasting an hour today among several smaller ones. I rang 191 and talked to them, they did all the usual tests. I was supposed to receive yet another call today which had to happen else they would not raise the ticket to tech 2. I am now supposed to get a call from the supervisor of the customer service person who I called today after they have investigated. I have asked for a letter of deadlock to take this to the ombudsman. I've tried everything everyone's suggested and nothing helps and it seems the customer services want to blame me for it. I've had enough. I have run speedtests when this happens and it is 3 meg down, then the upload tries and tries but stays on 0 meg and then the test fails. All ping tests time out. In the chrome inspector's network tab som requests get through but most time out so it's a real effort getitng the test to even start. I'm really not happy how whenever someone is supposed to call me I am ignored, I'm paying good money for this connection. 

[Willpowers97]

To be honest with you i am having the same problem, but this is just another case of "you get what you pay for", but definitely take the case to the ombudsman (im thinking of doing the same), this is a fault with vodafone's infrastructure and theyre doing nothing about it.

Also good luck with the case!

[TJ]

@MHatfull So we can pass your query along to our Broadband team for further investigation, I've sent you a private message with details on how to get in touch with us. 

[MHatfull]

I have followed that link and filled it in. 

Since I last wrote your team opened yet another ticket, asked me to provide the standard readings again, I did, they then asked for it again so I did that too, they then asked for them again so I did it a third time. They then closed the ticket without further explanation. I tried calling but got stuck in queues for more than half an hour. I tried your live chat and got hung up on. Not happy at all.

[MHatfull]

05/02/2018
1/2
19:42, Feb 5
Info: Thank you for choosing to chat with us. An agent will be with you shortly.
19:44, Feb 5
Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Thank
you for your patience.
19:46, Feb 5
Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 1 minutes and 6 seconds. Thank
you for your patience.
19:48, Feb 5
Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 0 minutes and 47 seconds. Thank
you for your patience.
19:48, Feb 5
Info: You're now chatting with Nikhil.
19:49, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: Hi, I got a text saying my tech 2 ticket was fixed but nothing has changed. This is the 3rd time
this has happened. I have spent at least 10 hours on the phone with you and you just waste my time. I want a
letter of deadlock or the problem resolved in 72 hours. I believe 6 months is a reasonable time for me to give
you to fix the issue but you have not.
19:48, Feb 5
Nikhil: Hello MAx.
19:49, Feb 5
Nikhil: Max*
19:49, Feb 5
Nikhil: i am sorry to learn that
19:49, Feb 5
Nikhil: i will look into it and help you the best i can over the chat .
19:50, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: thank you
19:50, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: so, what are you going to do?
19:50, Feb 5
Nikhil: i will look into the account and fetch the details and help you further .
19:51, Feb 5
Nikhil: could you please help me with your full name ?
19:51, Feb 5
19:52, Feb 5
Nikhil: thank you very much for the information.
please help me with 2nd and 3rd digit of your security pin ?
19:52, Feb 5
Max Hatfull:
19:52, Feb 5
Nikhil: Perfect !
that matches our records .
19:53, Feb 5
Nikhil: just to confirm you are facing hassles with Speed over WiFi or Cable connection ?
19:53, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: Ethernet
19:53, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: cable
19:53, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: you have all these details in my account if you'd care to read them
19:54, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: along with a LOT of data you've asked me to provide about 10 times
19:54, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: I assume you've saved it considering I've spent so many hours gathering it for you
19:54, Feb 5
05/02/2018
2/2
Max Hatfull: you have, right?
19:55, Feb 5
Nikhil: yes, i have let me go through them and help you further .
19:55, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: ok
19:56, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: if you're reading those notes then you'll see the many callbacks you promised to keep but didn't,
just saying
19:57, Feb 5
Nikhil: i am sorry to learn that , i strongly apologies for the hassles caused to you .
19:57, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: I don't want apologies, I want the service I paid for
19:57, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: but you'll sort that I'm sure
19:58, Feb 5
Max Hatfull: interestingly I have started several forum posts and quite a few other people are planning to
join me in writting letters to the ombudsmann

[MHatfull]

05/02/2018 1/4 20:02, Feb 5 Info: Thank you for choosing to chat with us. An agent will be with you shortly. 20:04, Feb 5 Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 10 minutes and 54 seconds. Thank you for your patience. 20:06, Feb 5 Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 2 minutes and 31 seconds. Thank you for your patience. 20:08, Feb 5 Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 0 minutes and 44 seconds. Thank you for your patience. 20:10, Feb 5 Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 0 minutes and 20 seconds. Thank you for your patience. 20:10, Feb 5 Info: You're now chatting with Varun. 20:10, Feb 5 Varun: Hello Max, good evening 20:10, Feb 5 Varun: How may I assist you today? 20:10, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Broadband-Home-Phone/Broadband-quot-dropouts-quotmake-any-service-un... 20:11, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: 05/02/2018 1/2 19:42, Feb 5 Info: Thank you for choosing to chat with us. An agent will be with you shortly. 19:44, Feb 5 Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Thank you for your patience. 19:46, Feb 5 Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 1 minutes and 6 seconds. Thank you for your patience. 19:48, Feb 5 Info: All agents are currently assisting others. Your estimated wait time is 0 minutes and 47 seconds. Thank you for your patience. 19:48, Feb 5 Info: You're now chatting with Nikhil. 19:49, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: Hi, I got a text saying my tech 2 ticket was fixed but nothing has changed. This is the 3rd time this has happened. I have spent at least 10 hours on the phone with you and you just waste my time. I want a letter of deadlock or the problem resolved in 72 hours. I believe 6 months is a reasonable time for me to give you to fix the issue but you have not. 19:48, Feb 5 Nikhil: Hello MAx. 19:49, Feb 5 Nikhil: Max* 19:49, Feb 5 Nikhil: i am sorry to learn that 19:49, Feb 5 Nikhil: i will look into it and help you the best i can over the chat . 19:50, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: thank you 19:50, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: so, what are you going to do? 19:50, Feb 5 Nikhil: i will look into the account and fetch the details and help you further . 19:51, Feb 5 Nikhil: could you please help me with your full name ? 19:51, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: Maxim Hatfull 19:52, Feb 5 Nikhil: thank you very much for the information. please help me with 2nd and 3rd digit of your security pin ? 19:52, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: 24 19:52, Feb 5 Nikhil: Perfect ! that matches our records . 19:53, Feb 5 Nikhil: just to confirm you are facing hassles with Speed over WiFi or Cable connection ? 19:53, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: Ethernet 19:53, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: cable 19:53, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: you have all these details in my account if you'd care to read them 19:54, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: along with a LOT of data you've asked m 20:11, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I have just been hung up on from that chat and would like to pick up where he left off please. 20:11, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: ah, it did not send fully 20:11, Feb 5 Varun: I will help you with it 20:11, Feb 5 Varun: Please send the whole chat transcript 20:12, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: you have all these details in my account if you'd care to read them 19:54, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: along with a LOT of data you've asked me to provide about 10 times 19:54, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I assume you've saved it considering I've spent so many hours gathering it for you 19:54, Feb 5 05/02/2018 2/2 Max Hatfull: you have, right? 19:55, Feb 5 Nikhil: yes, i have let me go through them and help you further . 19:55, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: ok 19:56, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: if you're reading those notes then you'll see the 05/02/2018 2/4 many callbacks you promised to keep but didn't, just saying 19:57, Feb 5 Nikhil: i am sorry to learn that , i strongly apologies for the hassles caused to you . 19:57, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I don't want apologies, I want the service I paid for 19:57, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: but you'll sort that I'm sure 19:58, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: interestingly I have started several forum posts and quite a few other people are planning to join me in writting letters to the ombudsmann 20:12, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: that is the rest 20:14, Feb 5 Varun: Please confirm your email address 20:14, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: redacted 20:15, Feb 5 Varun: Thank you, let me pull up your account in my system 20:16, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: before we go further I would like you to promise to call me on my phone if we get disconnected 20:17, Feb 5 Varun: I'd love to call you, however, as I am part of chat department thus my system will not let me make an outbound call 20:17, Feb 5 Varun: However, I will fix your issue as soon as possible 20:17, Feb 5 Varun: Please do not worry 20:17, Feb 5 Varun: Please confirm your complete name 20:17, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: Maxim Hatfull 20:17, Feb 5 Varun: Thank you 20:18, Feb 5 Varun: Please confirm the 1st and 2nd digit of your security PIN 20:18, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: 12 20:19, Feb 5 Varun: Perfect! 20:19, Feb 5 Varun: Please bear with me, let me check some details and then I'll run a diagnose for you 20:19, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: if you run a test on my internet, you will * this chat 20:20, Feb 5 Varun: The chat won't end, and the diagnose would fix the line 20:20, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: you will break this chat 20:20, Feb 5 Varun: Please do not worry 20:20, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: do you promise? 20:20, Feb 5 Varun: Could you please confirm if you have a dial tone on your home phone? 20:20, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I have no phone 20:20, Feb 5 Varun: Yes, it would fix the line 20:21, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: how come each of the other 30 odd times this has been run it has not fixed it if your test is somehow special? 20:21, Feb 5 Varun: I will do my best for you. Will you trust me now? 05/02/2018 3/4 20:21, Feb 5 Varun: I will fix the line problem for you 20:22, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: you must have some method of getting back in touch when the internet breaks from too much load from your test 20:23, Feb 5 Varun: I am running the test, in case we gets disconnect, I will not cut the window and we would connected 20:23, Feb 5 Varun: Please bear with me, I am running the diagnose for you 20:23, Feb 5 Varun: Could you please confirm if you tried swapping the micro-filter? 20:24, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I have 20:24, Feb 5 Varun: Alright! 20:24, Feb 5 Varun: Have you tried connecting the router directly to the test socket inside the master socket? 20:24, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I have 20:26, Feb 5 Varun: Were you ask to do a hard reset to the router? 20:26, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: tried that 20:27, Feb 5 Varun: Just to confirm, you mean "Pressing that button with a sharp pin" 20:27, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I tried that and a whole new router 20:27, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: no change 20:27, Feb 5 Varun: Thank you for confirming 20:28, Feb 5 Varun: Let me check for the configuration settings and complete the diagnose. 20:28, Feb 5 Varun: It would take some time, please bear with me 20:29, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: ok 20:32, Feb 5 Varun: Sorry, I'll be right with you. 20:34, Feb 5 Varun: Could you please confirm if you are facing this issue just over the Wi-fi or with the Ethernet cable as well? 20:34, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: Ethernet cable as I explained in the transcript earlier 20:34, Feb 5 Varun: Thank you for confirming 20:35, Feb 5 Varun: Have you tried a different Ethernet cable to connect your device? 20:35, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: yep 20:35, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: no change 20:36, Feb 5 Varun: As the diagnose is running, it shows a clean green graph and there aren't any red outages shown in the system, due to which I can only assume that there's some fault with the lines in your premises 20:37, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: the problem only happens once an hour or so 20:37, Feb 5 05/02/2018 4/4 Max Hatfull: you are running your test at the wrong time 20:37, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: I am a software engineer and have investigated every possible part of our system 20:37, Feb 5 Varun: I can raise an engineer visit for you straight away, however, before that I'd suggest you to check the lines if they are connected properly 20:37, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: please raise an engineer 20:38, Feb 5 Varun: Sure 20:38, Feb 5 Varun: Please bear with me 20:41, Feb 5 Varun: Sorry to keep you waiting, it would be a minute more 20:45, Feb 5 Max Hatfull: are you still there?

[DaneB]

I'm disappointed to hear of your recent experience with us @MHatfull. Please provide us with your email reference number that you received from your automated response when you filled in the form that @TJ sent to you - it looks like this [#1234567].