FTTP/Cityfibre. Traffic shaping suspected. Poor download speeds during evenings. MUCH better on VPN

[Martynux]

Dear Vodafone,

It is time you admit that you are applying traffic shaping on your internet connection during the evenings.

I have always wondered why some traffic goes through better than other in the evenings.

I have done extensive testing in the past few days and I have come across to the below findings:

Internet connection speeds drop down to miserable 2-3 megabits download during the evenings / peak time. Upload though goes well and I'd say it is intact.

So I have done some testing. I have connected to different VPN providers to the servers nearby in the UK as well as abroad as far as Iceland and Lithuania.

And guess what - Over the VPN I get 200+ mbps results, immediately as I drop out from VPN and do the test on a clean line I again get those miserable few megabits.

Now if you are technical enough you must understand the irony here.

Going through VPN channel always should give you lower speeds as extra hops and conditions involved in the traffic/equipment. However when on VPN, speed test results are always better. Always, not sometimes, but always. And considerably much better than having connection without being wrapped up in VPN.

This indicates only one thing - QOS/Traffic shaping is in place with Vodafone during peak times.

Tell me, Vodafone, please, why when I am paying for 900mbps I am getting the service of a few megabits during peak times? And please, keep that rubbish to yourself when you start stating - oh it is probably your router, your Wi-Fi and so on. No it is not! I know it is not. I am getting exactly the same results on wired connection using Vodafone or any other router. To be precise your router is a piece of junk that is good for grandmas who watch BBC iPlayer and send three WhatsApp messages a day. I am and advanced user, a technician in fact, with 20+ years of IT support under my belt. 

It is not my router to blame, not my corporate grade wireless access point, not even cheap Vodafone router to blame, it is the policies that Vodafone has set on the back end to shape the traffic during busiest periods.

And it is not fair. I am paying for 900mbps service, yet during evenings I get 300 times slower speeds than I am paying for. Even daytime I rarely reach anything more than 500mbps, it doesn't really bother me that much as I consider speeds above 100mbps acceptable and I simply have no patience to call your India-based call centres and speak to so called "experts" who read from the script, have little to no actual knowledge, and won't deviate from script that they read from the knowledge-base and give a pre-defined answers from templates.

Explain this please, how is this fair, and how is this a good value for money that I am paying? I am actually considering leaving Vodafone, at least when I had broadband over copper line I was getting consistent speeds 24/7. Heck, even with 3 mobile 4G connection I had better speeds than with you guys! 

I see no reason why I should be utilising VPN in order to increase my internet browsing experience. It is an extra expense as well as extra burden that I have to go through in order to reach acceptable connection speeds.

Three days ago, in the evening I was trying to download 5 gigabyte Windows 10 ISO file from Microsoft, I was getting estimated time of download of 7 hours over 900mbps FTTP line. Makes sense? - Thought so, it does not make sense to me either.

Feel free to reach out to me for troubleshooting if you are brave enough to deal with me, I promise you, I won't go easy on you, but I promise to be reasonable and respectful. However I won't take your nonsense and won't accept that it is something to do with my equipment, because I know it is not the equipment.. It is not, and I know, period!

I have done plenty of testing internally, I have tested my independent wireless AP throughput over local network and I have amazing results as long as Vodafone is not in the picture. Anything routed through Vodafone internet link is rubbish unless I wrap that device that is reaching out to the internet to VPN. 

I really don't enjoy having to jump through the hoops just to have something that should be provided to me already because it is a contractual obligation. I expect the service to be delivered as per contract, not some lame excuses from cheap labour agent somewhere in India who has no idea what he is talking about.

So to sum this up:

From 18:00 onwards to around 22-24h connection speeds drop dramatically to miserable few megabits, sometimes if lucky 30-40mbps, never goes above 100. 

No difference if Vodafone or other independent router / access point used, connection still rubbish.

When on VPN, then connection is much better - going to 200-300mbps speeds.

Outside those hours connection speeds are much better, good enough not to complain about. 

I work from home supporting different timezones and working during evenings is a challenge due to this issue. I certainly have an impact on my work performance due to this.

My equipment/plan:

Cityfibre FTTP 900mbps.

Draytek Vigor 2925 router

Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-nanoHD.

Location: Aberdeen

To add a cherry on top of this cake: it is not only me that is having this issue here in Aberdeen. There are 3 more of us (and I can provide their details on request) who are subscribed to Cityfibre/Vodafone FTTP service and we all are having exactly the same issue during evenings. We all live in different areas of the city, so the problem is city-wide, not only to specific area within the city. 

Please get this sorted rather than ignore or give silly answers claiming it is our equipment. It is not. I know it, and you know it too. Time to call things as they are. 

Best regards,

Marty

[VITALIJUS1986]

Every [Removed] evening! Hate this company! 

[MOD EDIT: This post has been edited to remove off topic/personal information/inappropriate content please see Community Guidelines]

[Jayach]

---

@VITALIJUS1986 wrote:

Every fu*** evening! Hate this company! 

---

Then leave.

[VITALIJUS1986]

I will try to leave. 

[Kemixtry]

Same for me next week when my 30 days is up. No word on a fix, no response on what's going on. Just slower than my old pre fttp broadband.

At least it was fast for the first 4 weeks.

[Jayach]

---

@Gemma wrote:

@Swine  – Each case is different, one thing that might be affecting one person may be different then another. We need to check all troubleshooting has been completed in full.

---

Seriously, it works fine all day and then crawls almost to a halt in the evening. What trouble shooting can you do on that?

Yes, in a very rare case it may be the central heating coming on, or a leaky microwave.

But with so many people reporting the same thing, it has to be a network problem at Vodafone.

[Scooty997]

Aberdeen based also here. 900mbps service. Never see it hit 900 even at 4am, but regardless yes every evening it drops to 30 on a good day if not like 10mbps. @Gemma Please just listen to the people here. This is a city wide problem for a start if not a nationwide one. 

I think the numbers of forum posts going up about this is really all the evidence needed. 

[edwingcameron]

I can only assume that Vodafone is actually a satirical internet company... Because I just received this text... For context, my contract ends tomorrow due to all the issues...

Hello. As part of your Vodafone Pro service the Vodafone WiFi Xperts have been keeping an eye on your broadband performance. We're pleased to let you know that your service is working at optimal performance and no issues have been found! You don't need to do anything else, we'll continue to monitor and optimise your connection. Need to get in touch? Chat with us online at https://www.vodafone.co.uk/WiFiXperts or call us on 0333 304 0191.

You can't make this up.... I think this proves they have no idea what's going on...

[Swine]

Hello @Gemma

While some cases might be different. Not all cases are different. As all people posting here very recently have the same issues, at the same time of day. 

We are making your job easy for you. We don't need individual diagnosis. We want Vodafone to investigate the issue and fix it. It's not anything we can help you with. How possibly can it be when all symptoms started across multiple people's connection at the same time.

The ridiculous little hoops you make customers jump through are absolutely mental. This is not an individual issue but a widespread issue. Any other company would be sensible enough to see it that way. 

Anyway, I'm off to a different supplier. I was in contract but as no one can solve or admit to my problem the early termination fee has been waived. And I've got a phone recording as evidence I have absolutely no faith or trust in Vodafone at all. 

I have one additional family member to get out of contract and I'll never return.

[Martynux]

Dear Vodafone,

It is time you admit that you are applying traffic shaping on your internet connection during the evenings.

I have always wondered why some traffic goes through better than other in the evenings.

I have done extensive testing in the past few days and I have come across to the below findings:

Internet connection speeds drop down to miserable 2-3 megabits download during the evenings / peak time. Upload though goes well and I'd say it is intact.

So I have done some testing. I have connected to different VPN providers to the servers nearby in the UK as well as abroad as far as Iceland and Lithuania.

And guess what - Over the VPN I get 200+ mbps results, immediately as I drop out from VPN and do the test on a clean line I again get those miserable few megabits.

Now if you are technical enough you must understand the irony here.

Going through VPN channel always should give you lower speeds as extra hops and conditions involved in the traffic/equipment. However when on VPN, speed test results are always better. Always, not sometimes, but always. And considerably much better than having connection without being wrapped up in VPN.

This indicates only one thing - QOS/Traffic shaping is in place with Vodafone during peak times.

Tell me, Vodafone, please, why when I am paying for 900mbps I am getting the service of a few megabits during peak times? And please, keep that rubbish to yourself when you start stating - oh it is probably your router, your Wi-Fi and so on. No it is not! I know it is not. I am getting exactly the same results on wired connection using Vodafone or any other router. To be precise your router is a piece of junk that is good for grandmas who watch BBC iPlayer and send three WhatsApp messages a day. I am and advanced user, a technician in fact, with 20+ years of IT support under my belt. 

It is not my router to blame, not my corporate grade wireless access point, not even cheap Vodafone router to blame, it is the policies that Vodafone has set on the back end to shape the traffic during busiest periods.

And it is not fair. I am paying for 900mbps service, yet during evenings I get 300 times slower speeds than I am paying for. Even daytime I rarely reach anything more than 500mbps, it doesn't really bother me that much as I consider speeds above 100mbps acceptable and I simply have no patience to call your India-based call centres and speak to so called "experts" who read from the script, have little to no actual knowledge, and won't deviate from script that they read from the knowledge-base and give a pre-defined answers from templates.

Explain this please, how is this fair, and how is this a good value for money that I am paying? I am actually considering leaving Vodafone, at least when I had broadband over copper line I was getting consistent speeds 24/7. Heck, even with 3 mobile 4G connection I had better speeds than with you guys! 

I see no reason why I should be utilising VPN in order to increase my internet browsing experience. It is an extra expense as well as extra burden that I have to go through in order to reach acceptable connection speeds.

Three days ago, in the evening I was trying to download 5 gigabyte Windows 10 ISO file from Microsoft, I was getting estimated time of download of 7 hours over 900mbps FTTP line. Makes sense? - Thought so, it does not make sense to me either.

Feel free to reach out to me for troubleshooting if you are brave enough to deal with me, I promise you, I won't go easy on you, but I promise to be reasonable and respectful. However I won't take your nonsense and won't accept that it is something to do with my equipment, because I know it is not the equipment.. It is not, and I know, period!

I have done plenty of testing internally, I have tested my independent wireless AP throughput over local network and I have amazing results as long as Vodafone is not in the picture. Anything routed through Vodafone internet link is rubbish unless I wrap that device that is reaching out to the internet to VPN. 

I really don't enjoy having to jump through the hoops just to have something that should be provided to me already because it is a contractual obligation. I expect the service to be delivered as per contract, not some lame excuses from cheap labour agent somewhere in India who has no idea what he is talking about.

So to sum this up:

From 18:00 onwards to around 22-24h connection speeds drop dramatically to miserable few megabits, sometimes if lucky 30-40mbps, never goes above 100. 

No difference if Vodafone or other independent router / access point used, connection still rubbish.

When on VPN, then connection is much better - going to 200-300mbps speeds.

Outside those hours connection speeds are much better, good enough not to complain about. 

I work from home supporting different timezones and working during evenings is a challenge due to this issue. I certainly have an impact on my work performance due to this.

My equipment/plan:

Cityfibre FTTP 900mbps.

Draytek Vigor 2925 router

Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-nanoHD.

Location: Aberdeen

To add a cherry on top of this cake: it is not only the original poster that is having this issue here in Aberdeen. There are two more of us (and I can provide their details on request) who are subscribed to Cityfibre/Vodafone FTTP service and we all are having exactly the same issue during evenings. We all live in different areas of the city, so the problem is city-wide, not only to specific area within the city. 

Please get this sorted rather than ignore or give silly answers claiming it is our equipment. It is not. I know it, and you know it too. Time to call things as they are. 

Best regards,

Marty

[purrbox]

@Amanda 

Sorry, but this whole "social media team" sounds like copied and pasted canned responses and not much more. If the social media team want to add any value, they should be communicating with or at least receiving news from the infrastructure team about network outages and upgrades. 

People are frustrated because they are never told why there is an issue in their area or what's being done to fix it, if anything. This air of mystery just gives off the impression that none of the Vodafone departments actually talk to each other. 

With regards to traffic shaping, I think people are being moved onto different gateways to alleviate congestion. So relocation more than actual prioritisation of specific traffic types.