Fibre REALLY slow in the evenings

[davidg77]

I'm posting this because I'm required to do so prior to contacting support on social media as per instructions from a moderator elsewhere on this forum.

I am on an unlimited fibre + phone package @£30 per month. I am based in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. For the last four days I've had extremely slow download speeds in the evenings, from around 6pm till midnight. I have a guaranteed minimum rate of 51.5mbps; currently in the evenings I am lucky to get 3-4mbps.

This has been tested each evening at various times using the Ookla speedtest site on a MacBook Pro connected directly to the router via ethernet cable. Each day the initial reading shows 15mbps, rapidly slowing to 3-4mpbs. Subsequent readings just show the slower speed.

I am also connected to the router via WPS / Android app, and have run the 'Broadband Service Test' that reports no issues. Clicking on 'Further Support' generates an error.

I have logged into the router management page on my Macbook and completed a factory reset and restart - this made no difference.

It is clear that there is either congestion on the line or Vodafone are throttling the speed at their end. Please could Vodafone recitify this ASAP.

[ryan_anthony]

People it is more than a coincidence now we are all within a stone throw away (Cardigan) and we are all having the same problem that basically started at the same time. (speed was 20mb last night 73mb day time, lowest I have seen is 2mb and it all started last week)

I have seen this before and it was FIXED before, over a year ago probably nearly two years I reported the EXACT same issues, I am fortunate enough as a PC builder to have spares of everything, cables, modems to eliminate home equipment being the fault. Last time this happened VODAFONE sent an BT Engineer to my house which coincidently was one of my best mates (small world). He confirmed all my equipment was fine, he changed the wall plug and noticed the speeds were still dropping, few days later he contacted me and told me the fault was FIXED at the local CABINET, turned out too many people on the same line!

My last communication with Vodafone was their higher tier of engineers whom by the way had no idea what an RJ45 cable was when he asked if I was connected via Wifi or ETHERNET (rj45). He then told me they would monitor my line for 24 hours I then received a text 1 hour later that they think the fault is in my home equipment even after I explained I used 2 different modems and cables.

THE HARD TRUTH: Vodafone are in denial and probably do not have enough Broadband customers (wonder why?) in Ceredigion / Pembrokeshire to now warrant sending a BT Engineer as this will cost them money, they would rather lose us as customers as it will be cheaper and try to convince us the problem is our equipment (hilarious) to avoid any legal action such as early termination or Ofcom reports, but they are messing with the wrong guy here lol

I am fortunate my contract ends in just under 2 months, well December something....

[Swine]

Boys, ask Vodafone to check Cable Link.

Green, amber, red system which will show congestion.

71% congestion showing and based on this alone the account has now had 15 months of early termination fees removed and I can switch providers.

Good luck fellas! 

[Ripshod]

Cablelink has always been openreach. Didn't know it had been handed over. 

[Jayach]

I've not heard of Cable Link,/Cablelink what is it?

[Swine]

@Jayach 

Not exactly sure mate but it gave stats back to the member of staff on the quality of the connection. And she said she doesn't need to do anymore checks she can see from that result alone the exit fee fine to be removed.

If only other staff at Vodafone were as helpful as the one who called me back. She was awesome, to the point, didn't give me any runaround and went out of her way to assist. That's what you call customer service.

The 7 odd hours I spent with all the other staff is still disgusting though. But at least it has ended with a good result.

[Jayach]

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@Swine wrote:

Not exactly sure mate but it gave stats back to the member of staff on the quality of the connection. And she said she doesn't need to do anymore checks she can see from that result alone the exit fee fine to be removed.

If only other staff at Vodafone were as helpful as the one who called me back. She was awesome, to the point, didn't give me any runaround and went out of her way to assist. That's what you call customer service.

That's the difference between someone using actual skills and someone working from a script.

If only Vodafone (and a lot of other companies) had more of the former.

[Swine]

@Jayach 

Couldn't agree more with everything you said. There is nothing worse to pay someone for them to treat you like an imbecile. Vodafone should learn from this, but they won't, they are too big to care. 

The young girl who called me back and dealt with me perfectly and professionally in minutes should be made head of training for the entire organisation.

No wonder Elon has gone in and fired most of Twitter staff. 😁

[Jayach]

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@Swine wrote:

Boys, ask Vodafone to check Cable Link.

Green, amber, red system which will show congestion.

71% congestion showing and based on this alone the account has now had 15 months of early termination fees removed and I can switch providers.

I hadn't heard of cablelink, so I did some searching, The current problems aren't new. Post from 2018:

Cablelink? What is it? — Digital Spy

[davidg77]

To keep my Welsh comrades up to date, this is the most recent message I have sent to Vodafone after a week where I've provided them with about 2-3 hours of tech support that frankly they should be paying an engineer to do. The final straw is when their own tech support system doesn't work. I'm off tomorrow to BT.

--copy of Twitter DM to Vodafone--

I was unable to take your call this morning, so tried to ring back and the reference number isn’t recognised.

I have committed several hours this week providing information, running various tests and performing diagnostics, much of which should have been carried out by a qualified engineer.

As such I am disinclined to run through all this information again with someone over the phone, since there is nothing more I can provide, and in any case the tech support line doesn’t seem to work.

It is clear that this is a problem that requires an Openreach engineer to visit my property and/or the box in the street, since there is clear evidence of package loss and / or congestion on the line as I have stated previously.

It has been a week since I initially reported this issue, and still an engineer hasn’t been called. My signal rate has been proven to be significantly below the promised rate for extended periods and on multiple occasions during this time.

Under the terms of my agreement with Vodafone this scenario provides grounds for leaving my contract without penalty, and I request written confirmation that you agree with this. I will then start the process of moving to a different provider.

If you are unable to provide this assurance then I will be issuing a formal complaint, followed up by a letter to the ombudsman.

[ryan_anthony]

They will attempt to shift blame mate to stop u from leaving your contract early, usually by saying the fault is in your home with your equipment  
Although we are now all powerless UP TO A POINT, I think collectively we all have enough evidence now to forward to OFCOM, we are all within a stone throw, we all started experiencing these slow downs at a similar time, speeds are fine in the day which eliminates our equipment being the fault or if you are like me have other cables and modems to test, we have all ran speed tests, we have photographic as well as SPEEDTEST history data, this is more than enough to go to OFCOM, maybe nothing will come of it to benefit us but at least VODAFONE wont be winning any more awards...