Download speed throttled to Vultr VPS

[IsaacCS]

Hello, I have a home Vodafone FTTC connection and have a stable service of around 45-50Mbps. This is consistent across all my devices and applications except for connections to a Virtual Private Server I rent from Vultr in London.

Above is my connected line speed and below is an iperf directly to the server. This shows how the download speed caps out around 24Mbps, while the upload seems to be unaffected.

I have tested my connection to this server in numerous ways and I can be sure the issue does not lie with the server itself. These tests include:

• Large HTTP and HTTPS file transfers from web server on the server (throttled).
• Various ports and MSS sizes with iperf (throttled).
• SFTP transfer over SSH connection (throttled).
• Above tests conducted with multiple clients on my network, both wired and wireless (throttled).
• New VPS created with Vultr in different regions (Stockholm and New York) and tested (throttled).
• Disabled firewall temporarily on home router (throttled).

• Above tests conducted while connected to a VPN (not throttled).
• HTTP/HTTPS transfers from a different residence with an ISP other than Vodafone (not throttled).
• Downloading a test file from Vultr's test servers at https://lon-gb-ping.vultr.com/ (not throttled).

The combination of these tests seems to point to either Vodafone throttling traffic to the specific IPs owned by Vultr or some other interconnect issue between Vodafone and Vultr.

Any help resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[CrimsonLiar]

Sorry but to get my head around this, FTTC speeds are asymmetric, so even if there is a bottleneck on the upload it might well be hidden by that lower upload speed.  We'd also really need to know if higher transfer speeds are available when connecting using different ISPs, and using a different local client.

[IsaacCS]

Yes that may be true regarding the upload - could be capped at 25Mbps both ways (for example) but my line only permits about 15Mbps anyway.

Much higher transfer speeds are available from the server using other ISPs. I had some friends test HTTP file downloads and reached over 100Mbps.

I have also tried other clients including a laptop and Android phone on my network with the same result.

[AngryViking]

I am fighting an almost exact same issue.

My service is Superfast 2 (FTTC 80Mbps)

The simple view of the problem that I saw was running speedof.me test from a browser.

Download speed is flat at just under 25Mbps. If I run through a VPN or Cloudflare WARP (also a VPN), I see download over 70Mbps - same server, same time of day, obviously different IP address (VPN) and a longer ping due to VPN overhead.

Vodafone insisted a Speedtest.net test, mulitple threads, to their test server (on their network !) which showed I had a perfect connection to their network and said this proved there wasn't a problem and deadlocked my complaint.

IT IS DEFINITELY THROTTLED!

I believe my problem arises from a transfer from an ISP who was using VF as a provider. It was throttled there on a 40Mbps connection and as my line was already on VF, no changes were made despite upgrade of service speed.

VF customer service is shockingly bad. I have to waste CISAS time to try and get it fixed.

Interestingly, a forum user who also has Superfast 2 ran the same tests and got the results I would expect at around 70Mbps (and what I see on other ISPs).

[IsaacCS]

Same findings here. Speedof.me capping out at 25-27Mbps but reaches 50Mbps when connecting with a VPN. I don't believe it is to do with a previous line as there was no existing ADSL/VDSL connection installed when we moved in last year.

[AngryViking]

Resorted to CISAS who have accepted my case and have told them:

Vodafone now has 10 working days to:

• Settle the dispute with you
• Submit a written Defence to your claim
• Submit an objection to CEDR on grounds of eligibility for adjudication

We'll see what happens.

I wonder how many more there are?

[CrimsonLiar]

Speedof.me is not a reliable site!  Try using traceroute, pathping or MTR on it and spot how it's claims seem to differ from reality.

Hmm, I wonder why would that be?  Is it selling something maybe!

[IsaacCS]

Granted that may be the case, and I don't really care if speedof.me is slow as I'm not sitting running speed tests all day. However there is definitely an issue with my connection to Vultr servers where this does matter and there's not much more I can test without some assistance from Vodafone.

[IsaacCS]

Any update from Vodafone on this issue? The situation has not improved.

[Effie]

Hey @IsaacCS There is no update on this at the moment.