I need your opinion: Is it really as bad as they say? - Ping/Routing/load balancing etc.

[Tre-Keyz]

I've been debating which ISP to go with for the FTTH through city fibre. I ended up choosing VF because I get a lot of router with the deal (the wifi 6, with the mesh booster) and because of the 4g back up. I work from home and having a back up in case lines go down is good, Yes I could tether off my phone, but I don't want my whole household doing so. 

BUT I have read a lot about bad ping, as a result of the load balancing/gateway routing. I have also heard and experienced how bad VF customer service is, in general. For example if I call No One, or IDnet, I get straight through to a helpful, knowledgeable UK based person who knows how to and will try to help me. Also VF They don't support IPv6.

Now, my arguments against these issues are:

-The ping I see people complaining about is like 25ms, because they want 5ms, but in reality 25ms is considered GREAT ping, even for gaming, so I do think those people are just being obsessed.

-If the internet is just working as it should, which is largely down to CF rather than VF, then I shouldn't have much need to call VF. Am I wrong?

-No one really needs IPv6 for general use. Everything works with IPv4.

I am going to try it out for 10 days and then cancel during cooling off if its not what I expect. I am just worried about being locked in for 24 months if it ends up being a pain in the ##~##.

I would love to hear other peoples experience.

[Ripshod]

It's not really as bad as it may look. You'll hardly ever see someone joining just to say how good it is. Even on a forum like thinkbroadband the vodafone subforums is deadly quiet most of the time.

Yes, the peeps at Vodafone can make mistakes, as anyone can but most of the time it's a quick fix. Most often mistakes are caused by inexperience or poor communication - that must be expected as the support call centre is in Egypt, and staff will be rotating in and out constantly.

I myself struggled with inappropriate routing (West Yorkshire to Edinburgh) but hey, shizz happens. I struggled with high latency and poor erratic speeds at times but most of my time here has been great.

Don't be expecting too much from the routers and apps. The routers are dumbed down so much you can't really do anything serious with them. The apps, well I'll just say have a look around this forum. If you're not bothered about the landline you can always use you own router 😉

Good luck with whoever you choose!