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Superfast 2 constant slow speeds and drop out

fionafirestone
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

I have had Vodafone broadband for over 3 years. I am currently on Superfast 2, with a guaranteed download speed of 55mbps (ha!).

 

We have had issues with the broadband speed from the very beginning (it was never anywhere near our "guaranteed" download speed) and I have contacted Vodafone numerous times to try and sort it out. I've been through splitting the SSIDs, changing the channel numbers, line diagnostics, all sorts... the speed hasn't been the only issue though, the internet drops out a lot and the router randomly resets itself; it is very frustrating.

 

Recently (in the last week or so), our broadband went off completely. An engineer was sent out to investigate the problem; it turned out that the line had "disappeared" (this is what he told me over the phone). So he installed a new line and we were back up and running. That day we had a whopping 38mbps download speed (the first time we had ever had anything like that)! We were sooooo hopeful! Was it the old phone line that was causing all our speed problems? Would we now have amazing download speeds with no-one ever crying about how they got "kicked" because the internet disconnected/was really slow? Those were the questions we asked ourselves, and eachother, with our faces all aglow...

 

Unfortunately we only had those speeds for ONE DAY! And the internet dropped out every 10mins, so we might as well not have bothered... since then the download speed has dropped to an abysmal 7mbps via WIFI and 0.52mbps via our TP Link which is connected via Ethernet! I know we can get higher speeds than that because we had them, even if it was for only one day...

 

We now long for the days when we had a download speed of 16mbps (pre phone line replacement).

 

Anyway, my question is, what is there to be done about it? I have spoken to the Vodafone elves via chat AGAIN today and I have been told that there are no problems on the line. I have been advised to keep the router plugged into the test socket for 72 hours while they run diagnostics and monitor the line... Could the issue be with my old Vodafone router? I say "old", we have had it for just over three years, but it looks nothing like the router advertised on the Vodafone broadband website now, so I am wondering if it is outdated tech? Could it even be down to the ADSL filter?

 

We live in a city, so it's not like we are in the middle of no-where either...

 

At home we have 3 PCs (wired to the Ethernet via TP Link), a PS4, an XBox and a couple of laptops (all connected via WIFI), a bunch of mobile phones (all connected via WIFI) and an Amazon Alexa. These devices are not all connected/downloading at the same time though. At the moment I am working from home, I connect with my clients and colleagues via the internet, and am regularly required to download/upload very large files, and these issues are impacting my ability to do this.

 

I have been a Vodafone customer for 20 years, but because of this ongoing (and extremely frustrating) issue, and the way it has been handled (or not handled as it were), I am seriously considering taking my custom elsewhere.

 

This is my last attempt to resolve this issue, any insight would be much appreciated.

9 REPLIES 9

gipjon
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

the old router is very poor and is well know for not working on some phone lines , the newer routers work very well even at very low noise margins . . 

what is your minimum guaranteed speed and what speeds are you supposed to be getting 

 

sounds like you clearly need an openreach engineer to reset you DLM and to check for faults 

Jayach
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

A sad tale, but not unusual.

Firstly we need establish what we mean by download speed. There is sync speed which is what Vodafone mean by their guarantee. That is the speed your router can connect to the local cabinet at.

Then there is download speed which is the speed at which your devices can connect to internet sites.

You can see the sync speed by logging into your router or on the broadband app.

Download speeds should be measured on a device hard wired into the router to eliminate wifi and other problems.

The best download speed you can expect is about 90% of the sync speed.

You should be able to see what sync speed your line is capable of here.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Once we have those figures we can move onto the next stage in fault finding.

Are you still connected to the test socket and can you give more details of the TP-Link device?

 

 

The sync speed yesterday was 8.2mbps. The download speed via my phone's wifi was 7mbps. The download speed via my partners PC which is wired into a TP Link was 0.52mbps. The only thing we have plugged into the ethernet on the router is the TP Link "hub".

 

This morning the sync speed was 12.3mbps. The download speed via my phone's wifi was 10.9mbps. The download speed on my partners PC was 1.8mbps.

 

The router is still connected to the test socket, yes.

 

We are using the TP Link AV600. The TP Link set up is comprised of one "hub" device (to plug into the ethernet port on the router) and three "adapter" devices (to plug the PCs into). The hub and the adapters all plug into normal wall sockets and use the electrical wiring in the house to connect to eachother. So technically they are hard wired because none of them use the wifi to connect. The PC is hard wired into the TP Link adapter which uses the electrical wiring in the house to connect to the TP Link hub which is hard wired to the router. I hope that makes sense?

P.S. Thank you for responding so quickly :Smiling:

Hmm, well considering the sync speed your phone seems to be connecting via wifi O.K. The speeds to your partners PC wired via the TP-Link power line adapters not so. I have used TP-Link power line adapters in the past and I was not impressed (I'm usually a fan of TP-link devices). Are you/they possibly using them via extension sockets? They really need to be plugged directly into the wall socket.

Possibly they may be better off using a wifi dongle if they are not too far from the router.

Those sync speed are very low and should not be varying unless your router is rebooting. Are you still in the test socket?

What does the BT checker say you could expect for your line?

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

 

 

All TP Links are plugged directly into wall sockets.

I have suggested that the PCs might be better off with WIFI cards or dongles...

We will be plugged into the test socket until Monday, they said to keep it in the test socket for 72 hours (that was on Friday).

 

I have run the BT checker and it is coming up with the following:

 

Downstream Line Rate (Mbps)

VDSL Range A (Clean): 17.6–22.5

VDSL Range B (Impacted): 15.4–22.4

WBC ADSL 2+: Up to 2

ADSL Max: Up to 1.5

 

VDSL

Max Observed Downstream Speed: 11.8

Max Observed Upstream Speed: 1.76

 

There were no Max Observed Speeds logged for ADSL

 

The thing is, the same day they replaced our line (in the last week or so) we got a sync speed of 40mbps and when I ran a download speed test it came up as 38mbps. The internet kept dropping out every 10mins, but the speed was there, so I know it is possible (the router kept resetting itself, almost like it couldn't cope). Over the next two days the sync speed inexplicably dropped right down to 8mbps with a download speed of 7mbps? I don't understand how it could be so high that one day, but never again, before or after, it just seems very odd.

 

If I use the mobile data on my phone (4g, not our crappy broadband) to do a download speed test it comes up with 50mbps, which is so frustrating! FYI my mobile phone contract is also with Vodafone.


If I use the mobile data on my phone (4g, not our crappy broadband) to do a download speed test it comes up with 50mbps, which is so frustrating! FYI my mobile phone contract is also with Vodafone.

Just to clarify, I meant that it is frustrating that my 4g is so fast and our broadband is so slow (I was not complaining about the speed of my 4g). If only our router could be as fast as my phone...

If your sync speed in the test socket isn't what is suggested by the BT checker (around 20 Mbs) then there would seem to be a problem. Hopefully Vodafone will do tests when you contact them Monday and they will find something and pass the call to Openreach.

Jayach
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

@fionafirestone wrote:

I have been a Vodafone customer for 20 years, but because of this ongoing (and extremely frustrating) issue, and the way it has been handled (or not handled as it were), I am seriously considering taking my custom elsewhere.


If you are out of contract that may well be your best course of action as getting Vodafone to provide support is a nightmare.