Full Fibre 900 - not getting up to minimum guaranteed speed

[AyrshireFTTP]

Hi all, just looking for a bit of advice based on other Vodafone customer experience.

I'll try and keep this fairly short as I could write pages based on my first week with Vodafone!

I had Full Fibre 900 service installed in Ayrshire, Scotland (Openreach) and activated over a week ago.  I have monitored speeds over that time, using cat6 ethernet cable between laptop and router with no other devices connected and wifi turned off - speed tests always return around 350-400mbps download and a consistent 108mbps upload.

I've had several online chats and phone calls with Vodafone (escalated to 2nd Line HBB Support) and sent evidence of these speed tests under their required conditions..  I've also done all of the resets of router/ONT box, etc.  I feel like I've been passed between various agents and since been told a few interesting things:

• they can see my account is set up to receive 550mbps - I queried why this is not 900mbps but could not get an answer to this
• they advised that I shouldn't expect anything like  900mbps and that around 50% of that is guaranteed - my service is consistently lower than this and has been since installation (strange as Vodafone advertise the service with an expected download speed of 900mbps - while they say the guaranteed speed is lower, they set an expectation that it will be much better than this)

I have also tried with a third party router (Asus RT-AX82U - wifi6) and the speeds are consistently around the same level, so it isn't just down to the Vodafone router either.

I am still within the first 14 day period of my contract and can cancel without penalty or ask to change to the Full Fibre 500 package.  My main question at present is this - If I downgrade to the Full Fibre 500 service, with Vodafone should I expect my download speed to drop to around/below the 250mbps guaranteed on Full Fibre 500, or should it stay at around the levels I am currently experiencing (eg. 350-400mbps) as that is within the specs of that package?

Tbh, the current speeds that I am getting will be sufficient for my needs (and a massive increase on my old FTTC service), however I grudge paying the extra for the Full Fibre 900 when I am not getting speeds anywhere close to that, or even what I would have expected for the next (much cheaper) package down from that.

Any advice or experiences of other Vodafone full fibre customers (or indeed Vodafone reps) would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

P

[Jayach]

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@AyrshireFTTP wrote:

Thanks @Jayach - how would I find the gateway address?  (tracert via cmd prompt?!)

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It will be the first address outside of your home network in a tracert, but it is also in the router under Status & Support. 

[AyrshireFTTP]

Thanks again @Jayach - it consistently (after several router/ONT box reboots to check) shows my gateway as 90.247.128.1 - how do I identify where this is/how close to me this is?

I've tried several reboots to see what impact that has - sometimes the speed test on my router identifies the closest locations as London-based, which gives me speed test results of around 480mbps-515mbps and ping of 15, but at other times (most times) after a reboot, it identifies Edinburgh-based servers as being closest and shows download speeds of around 350mbps-400mbps.  Not sure why this would be different on rebooting if the gateway is always the same?!

When I'm allocated an IP address with beginning 90.xxx.xxx.xxx it seems to identify Edinburgh as closest, but when allocated an IP address beginning 81.xxx.xxx.xxx or 84.xxx.xxx.xxx it is nearest London and appears to give download speeds of about 100mbps more.  I'm not really sure why that would be the case?

I'm pretty happy with the speeds/package now anyway, but just wondering why this would be.  🙄

[Ripshod]

90.247.128.1 is the Edinburgh gateway, so every connection you make goes via Edinburgh.

It's fate, there's not a lot you can do about it. 

[Gdaw]

Good morning I gave had full fibre 500 since Wednesday. The speed has never gone above 220mpbs .So in answer to you question if you get fibre 500 you will be lucky to reach your minimum speed.

Regards

[Gdaw]

Hi to clarify my last post .I hooked to hub via ethernet and pc and even though I was consistently only getting 250 via Lg oled wi fi I got 499 mpbs via ethernet cable so I am getting what I have pd for .Hub signal stronger than previously but hub so happy bunny

G

[Jayach]

@Gdaw 

Thanks for giving us the update, your previous post was rather misleading. Unfortunately Wi-Fi speeds are not a good indicator of broadband speed.

[Gdaw]

Yes I agree TVs can only accept a certain speed via WiFi I now realise and it doesn't matter  how close the  TV is to the router 

R

G

[zeragonii]

You folks are all making me very paranoid to switch over to Vodafone, been with VM for years but they refuse to honour my customer loyalty so I'm taking my money elsewhere.

Seen a lot of people here saying they have speed issues but mainly with WiFi. I run a custom router setup (pfSense for those curious) and I've consistently got close-to-line speeds with VM (1124mbps peak throughput, VM state it caps at 1140, not bad) however I'm now thoroughly paranoid about having an Openreach ONT installed and getting poor service for my money.

I'm going to keep a VERY close eye on my service if I do switch to them, and if I get even a whiff of traffic management or throttling I'll drop them in a heartbeat. Cons of being a power user, you have to deal with this nonsense, not getting what you pay for.

[Ripshod]

Don't worry unduly. There's a massive difference between the vodafone router and your pfSense setup. 

[john533]

That is utterly absurd, and they ought to clarify it.

I can't speak from experience because I'm not on FTTP, but you have every right to anticipate getting what you pay for. Vodafone's promise to refund you at least half of what you paid for seems to be an indication that they don't want to go through the trouble of offering the service you deserve.

I wouldn't anticipate a change in your actual download speeds if you move to the 500 Mbps tier below, however your maximum upload will drop to 68 Mbps.

Yes, downgrade or go somewhere. If you want to stay with Vodafone, I don't think it would be worth your time to try to get them to fix your existing issues.

Just my viewpoint.