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Solution

Oversubscribed - Don't bother with broadband

quinch1199
4: Newbie

Let me first say that I was HOPING to give you a full resolution in this post but, as it stands, after being on hold...from a CALL BACK for 45min... I can't give you the end result. I'm still on hold by the way via Vodafone technical to customer resolution team..

 

History and proposed resolution (to which I'm still waiting for acceptance):

 

For several months on Superfast 2 now and having been a Vodafone BB customer for many years I've only more recently experienced issues. Responses from Vodafone technical have varied from the stilly to the sensible. Most recent, and silly, response was my router was faulty and they sent me a new one out. 

 

Bottom line, as confirmed at least twice by Vodafone technical AND OpenReach is...OVERSUBSCRIBED lines. Peak delivery rates are bottlenecked to an extraordinary level. I'm getting 58-60mbps download off-peak, and Peak delivery varies from 2mbps to....zero, literally the line drops and reconnects itself. 

 

Yes...TWO mbps. This starts kicking in from 15:00 each day (or pretty permanantly all weekend) and I can watch my speeds degrade over the hours from 15:00 - 23:00 (screen shot evidence available).

 

 - NOTE TO MODERATORS - do not provide platitudes, excuses or suggest something else might be the cause. I use CAT6 wired connections in my house, unfortunately my cable connections with Vodafone are not "cable to house" but "cable to exchange". Exchange box is some 200m away but there must be serveral hundred properties feeding from it. Simply put your sales are seriously overselling your service provision.

 

This is NOT Vodafones fault (other than overzealous sales team!) but with a failing, old network which requires years and years of countless permissions from local authorities AND OpenReach to upgrade.

 

However, this does nothing to help Vodafone end users. In the end my proposal (now been on hold 57mins by the way) is to CANCEL Vodafone broadband now if you can (and I will be doing so) and push Vodafone to provide 4G routers in high demand areas instead of wired connections. The 4G routers will use Unlimited plans to at least provide connection speeds of 16-20mbps download speeds. 

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Good stuff - that's the best resolution you can hope for. I've been struggling to get anywhere for four weeks with the same issue - less than 5mb every night.

I've been through the customer services circle of hell about 20 times - if you're having this issue, forget live chat or the Egyptian call centre.

Last night, I finally got them to admit it's contention - their terminology been a red cable link status. They've asked for 48 hours to resolve, but I'm sure that I'll not see an improvement, nor will I hear from them again.

Retentions are still trying to hold me in contract, so I'm probably looking at about 8 weeks of naff broadband before I can leave with a hefty compensation payment via the ombudsman. 

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12 REPLIES 12

quinch1199
4: Newbie

Update = after being on hold for 1hr and 15mins I hung up. I'm sorry, I have to do some actual work and I'm pretty sure I was completely forgotten about. 

 

I will be rining back as soon as I can to cancel my broadband

I didn't manage to get through to support and have been trying for last 4 days 

quinch1199
4: Newbie

Attached are my speed checks, via Vodafones own software. 

UPDATE - Vodafone are happy to cancel my account, no cost to myself. I will be moving on, might give BT a try seeing as they use different equipment. 

Good stuff - that's the best resolution you can hope for. I've been struggling to get anywhere for four weeks with the same issue - less than 5mb every night.

I've been through the customer services circle of hell about 20 times - if you're having this issue, forget live chat or the Egyptian call centre.

Last night, I finally got them to admit it's contention - their terminology been a red cable link status. They've asked for 48 hours to resolve, but I'm sure that I'll not see an improvement, nor will I hear from them again.

Retentions are still trying to hold me in contract, so I'm probably looking at about 8 weeks of naff broadband before I can leave with a hefty compensation payment via the ombudsman. 

I admit I have a bit more leverage as I have significant mobile contracts with them still and I was lucky in that I'd "resecured" my broadband contract with them only on 20th September. 

 

However, you need to push them. They cannot hold you in contract OR charge you an exit fee if they are not hitting thei promised Peak Time speeds. OFCOM rules in effect from March 2019 (issued March 2018 to give ISP's 12 months to ensure they adhere to it) state: "providers will have 30 calendar days to improve speeds before they must let you walk away without penalty, and this protection will now also apply to cable broadband customers"

 

Basically, if they've been aware of the issue for more than 30 days AND haven't improved your speeds you can walk away immeidatley.  OFCOM website link - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2018/better-information-broadband-s...

I'm having the exact same problem!  I've logged an offical complaint so I assume I have to give Vodafone 30 days to improve my service else I can leave.

Indeed you do. I advise monitoring closely even after it seems "ok" again. They can boost your line on a temporary basis. It's a trick mainly used to enable faster response times for websites that pay for faster access to customers. In the end I left and chose a provider not using Vodafones exchange hardware. No issues since at all. 

I assume I will be following suit. What an absolute mess...

 

I don't suppose you can explain something? I'm trying to get my head around the distribution of data. If X amount of people are connected to one exchange, how does the data get distributed? Do some people have a higher chance of getting a decent connection while others get less? Is it possible that a few people have a great connection and the rest are suffering or are we all essentially slowed to a point of being unusable? I literally cannot do anything, so assuming that everyone is the same, who is using the bandwidth? I'm just interested.