Gigacube 4G Unacceptable Speed and Customer Service

[Albert103]

I have owned and used a 5G Gigacube for over a year.

Positioned in the same spot in my house, it has been making download speeds of around 80-100Mbps, with a 20-40ms ping, using 4G network. I tend to measure it every day or every other day, and have a record of it through my Ookla account (see attached picture).

Yesterday, speeds dropped to 30Mbps at most, and the connection got stuck several times. I live in Zone 2 in London, which is well covered by 4G, and should also be covered by 5G at some point (this is at least what I was told when getting the contract). 

After long calls with customer service, resetting the device completely, reconnecting and waiting for 24 hours, the speeds have not improved. In addition, customer service challenged simple facts, saying that maximum speeds should be lower (while the vodafone website promises up to 300Mbps for a 4G Gigacube, here: https://support.vodafone.co.uk/Broadband-home-phone/Gigacube/1456911802/What-speeds-can-GigaCube-rea....).

Essentially, customer service told me that I was lying, and that it was impossible that I was getting 100Mbps (one third of the maximum speed advertised). In addition, it did not do anything to try to solve the problem.

The result is that I am unable to carry with video conference calls today. But more importantly, it looks like Vodafone is cutting speeds on purpose to its 4G customers, as it appears from other similar articles on the forum.

[Albert103]

In addition to the above, and as evidence that Vodafone is indeed throttling download speeds on purpose, see how speed tests have changed (attached file).

Before, 100Mbit download/30Mbit upload. Today: 20Mbit download, 30Mbit download, roughly.

Same position, no changes in ping, only no network works in my area. Just artificially limited download speeds.

[Mark]

Let me reassure you @Albert103, we do not throttle our customers speeds. I can understand your frustration with currently receiving speeds lower than the excellent ones you've been receiving for the last year. So I can take a closer look into this, please confirm 👉

- What is the full postcode (e.g. ST1 1AA) of where the issue occurs? If you'd prefer not to provide this publicly, you can add it to the personal information in your Community profile and this will only be visible to you and our moderators.

- Does the issue occur if you try your SIM card in a different phone?

- What errors are seen or heard when the issue occurs?

- Does this happen on 3G, 4G or all?

- When did you first notice this issue?

- Is the issue permanent or intermittent? If intermittent, are there certain times of the day when it occurs?

[Albert103]

Thanks for the questions.

To make the story short, I am unable to use internet in a reliable way, and I want a refund here. 

It has been 2 months now that Vodafone is unable to provide a reliable service.

Answers:

- The Gigacube is extremely slow, betwee 0-2Mbps and 20Mbps at most now, vs 80-100Mbps on 4G before the problem started.

- It has only occasionally connected to 5G

- The SIM card has been changed, without any improvement

- It seems the Gigacube is connecting to a secondary mast / not the mast it was connecting to before and usually, which obviously decreases the reception. It may be that the previous mast is overloaded. 

- The service map in the area no longer shows any works in progress.

- I have spent days explaining the issue to customer service on the phone, and the latest is that "engineers are investigating". This is of course not a great answer. 

An honest company would provide a backup (e.g. wired broadband, even if it is slower) or a refund.