Is Vodafone broadband too cheap to be true- or any good?

[Goldbug101]

We moved to Vodafone from Plusnet to save around £240 a year.

Our account was activated on August 29th and all was entirely straightforward. Vodafone took care of giving notice to Plusnet and I think the changeover was more or less instantaneous.

All good so far.

We've been connected for 21 days now and the service has been pretty reliable, but a lot slower than Plusnet. Where we were getting 30/1.9 we're now getting 20/2.2. Why the difference? We're well out of the settling in period now; nothing has changed apart from the router.

Things we've discovered which many of you know,  but which we have *never* come across in twenty-odd years of internet access:

Vodafone won't give you your internet access user name and password, so you can't use your own router. Apparently their justification for this is that they once experienced a serious security breach so decided to lock access down. Not very convincing.

Vodafone doesn't provide an SMTP server for outgoing email, so you have to try and find your own, which is not straightforward, as I discovered yesterday. Even using Google's smtp server is problematical. 

Devices like my Motorola Moto G4 Plus have been behaving strangely, reporting that they can connect to the wi-fi network being generated by the Vodafone router, but that there is no internet access, even when another device sitting next to them is connecting fine. I have been reading mixed reports on the Vodafone router, not all of them good. 

Nine days left in the cooling off period. What to do? Cancel Vodafone and return to Plusnet or go to some other ISP?

Any ideas?

Thanks for reading this.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Goldbug101

Just wanted to broach a particular point you made in regards to passwords etc.  

It's certainly true that not too long ago Vodafone declined to give this information. 

However that has now changed where on asking the Broadband Team you should have no issues in obtaining that information to be able to use a 3rd party Router. 

HOW-TO-Use-a-third-party-router-on-Vodafone-VDSL.

[Goldbug101]

Well, that sounded encouraging, so I called Vodafone this morning and queued for an hour and a quarter (despite the 11-22 minutes quoted in the recorded announcement) before I was put through to an agent. He was very helpful until we got to the part where he asked me for the make and model of my router. Billion BiPAC 8800NL, I said. It's not on the list of approved routers, he said. I told him I had been using it with Plusnet for the last four years with no problems and in fact before that at our previous address. No dice, he said, it must be on the approved list.

Brainwave: I dug out the ADSL modem Plusnet (BT-owned, remember) sent us when we signed up with them - they also supplied their own branded wi-fi router to connect to it - clunky or what. OpenReach branding on the front of the modem. Told him the manufacturer and model number - not on the list!

So I thought I would try some of the models quoted on the linked page you provided, including the BT Home Hub 5. Not on the list - even a BT product! Dead end.

More than a little exasperated by now, especially after the long wait, I asked if my problem could be escalated to someone more senior and after another, shortish, wait I was put through to a supervisor who had been well briefed and was suitably apologetic, but basically said there was nothing she could do either. She was puzzled that the BTHH5 and the OpenReach-branded ADSL modem were not on the list and couldn't comment on why people on Vodafone's own community pages were managing to connect with unlisted routers - how did they get the login details in the first place?

We're still within the 30 day cooling off period so, as the Vodafone router can't manage more than 20mbps against our Billion's 30+mbps, they have no SMTP server (I have my own domain, never had this problem before) and I can't connect my own router, it looks like we will have to say 'adios' to Vodafone. This is a shame, as the unlimited broadband and no line rental offer was pretty irresistible.

Back to Plusnet, maybe?

[machare]

I am using my own Zyxel VMG8924-B10A router which is connected using the userid and password that Vodafone were happy to provide without any hassle.  FTTC connections are made to BT's cabinets using BT's equipment.  For further info try www.thinkbroadband.com forums.

I kept a Plusent email a/c, but I also use Gmail POP and SMTP  email servers which are free.

[Goldbug101]

See my reply to the above post with plenty of hassle!

[machare]

You have to say that you have a modem which has BT Sin 498 MCT approval:

The list is available here:

http://www.fcs.org.uk/index.php?q=498

or:

https://uno.help/knowledge-base/article/openreach-approved-vdsl-modems

The second person I asked on chat did not ask me what equipment I was using!

Technically you must use a VDSL router/modem. An ADSL only router/modem will not work.

The TP-Link Archer VR600 is used by others on this forum.

My Zyxel VMG8924-B10A is on the approved list and was bought quite cheaply 2nd hand on ebay.

[Goldbug101]

What's the difference between VDSL and ADSL, given that the A stands for Asynchronous? Have used the Billion router for years, so presumably nothing much has changed recently?

[machare]

The main difference is that VDSL uses higher frequences which provide a wider bandwidth (faster speed) that only works over shorter distances. In the case of ADSL there are also ADSL2 and ADSL2+ as well which do provide more bandwidth.

[Goldbug101]

Thanks.

My Billion router supports VDSL and ADSL2, so that's why it still works!