100% proof that Vodafone is doing something with the services.

[GreatBritian]

Hello.

Unforunately after speaking to multiple departments within Vodafone it appears no-one is able to take my concerns seriously in regards to the Unlimited Max Plan, and I have found no real way of sending proof of what is actually happening to your agents so I have had to as a last resort record a video of what is happening in my area and uploaded it to YouTube in hope that the Social Media Team members will look at this and liaise with the Technical Department to investigate this.

Please see the below YouTube video URL for proof that something is 100% going on with the connection.

https://youtu.be/Oy6zoV5_HlU

(The device in question is a Note 10 Plus 5G)

In this video you will see me performing a speedtest made using the SpeedTest App available on the PlayStore showing what appears to be throttled speed without the use of a VPN (Speeds of usually up to 10Mb/s although this test got slightly more) and then performing the test again using a VPN (ExpressVPN) which will significantly increase the speeds.

Please understand that this is taken in the exact same place and the only difference is the fact that i'm connected to a VPN.

I appreciate that I have been dealing with the Vodafone's Directors Office (They themselves admitted they are not technically trained) and I appreciate the steps which my complaint handler has performed to my account in a attempt to resolve the issue and the discount provided to me, however I do feel that Vodafone hasn't properly taken into account my concerns and raised a full investigation to figure out what is actually going on and made no attempt at actually investigating the issues raised with them. I do feel like I have been brushed off with a Discount which I admit is appreciated everyone loves a discount but I think someone from the Technical Team would be more ideal to conduct a full investigation into what is actually happening.

I have no idea what is going on with the service and why this is the way it is. I have had a browse through the Vodafone Forum and have noticed multiple people posting near enough the same issue on Vodafone's Broadband Package users, whilst I don't see this mentioned much for Mobile Devices or Mobile Plans. I appear to of read a potential Routing Issue with Vodafone or something along those lines not that long ago.

I will say that I am located within the Kingston Upon Hull area which I am believing that CityFibre have something to do with it, but the same happened in Manchester which is confusing. I have used every major Mobile Network in this area such as O2, Three and EE and I have never experienced this kind of issue with them.

It's also worth noting that I do like Vodafone, I've been on Voxi before and loved them. All I ask is that Vodafone takes my concerns seriously and notice there's a major issue rather than just dismissing them with a Discount or a Account refresh (Disabling Sim and Re-enabling) which has been performed twice now. I want Vodafone to take this message seriously and conduct a full investigation into the concerns raised and speak to the people who deal with the Masts and figure out what is actually going on.

Tried and tested activies in a attempt to resolve the issues include.

- Connecting to a VPN - Worked and made a massive difference as shown in the Video above

- Changing the device - This made no difference

- Changing the Sim Card - This made no difference

- Changing the DNS to 1.1.1.1/8.8.4.4 - This made no difference

- Manually selecting another network and then back to Vodafone - This made no difference

- Refreshing the APN settings - This made no difference

- Having my account Refreshed - This made no difference

I have done a Traceroute test to try and help Vodafone locate the issues with which server address's my requests are going through.

(On all the Traceroute tests I have completed numbers 2, 5 and 6 have timed out regardless of where it's going to).

Tracing route to google.co.uk [216.58.213.3]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.42.129

  2     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  3    71 ms     *        *     192.168.213.21

  4    39 ms    40 ms    38 ms  192.168.213.22

  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  7    41 ms    38 ms    41 ms  63.130.127.221

  8    60 ms    40 ms    37 ms  90.255.251.18

  9    38 ms    39 ms    40 ms  108.170.246.161

 10    46 ms    40 ms    40 ms  172.253.65.211

 11    57 ms    42 ms    38 ms  ber01s14-in-f3.1e100.net [216.58.213.3]

I would love other people to share their input on this forum post if they have had the same kind of issue and if Vodafone was able to resolve the issue how and what actions where taken to the account to resolve the issue.

I would appreciate it if the Social Media Team members could forward this to someone in the Technical Team within Vodafone who can take a look at this video and information presented through the Traceroute and figure out what is going on and investigate to come up with a solution for this issue.

[Effie]

@Lynxthecat Thanks for dropping us a message, I hope you're doing well! 

I'm sorry to hear that you're having issues with your plan speeds, I know how frustrating this can be. 

Just to check, have you popped the postcode of the affected area into our Network Status Checker to check for any outages or maintenance currently going on in the area? Have you also tried your SIM in a different phone? 

If possible, could you please fill in the Network Issue Template for me so I can get this looked into in more detail. 

[Lynxthecat]

Thank you for the speedy response. I do not see any issues when putting my postcode into the checker. I am pretty confident that the issue is intermittent throttling at the mast-end and that the throttling rules are not being applied correctly upon new connections. After many months of a rock solid connection and very strong signal characteristics, a few days ago I started to experience throttling @ 10 Mbit/s upon connecting without any change in the signal strength characteristics (see details below). The issue can be resolved upon reconnecting several times, when the throttling appears to be removed and I go back to my familiar higher rate of around 60-70 Mbit/s download and 20 Mbit/s upload.

1) Does the issue happen in just one location? If so, how far do you have to travel to regain service?

Issue only occurs upon connection to this particular mast: 

Network: vodafone UK
MCC-MNC: 234-15
TAC: 41084
CellId: 131306260
eNB Id: 512915 (sector 20)

2) What is the full postcode (e.g. ST1 1AA) of where the issue occurs? If you don't want this showing on the Community, add it to your profile here.

(added to personal information)

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

Yes - throttling issue occurs on both router and mobile device upon connecting to network. I can sometimes fix it by selecting different network and going back onto vodafone network. So the throttling application is broken - it sometimes throttles and sometimes does not. On my plan it should never throttle.

4) What errors are seen or heard when the issue occurs?

Throttling to 10Mbit/s upon connection to 4G network. Connection parameters otherwise very good:

SINR: 21.0 dB; RSRQ: -5 dB; RSRP: -93 dBm; RSSI: -73 dBm.

5) Does this happen on 2G, 3G, 4G or all?

Only tested on 4G - 3G connection pretty slow on this mast.

6) When did you first notice this issue?

A few days ago. 

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

It is intermittent and always upon connection. The throttling is applied on connection and by reconnecting several times I can circumvent it. 

[Effie]

@Lynxthecat That's great, thanks for sending that information over! 

I've checked out the mast that you're connected to (31231) and although there are no issues with it, it does have a limited number of 4G cells. Because of this, any increased traffic to the mast will cause a reduction in your speeds. We do have this particular mast marked down as one that we're planning to do some essential work to in the future in order to increase the number of 4G cells and therefore give a faster, more consistent connection. 

It is important however that we monitor the drops in your speeds as if you are on the Unlimited Max plan, you shouldn't be experiencing the 10Mbps speed cap. We need to identify whether this is a result of increased traffic and congestion on the mast or if there is an un-diagnosed issue which needs raising.

Would you be able to make a note of the times that you get this speed drop and how long it takes you to return to a normal level for me over the next 24 hours? I'll also need 3 screenshots of speed tests run on speedtest.net over the next 24 hours. If you could do one this afternoon, one this evening and one tomorrow morning that would be ideal. 

[Lynxthecat]

I am confident that it is not the result of congestion (albeit this mast does sometimes get congested and I look forward to the improvements soon). I can easily reproduce this issue on my mobile phone (Google Pixel 3A or on my router using separate uncapped sims). At the time of writing this my router gives 60Mbit/s DL and my phone gives 10Mbit/s DL (in this broken, throttled state). Now, only seconds later, by reconnecting my phone several times, I am able to achieve 50Mbit/s DL with my phone. Therefore this issue is certainly inconsistent and inappropriate throttling and not congestion. 

It is clear to me that throttling is being inconsistently applied upon new connections from an Unlimited MAX account.  You see, the issue occurs upon connection and remains in this throttled state (consistently 10 Mbit/s DL) until I disconnect by trying to select another mobile network and then reconnecting to vodafone. So there are throttling rules that are not being properly applied on new connections.

Does this make sense? I think this should be enough to warrant scrutiny of the way the mast is applying throttling - and clearly I should not be being subject to throttling on this account. And as for the previous poster, I should not need to apply a VPN to circumvent throttling. 

[Effie]

@Lynxthecat Thanks for taking the time to send over that detailed response, it's very much appreciated. I want to look into this in more detail for you as although you're getting above the minimum 4G speeds in your area, the fact that you keep dropping and sticking around this 10Mbps limit is unusual. So we can take some details securely from you, could you please send us a message on Social Media here. This way we can run some checks on your plan and get this issue escalated if needed. 

[Lynxthecat]

Thank you. I just sent you a private message with my details. Did you get it? 

[AnnS]

---

@Lynxthecat wrote:

Thank you. I just sent you a private message with my details. Did you get it? 

---

Don't whatever you do send a PM, its not secure or an accepted channel to contact the Social Team and will be immediately deleted.

To speak to the Social Team you follow this link :  Contact the Social Team through Twitter or Facebook DM you will then receive the secure form to complete and securely return.

[Lynxthecat]

That makes little sense to me and, if true, is hardly great press for Vodafone. If it really is true, which would seem absurd, then I suggest Vodafone addresses this security flaw immediately and in the meantime puts a warning not to use it onto the guidelines for conveying details for those like me who do not use Facebook or Twitter (and have got nowhere with Live Chat) - it's the logical option to try when the other options fail. I already tried Live Chat, linked in this thread, and asked for it to get followed up, and doubt it will get followed up - seemed not productive at all.

In any case, with every respect, Steph seems to want to help, so I trust Steph will read the message and follow up. And otherwise I am sure we can find a sensible solution here, right?

[Beth]

@Lynxthecat We're unable to access accounts over the forum due to it's public nature. As @Effie has advised, it sounds like we would need to enter your account so we're able to ensure that all should be working correctly for you.

To speak to our customer services team, please contact our Social Media team a message using the link @AnnS sent above, or alternatively as you've advised you don't use social media, you can contact the team on 191 from a Vodaphone phone (03333 040 191 from any other UK phone) or using the live chat services again through the website

[Lynxthecat]

OK, this is being made harder than it needs to be. As I mentioned, I have already contacted Vodafone through the Live Chat facility. I have: communicated my details; explained the issue; and referenced this thread via a Live Chat session. But Vodafone is not actioning it, and the dots are not being joined here. 

This forum seems like it could be a great facility, but its efficacy is rather compromised if the only option to convey account details is via Twitter or Facebook. If the messaging facility is not further included as a secure means to convey account information, then I suggest Vodafone puts together a web-form to securely submit account details in respect of issues raised on this forum. 

In any case, as for the original poster, @GreatBritian, I have raised the problem and given Vodafone the necessary information, but it is not being actioned, and so the next step is to raise the issue with Ofcom, right? The inappropriate application of throttling on an uncapped service constitutes slamming/mis-selling.