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.

[Pyrotequila]

I have been having this same issue for the past few weeks, finally got fed up and Google searched to see if my problem was wide spread...glad I'm not alone, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

I've had f8lure graphs running and it's a fairly obvious spike typically between 4pm and 10pm.

https://f8lure.mouselike.org/index.asp?DoAction=HistoricList&Host=90.252.61.109&FBMode=True 

Higher than normal pings, which I can deal with.

But loads of packet loss, which is harder to live with.

[jibilah]

An update.

After 4 months, the issue is better but still not how it was. Issues are still apparent, although the service has become 'usable' for the most part.

Because of the complete mismanagement of this issue, lack of transparency and obvious inability to resolve the issue, I have terminated the Gigafast service, and left Vodafone all together. 

I have zero confidence this tinpot ISP will be able to resolve any other issues I may have had in the future...!

Just as a comparison; I had some issues with my new provider (FTTC, not FTTP) and it was resolved within 48 hours - and I didn't need to spend many hours of my time on the phone to someone and providing proof! (I appreciate the issues are different, but there was no faffing...).

For those that are still having issues, consider raising a complaint if you haven't already. After a certain period without resolution (8 weeks i believe), you are able to go to CISAS (with a ref number provided to you by Vodafone),  which is an independent Dispute Resolution centre.

[acaveman]

I have been having the exact same issue for a few weeks now during "peak time". But only the last few weeks. The other day a router restart appeared to fix it, but now it's back again, high packet loss and jitter. Making online games unplayable at the time when I play them.

There must be some sort of issue somewhere causing this disruption but there is no sort of "status" page for broadband saying if they are aware. I really wish more companies would be more proactive and transparent with service disruption.

In case it matters, I am located in the south of England if it's a regional issue. And I'm on Superfast 60Mb/s connection

[gtx450]

I'm experiencing the exact issue described in this post I'm southern based and on the 900mb contract. 

There must have been a change implemented within the last 3weeks. Issue only persists during peak hours. 

Please can we have an update on this 

[jibilah]

Update on the Topic, as Vodafone don’t seemingly do that...!

It has been passed to third line (who unfortunately don’t work weekends, and as I still had the issue last night, I’m guessing it won’t be fixed until next week).

They ‘can see’ the issue, and are working to resolve it.

What’s annoying is how long it’s been happening for, and how Vodafone should have picked it up long before customers ‘noticed’ a pattern to then report it. Why is there no monitoring, and if there is, how has it not been picked up? Or if it’s being worked on, why no message to advise?

Fortunately 2nd line support (based in the UK it seems) have been helpful, however have advised that they;

a) Don’t case manage (so no updates are given if you have a fault, until it’s resolved and closed).

b) Don’t provide proactive updates if there is a fault that may affect customers.

c) Third line support are not customer facing.

All in all, while the Two 2nd line support team personnel that I have spoken to have been friendly, and endeavoured to get the issue resolved ASAP,  Vodafone’s fault handling has been appalling and I will be raising a complaint: very reactive, and very little transparency unless specifically asked, and needless to say I’m pretty frustrated.

[gtx450]

Thankyou for your update!

If this was managed under a standard change control mesure they should have considered a role back on the change implemented about 3weeks ago. As this issue was never present before then. 

Fingers crossed this is resolved in a timely manner

[gtx450]

Also work around I found was using a vpn. While gaming, not preferred but does the job ping stabilised for me. Which also tells me there is some weird QOS being applied 

[jibilah]

Thanks gtx450. I've not got a VPN, and as you say it's not preferred; we're paying for a service and we're not getting it.

A further update for me, incase anyone from Vodafone is actually being proactive and looking at this (doubtful at this point); but I'm still experiencing issues. Monday night was awful - VOIP was basically impossible, and latency fluctuations were extremely bad - it really is like clockwork looking at the graphs from the last week.

Update from the case manager is that there's still no resolution at this point.

I will be looking to cancel my service from Vodafone because of this, I'd rather go back to 50mbps and reliable, than 500mbps and unusable. I was with BT before who I believe (and I had no experience of,) do not do any traffic shaping/management, and before joining Vodafone, I was ensured this would be the same (especially for FTTP customers), yet here we are (I am assuming this because I have had NO information as to what the issue is from Vodafone, and because of the time the issue occurs).

Finally, for anyone looking at Vodafone, I would say to look at the various posts of how SLOW Vodafone are to respond to issues and fix? them (I'm still waiting for a fix more than 10 days after first report, and more than 3 weeks since first experience). 

[gtx450]

This is ridiculous now can we please get a technical update on this or at least a commitment on a resolution date ? 

It's embarrassing when the ping deviation is higher than your average ping this has become laughable.

This issue makes games completely unplayable 

[gtx450]