Slow and unreliable broadband in the evening

[Cliveawalsh]

I've seen some posts about this , but they seem to suggest it's been fixed. Been with Vodafone since October and finding now that the speeds and reliability are poor in the evenings. Watching off iplayer and it will suddenly stop and pause for around a minute, several times. Really annoying. It's fine in the day. I've jumped through some hoops already, like changing from my own tplink router to the Vodafone one, made no difference. Also the tv is connected to the router direct with Ethernet cable and the tech person said to change the WiFi channel. When I explained that I didn't see how the WiFi channel would effect the wired connect she ignored it and insisted I change the channel of WiFi. Anyway. It's still happening. When I do a speed test while it's happening it can be anything from 1 to 15 mbps when it's usually around 35 to 40. Any help or advice?  I think it's due to more people using the internet but not sure. It's jumpy tv when using iplayer or itv hub, or Plex built in to the tv, but if I chromecast plex it seem ok which is odd. Help please

[Anonymous]

This is ridiculous now.

I'm even getting buffering on 720p videos on Youtube. Why is this happening when EVERY speed test I do tells me speeds are fine? 

The worse thing is that I'm bound to a 2 year contract.

[bgregor]

Hi when testing speedtest.Net  the server will automatically be set to Vodafone which will show a good result. If you select another server say wildcard networks you will probably see a low result.

A thing within Vodafone network gives a high speed and any server outwith vodafone network will be poor. 

I have proven this time and time again. 

[Anonymous]

Still got 53DL and 14UL using the Wildcard Networks server. 

[Anonymous]

Chugging along slowly yet again since around 5pm. Websites slow to load. When they do load, they're not properly formatted. 

Ridiculous waste of money. Streaming movies or sport later will be pointless.

I've even just cancelled an order for an Apple TV 4K. I mean, what's the point? 

[Jayach]

You only have to look around the forum to see what you are experiencing is endemic. I personally have a download speed around 70Mbs (on a sync of 80Mbs) for most of the day, but it drops to around 30Mbs in the evening.

Fortunately this is still usable, but isn't what I expected. I have to wonder if anyone doesn't experience these drops.

Personally I think you should raise a complaint, and if they can't cure it in the stated time-frame, insist on being allowed to leave without penalty.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/complaints/code-of-practice

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/complaints

Good Luck, and keep us informed.

[Anonymous]

I've never seen this before (image below).

When I go to my task manager>performance>ethernet, I see constant spikes.

 

There's something not right here. It might explain that, whilst my speeds seem OK, I'm getting connection problems.

[Andy]

Hi @Anonymous 👋 Can I ask if you have spoken with our tech team, as we will be able to take a look into any drops you are experiencing and if necessary assign an engineer to investigate this further. You can contact our social team here where we can do some further tests and look at getting this resolved.

[Anonymous]

No, I haven't spoken to your tech team. I am no longer, and will never again be, on social media.

Those spikes appeared when I was playing video on Youtube, Does that look normal? The video also buffered even at 720p. This mainly happens after 5pm especially around the 8pm time. I'm using a wired connection.

@Jayach

I have run a malwarebytes scan and there are no issues. 

I don't know if this is connected but the only time I have used my landline to make a phone call (since joining Vodafone), I experienced interference on the line. I haven't reported it as I don't plan to use my landline often. 

[Jayach]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I don't know if this is connected but the only time I have used my landline to make a phone call (since joining Vodafone), I experienced interference on the line. I haven't reported it as I don't plan to use my landline often. 

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As your landline is what the broadband is delivered over, any problems need to be resolved before worrying about the broadband. Obviously as the landline is copper all the way to the exchange and FTTC broadband only uses the final bit from the cabinet it's possible to have a line fault that doesn't affect the broadband but line faults are easier to cure than broadband ones.

You don't say what the interference is, but crackles would indicate connection problems. Squeaks and whistles may be a faulty filter (you are using a filter I hope).

Your problems in the evening hours are probably due to what I mentioned in my previous post, but get the line sorted first.

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[Jayach]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Those spikes appeared when I was playing video on Youtube, Does that look normal?

When streaming, yes.