Super Fast Broadband speed and connection issues?

[everson]

Hello, I have recently just joined vodafone from plusnet fibre and whilst the change over has been pretty seamless, I have been noticing some issues from in both connection and speed quality.  I have been carrying out tests for approx a week and hoping someone can help with my findings.  Household contains (1x Laptop, 1x Imac, & 2x phones).

My main issues are:

1) Minimum speeds are what they are meant to be on specific devices.

2) Connection issues: Fairly often on my devices main laptop and phones the internet will drop out and have to do the old school trick of turn wifi on and off on the devices to re-connect.

January 25th 2022: 8pm BB Speeds download / upload:

Latop: 42.67 mbs / 14.74 mbs

Imac: 42.28 mbs / 13.54 mbs

Phone: 33.41 mbps / 14.81 mbps : at 7:19pm phone apps were not connecting via wifi had to turn off and use mobile data to have them work for approx 10 minutes but internet was fine on my imac.

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January 26th 2022: 9:45am BB Speeds download / upload:

Latop: 41.01 mbs / 14.16 mbs @ 4pm loss of connections (see pictures

Imac: 41.97 mbs / 14.16 mbs

Phone: 3.34 mbps / 13.48 mbps

January 26th 2022: 7:45pm BB Speeds download / upload:

Latop: 38.9 mbs / 13.44 mbs

Imac: 27.92mbs / 13.47 mbs

Phone: 25.58 mbps / 13.44 mbps

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January 27th 2022: 10.46am BB Speeds download / upload:

Latop: 42.67 mbps / 14.74 mbps at 11:38am Laptop losses connection (2x in short space of time see pics)

Imac: 42.28 mbps / 13.54 mbps

Phone: 5.22 mbps / 12.75 mbps

January 27th 2022: 7:45pm BB Speeds download / upload

Latop: 8.65 mbps / 13.38 mbps 

Imac: 38.50 mbps / 14.43 mbps

Phone: 41.19 mbps / 12.02 mbps

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January 28th 2022: 9:25am BB Speeds download / upload:

Latop: 33.57 mbps / 14.74 mbps at 9:55am laptop losses connection (See pictures)

Imac: 40.86 mbps / 13.74mbps

Phone: 24.18 mbps / 10.34 mbps

January 28th 2022: 8pm BB Speeds download / upload

Latop: 42.58 mbps / 14.82 mbps 

Imac: 38.50 mbps / 14.43 mbps at 8:28pm Imac losses connection

Phone: 2.87 mbps / 11.43 mbps

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January 29th 2022: 12:56pm BB Speeds download / upload:

Latop: 42.23 mbps / 15.28 mbps 

Imac: 42.98 mbps / 14.14 mbps

Phone: 5.65 mbps / 12.15 mbps

January 29th 2022: 7:45pm BB Speeds download / upload

I forgot to take readings.

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January 30th 2022: 10:05am BB Speeds download / upload:

Latop: 41.24 mbps / 14.96 mbps 

Imac: 39.22 mbps / 13.34 mbps

Phone: 5.37 mbps / 11.91 mbps

January 30th 2022: 7:45pm BB Speeds download / upload

Will up date once i have the evening time slot for speed tests

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So as you can see from my findings, pretty much every day, somewhere on some device I am not getting my guaranteed speeds and also i am getting loss of connections.  What i am trying to find out is:

1) Is this a common vodafone broadband customer experience, as I have joined a 2 year contract and if this is my next two years i would rather leave and go back to plusnet as I never had one problem with them and they were supposedly slower.

2) Ive read about the routers for vodafone are not great, is it a hardware issue causing this.

Thanks any help appreciated.

[Jayach]

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@everson wrote:

1x Amazon firestick.  My house uses nothing for its viewing tv / streaming needs.

Did you mean "nothing else". The firestick is a streaming only device.

[everson]

yes sorry i meant nothing else. all those devices are what we use to access internet or watch tv

[Jayach]

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@Cynric wrote:

.@Jayach Can you think of anything that I may have missed so far?

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All I would say is that I would split the bands and connect all the devices that can use it to the 5Ghz as although the 5Ghz is available you can't always be sure the dual band devices are using it.

After splitting the 5Ghz SSID will have 5G added to its name.

[everson]

Ok i will look into changing these settings, once i have given voda the time to run all their tests first to ensure my connection issue is resolved.  Lastly to ensure i do what you adivsed right in the future, is it as simple as:

1) Press split band button

2) Reconnect all my devices to the newly created wifi 5ghz one? (see trialing it below:

I wonder why doing this is not just setup as standard in your settings already if it supposedly provides better connection or speeds to the customer?

[Jayach]

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@everson wrote:

I wonder why doing this is not just setup as standard in your settings already if it supposedly provides better connection or speeds to the customer?

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On some ISP routers the default is split and the option is to combine. (not sure about PlusNet)

At times being combined is better as the 2.4Ghz has better penetration so as you move around mobile devices should make sure they are on the best band. However in practice it doesn't always work out.

On a general note, I find the THG3000 more that adequate WiFi wise for my needs, but there are many on here that complain about it.

However if I found myself in your situation, I would consider the following.

• As you were happy with the PlusNet router for it's WiFi abilities I would try making it an AP (Wireless Access Point) and turning off the WiFi in the Vodafone router. (Try googling "Use an old router as Wireless Access Point")
• Get a Mesh system that can be used in AP mode such as the Deco S4 (Not cheap)
• Replace the THG3000 with a 3rd party router/modem. (Needs a bit of expertise)

Of course it may be your THG3000 is not working properly, so try getting a replacement from Vodafone (nearly impossible)

I really wish I could suggest an easy fix, but these things are never easy.

[Cynric]

.@Jayach good ideas. From where I sit there are some pictures that have not been moderated yet, so I was waiting to see them before suggesting something else.

[Cynric]

.@everson I can see the pictures now.  .@Jayach made good points (I'm just confirming this because I can see the pictures). 

One other thing I would add is to have a look at "PowerLine" devices. I'm a fan of them because they have worked in my situation. I do know that other people have not had such a good time with them, but that can be said for just about any box of electronics. If you don't know (sorry if I'm telling you and you do already know) about PowerLine it simply sends the network over your house electrical wires. It cannot "escape" out of the house as the signal cannot pass the electric meter. Most (all?) now also offer data encryption as well. You could get a start-up package where one "node" is next to the router (you pass a cable from the router to the node) and the other end is in your office where you could either directly wire to it or get one that also delivers WiFi.

Some examples in the URL below, other manufacturers are available.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/powerline/

[everson]

March 1st 2022: Loss of internet connection again,  for a split second I thought they had resolved the issue for the past week or so, but in hindsight, i think i may have just been an illusion, as for the last week and abit I have not been using internet as much due being away for half term / holiday.  Going to keep an eye again, as whilst i maybe able to buy x,y or z devices to boost this and that i personally do not feel i should have to be dipping into my pocket to resolve and issue clearly on their side.

[Jayach]

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@everson wrote:

March 1st 2022: Loss of internet connection again, *snip* i personally do not feel i should have to be dipping into my pocket to resolve and issue clearly on their side.

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I'm still not sure we have established if you are actually getting internet disconnections, or just Wi-Fi disconnections.

If it is the line dropping, you are right, that is for Vodafone to rectify. However if it is a Wi-Fi problem, that is more in your remit. 

I know if it is Wi-Fi, and you didn't have the problem with the PlusNet router, you would see that as a Vodafone problem, but they aren't going to change their choice of router just because you have problems. Their answer will be to upgrade to Pro.

Can you establish if it is line problems (router rebooting) or just Wi-Fi?

[everson]

I have had abit of both in regards to router rebooting and wifi just dropping. i would say its more to do with wifi, but again i am not the pro or the one running tests in the background (supposedly vodafone are constantly checking my line for me in background to ensure i am connected).  But i want to clarify, i am not expecting flawlessness in my wifi, i would expect drop outs every now and again, but if pro guarantees me no drop outs at all, but the non pro version means you get drops every day to every other day a couple times a day, i would argue why would they even provide this service in the first place? because it is not up to standard? every day drop outs, that's like selling a car and telling them its doesn't run or have wheels, just is not fit for purpose.  With plusnet I had drop outs but in 18 months it happened probably 10 times and I'm being overly generous there. If pro is level is 100% i would expect the next level down to be atleast 70% and i am not getting that, I i personally feel it will be unfair for them to turn round and say, "pay us more and we will stop the issues"  No customer, even if you were on unlimited 11mb wifi , would hand on heart be thinking "if i take this package, I expect my internet to not work everyday at someone point for 2 years".