High Ping query: CityFibre Pro II 900mb

[aidej]

Hi, I am a new customer who has just migrated in from Virgin Media's Gig1 product which had terrible ping results amongst other issues and hence why I left as soon as City Fibre connected my street here in Glasgow. One advantage of the move to FTTP was, I believed, a low ping which would help with my gaming more than anything else.

Imagine my surprise when I have discovered that for the past 3 weeks since I was connected, my ping results have been worse than those of Virgin Media! My Vodafone ping results from Glasgow using most Speedtest sites and apps when connected by ethernet range from 20ms to 35ms, not the 5ms-10ms I had expected from FTTP. Speedtest apps also seem to think I live in London and it looks like my connection is being routed through Vodafone's London operations. Does anyone have any advice, surely Vodafone have more local routing options available?

[Jayach]

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@Tre-Keyz wrote:

How do you get on a gateway near you? Or is it luck of the draw?

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As @Ripshod  says it's luck of the draw, they put me back of Leeds about 3 weeks ago, it's increased my ping by about 3ms.

Fortunately I'm not a gamer, so it doesn't really matter to me.

[essjay6320]

Hi Jayach. I recently got switched from 6ms  (I was on a gateway in London for 14 months - I'm in Essex) to 20+ms as I'm now in Nottingham https://www.lookip.net/ip/84.65.192.1

See below

Pinging gtm-uk.www.bbc.co.uk.pri.bbc.co.uk [212.58.237.129] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.58.237.129: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.58.237.129: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.58.237.129: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.58.237.129: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=59

Tracing route to gtm-uk.www.bbc.co.uk.pri.bbc.co.uk [212.58.235.1]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms vodafone.ultrahub [192.168.14.1]
2 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 84.65.192.1

Is there a way Vodafone can change this back for me I contact them, or is this still a quirk of the system and will change periodically?

[Cynric]

@essjay6320 It's an automatic load balancing system. Be thankful that you are not connecting via Scotland or America.

[Jayach]

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@Cynric wrote:
It's an automatic load balancing system. Be thankful that you are not connecting via Scotland or America.

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I don't think anyone has ever been connected via America, those were just wrong I.P. database results for some of the old Cable and Wireless servers.

@essjay6320  No, there doesn't seem to be any way we can get Vodafone to put us on a gateway of our choice.

[Tre-Keyz]

Do you think congestion is such an issue on FTTH? And if it is, am I better with a smaller ISP?

[tdub25]

Just adding my name to the 'routed via Edinburgh' club 🤬

Had fttp (500mb) installed a couple of weeks. Initially was very impressed by the drastic speed increase but then couldn't understand why my connection in online games was now worse than my fttc connection. After exhausting all possible 'in house' solutions I eventually stumbled upon the long thread detailing all this routing nonsense. Speed tests and tracerts all point to Edinburgh which is not ideal living in the south west of England!

It seems the best bet is to just hope I get lucky and get routed via a more local BNG at some point?

[Anonymous]

@tdub25 Diabolical isn't it?  Vodafone haven't offered an end date for this farce, so I will be moving asap. 

CityFibre have their own built from scratch, future-proofed national network, so it's worth researching other ISPs that use CityFibre local and national networks combined. CityFibre ISPs 

My VF contract runs out in February so I will be making a switch then, but because the range of ISPs is changing all the time I won't decide which one until after Christmas. Note that most do not do a phone line so you would need to cost in the cost of a VOIP provider if you want a landline and your phone number will change.  Some offer reduced rates, free installation and three months free. Research carefully! 

[purrbox]

I had terrible issues in the past (I was also routed via Edinburgh). However, I've had really good service for the last 6 months.

Of course, this is Vodafone and I am still cautious. But I'm slowly starting to trust them again. Whilst I understand why they load balance, I still think there should be some kind of geographical limit on routing. No one in the South West should be routed via Edinburgh. 

[Anonymous]

Good. I think we can all agree about routing via distant BNGs and wish that routing via any BNG, but our closest, wasn't necessary. Like you, I have had a trouble-free few months, with steady speeds >900Mb and consistently low latency <8ms. 

[Jayach]

@purrbox 

Good to hear you are now happy with your Vodafone service, fingers crossed🤞they don't break it again.