High Latency at Peak Times

[jibilah]

I have been having some regular issues in the evening at peak times for approximately 2 weeks, with my Gigafast 500mb service (using the Vodafone Supplied Router).

The issue: high ping fluctations, and packet loss, backed up by running Ping tests in command prompt.

It seems to be happening predominantly in the evenings from around 7pm to around 10:30pm.

I have a Thinkbroadband Monitor on the go, and will post once more data is shown.

Before reaching this point I have done the following:

1. Resarted Router

2. Switched off WiFi, and disconnected all bar a single PC to run Ping command

3. Tried another Ethernet connected machine to run Ping command: same results.

Is anyone experiencing the same issues?

Backstory:

I mainly play games and chat to friends on Discord. I began noticing high latency fluctuations around 2 weeks ago, and friends on the Discord server began to mention I was lagging/breaking up when I was talking.
It has now gotten pretty bad where I am getting kicked out of game servers due to the quality of the connection.

[jibilah]

So it's 2.5 months since first noticing the issue and 2 months since raising it.

There is still no confirmed resolution date!

Capacity is still confirmed to be the issue, but I'm guessing not enough people are moaning about it so they don't care to fix the issue.

For anyone that is thinking of getting Gigafast - it might be fast and 'reliable' for 12 months, but as more people will join, be prepared for your speeds and quality to tank and be pretty much useless in the evening when you finish work and want to relax!

[dan12]

You're definitely not alone on this one, also in MK and have been experiencing issues at exactly the same times mentioned in this thread, after posting about it on social media I raised a fault with the gigafast team about 5 weeks ago.

Have been going back and forth but the latency issues still persist. Sent a weeks worth of ping plotter graphs which were rejected by Vodafone for some unknown reason but everything I've experienced matches up with the graphs and descriptions in this thread.

The last update I had on Friday was that third line are "aware" but we've been experiencing these issues (to the point where the connection is barely usable for anything bar simple web browsing) for a number of months now and it doesn't feel like we're any closer to a solution.

A serious lack of transparency and accountability, lost count of the hours I've spent trying to get this sorted

[Evie]

Hey guys @dan12 @jibilah @gtx450 - it's disappointing to hear you're all still having issues with your service.

I understand you have been advised this before, but I would recommend getting in contact with our Gigasfast team on 0333 304 0191 so that they can get this sorted for you.

If you have open fault tickets with them, they will be able to give you and update and make sure it's being resolved as soon as possible.

[jibilah]

@EvieI wish it was resolved. But the issue is still apparent 3 months on from the first experience of it, and 2.5months from first reporting it.

I have had two text messages implying the capacity issue has been resolved, and found out it has not on the same evening of the 'fix'.

I have provided additional 'proof' that I am having issues, and have since been informed that 3rd Line are essentially saying to 2nd line, "the issue was fixed so there's no issue or any more we can do." 

Sounds like further incompetence from Vodafone to me, and is quite frankly a joke.

[Fishrage]

I too am facing a similar issue, but not at peak times - it's totally random for me. 1st line support didn't help and said that it was impossible to move me to 2nd line and my forum post on here was marked as spam and deleted (??!!!)

Needless to say I'm off to BT.  Connection date is 21st December.  The BT customer service person I spoke to said that they are getting hundreds of Vodafone customers switching to BT every week due to similar issues. 

[dan12]

@jibilah Also had a voicemail last week informing that upgrades were underway and the issue was being resolved

Last night's latency was about as bad as it's ever been

[Mark]

Have you been in touch with the Gigafast team to advise your still experiencing these issues @dan12 and @jibilah? I'm sure the team will be able to re-open the case if you're still experiencing problems.

I'm sorry your previous post was quarantined as spam @Fishrage. If you can let us know when this was posted, I'll be able to take a look and see why this happened.

[jibilah]

I've been in contact with several people, and none of them have been able to help.

I am now being told by second line, that third line support are essentially dismissing my issue as CityFibre have told them it's fixed. All evidence points to it NOT BEING FIXED!

The unfortunate truth is that Vodafone just don't seem to care anymore.

Or don't want to spend the money to fix the issue, or just simply don't have the expertise, to fix it.

I've spent enough time and effort trying to hold Vodafone accountable, and to sort themselves out, to no avail, therefore enough's enough though.
I'm leaving Vodafone, and if I can help it, I will be avoiding your 'services' (I use that term very loosely!) in the future.

The overall experience with Vodafone has been extremely poor.

As I was trying to post this, I had to 'retry' 4 times, here's why. Nice stats for a Fibre to the premises 100mbps up/down service huh?

[dan12]

It's been as bad as it's ever been (possibly the worst) this evening, webpages failing to load and messages not sending (Discord)

Resorting to using 4G at the moment, it's just completely unacceptable

If it wasn't for the monopoly Vodafone have on these City Fibre residential connections in Milton Keynes I would have migrated to a different ISP long ago - genuinely considering moving to an 80/20 FTTC product, which seems completely illogical given that I have a FTTP installation with a "900/900" product.

Whilst everyone I've spoken to on the phone has meant well and been pleasant, this issue (particularly given the obvious pattern of it happening at the same time every single day) took far too long to be acknowledged and its taking an unacceptable amount of time to fix, particularly given the lack of transparency and information regarding both the problem and the process.

[jibilah]

Likewise. I could barely load a webpage it was that bad, and I took a good 30+ seconds to join a Discord channel, at which point, I couldn't hear anything, and no one could hear me. I too had to swap to tethering off my phone to be able to use the internet. Fortunately my phone isn't with Vodafone, so it worked....!

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/17cb5d3bca9247dd3da810262588546cb7... 

Yesterday was generally bad during the day, but from 7 to about 11:30, it was just unusable, which is the worst it has been. Interestingly, when I last provided Vodafone this type of graph, they weren't happy with it as 'proof' the issue was still prevalent . Something about the router perhaps doing something else when it gets pinged from Thinkbroadband.... I was asked to run the ping test through command prompt on my wired PC, and run a speed test.

Yes, I'm not sure when the Vodafone exclusivity will end (my understanding was that it was originally for 2 years, which should have expired by now), but I'm not sure having a different ISP will solve the issue.

More ISPs would likely translate to more users on the CityFibre network, likely making it worse. Apart from CityFibre getting it in the neck from more than one Provider, if they don;t what they're doing (which I feel is now the case - I've lost all confidence of anyone actually knowing what's going on), then the issue would only be worse, and not get fixed!

As you've said Dan, everyone I've spoken to from Vodafone has been pleasant, but not always the most knowledgeable, added with the lack of transparency and of course the time it has taken for it to not be fixed is quite concerning.  Although I am leaving, I really do hope customers who do not have that option, get their service restored.

Dan, have you raised a complaint? If so, and you're not already aware, at the 8 week point, you should receive a 'deadlock' email, and then you have the option to take it to CISAS who are an Ofcom approved Dispute Resolution Provider which may be of interest. 

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/