Sudden download speed drop SK14

[chris0161new]

Up until 27 May 2022 I have been getting over 10 Mbps download and upload speeds on a data only sim with a Huawei modem and external aerial. And good speeds on my A22 on a separate sim. Suddenly my download speed has dropped to below 2Mbps making the connection unusable. Uploads are still high. Checked equipment with no faults. My postcode is SK14 6EB. Broadbottom East Manchester. Vodafone say they are doing work in area but I think this is rubbish and they are throttling for some reason. Any ideas?

[Amanda]

Hey there @chris0161new - I know it's important to stay connected and I'm sorry you're experiencing some slower speeds than usual. 

A quick check of your postcode on our Network Status Checker doesn't show any know locals faults - so we can dig a little deeper, please complete these network troubleshooting steps and pop over another post with the requested template, if you still need help 🙂

[chris0161new]

Postcode SK14 6EB

Thanks for your reply. Sadly I have to say you are incorrect. Vodafone have already given me two incident reports from their "advanced tool" regarding changes to service in this area. They are INC 000004158974 and CRQ 000000865083.

I have already been through the "Network Checker" and I have reset my router and my phone and my wife's phone, all of which have been affected by the sudden drop in data download speeds.

It seems strange that the upload speed has remained high at 14 Mbps but the download speed has dropped to 2Mbps. However I am aware that mobile phone companies will throttle the data on a particular mast in order to avoid the cost of installing additional capacity, particularly to avoid increasing the amount of data going onto the back haul.

If this is the case as I suspect it is I would like you to tell me how I can cancel my contract as the 2Mbps download speed you are providing is totally unacceptable.

[Effie]

Thanks for letting us know @chris0161new 

I have checked the network status in your area and I can see that we have maintenance work currently scheduled. I have also checked the masts closest to your location (74731 and 8380) and both have maintenance work currently being carried out on them. As a result you have connected to a mast further away (3511) This mast has no ongoing or scheduled maintenance and no downtime. However, as the mast is further away this will impact the connection and speeds you can currently achieve. The mast will also be receiving significantly more traffic at the moment due to the maintenance works being carried out on the two aforementioned cell sites. 

As there is work currently being carried out which will be causing a temporary disruption to your service, we would be unable to allow you to leave your contract free of charge as we do state in your T&Cs that we are not a fault free service and that at times there may be disruption caused by factors such as maintenance, damage to the network, weather etc. Only if the disruption is causing a 'materially degraded service for an unreasonable period of time' would we look to let you out of a contract free of charge but there must be evidence that we are 'permanently unable to provide our services to you' as stated in the T&Cs.

I appreciate that having a disrupted service is frustrating and I genuinely am sorry for an inconvenience that is caused. Our engineers are already working on the affected masts and normal service will resume as soon as possible. Once this is done, please contact the Social Media team here so they can add a credit to your account for the time that you have been experiencing the issue with the network. 

[chris0161new]

The service came back for a few days after your message. I then received a text from Vodafone saying maintenance would be scheduled between 27/06/2022 and 02/07/2022 in SK14 area. During this week I had no telephone service and very little internet connectivity. I was on 1 bar at most. On Saturday 2nd July 2020 I received a text saying the work had been completed however the signal is still one one bar. I am missing calls and the internet speed very slow and drops out altogether.  My wife has been unable to use Zoom for her work. I have spoken to a number of people in this area and they are all experiencing the same issue. I used to get 10 Mbps up and down on my modem with an external aerial and similar good speed on my mobile.  As I write this I have no bars on either device and the message "no internet service".  I specifically used Vodafone for their good coverage in this area however the service I now receive is almost non existent. I cannot describe how appalled and disappointed I am with the poor service I have received from Vodafone and no one seems to be doing anything about it or even telling us what the problem is and what has happened to the coverage in this area.