Vodafone 4G dropping connection overnight

[kbrownuk]

Hi 

I am based in Devon and use 4G for working from home as the BT Connection is so poor in my area. It has been working fine for many months and had fantastic download speeds in excess of 70mbps at most times however I am  finding that the connection drops overnight after midnight and needs to be rebooted in the morning (sometimes more than once ) to get restored. I am using an external antenna and have been in contact with the manufacturers to look into the issue but they are saying the problem is with the vodafone network.

If the router is not rebooted in the morning it does sometimes return on its own without any intervention.

Vodafone network status is not showing any issues but I am convinced this is some sort of bandwidth management or energy saving attempt on the mast outside of peak times. 

I use multiple sites and have seen this at most locations.

Is anyone else seeing this problem recently from about november 22 onwards?

[Tann]

I’m in central London  I also use my connection for everything. Most nights my connection goes off just after midnight at the same time.. That means no  TV or internet until the next morning. Everything is dead but then is restored by the morning without rebooting. This has been going on every night for months with very few exceptions.  

[ARH1950]

It's really strange that this persists, at least for some users.  Vodafone's response has basically been along the lines that we need to send them evidence, but they must surely know what's happening at their own masts.  In one response from them, though, they did acknowledge that there were anomalies at the mast I use, and someone else on this thread has said that all operators have periods when this happens.  But I'm personally only aware of the Vodafone issue.  The good news - at least for me - is that as far as I'm aware, there haven't been any dropouts from the Scalloway (Shetland) mast that I use for some time, whereas when I first got involved in this thread they were happening almost every night.  That suggests they have taken positive action, but they would do well to explain the situation properly and deal with it across the country.  They're a pretty difficult company to deal with, but the more noise you make on their chat function, perhaps - just perhaps - they might actually take notice.  Good luck, and if it happens to me again, I'll be back on here!

[Leese]

Thanks for your reply, I ended my contract early with them & went with ee instead, no issues so far😁

[Kunekune]

I have a similar issue. Around 12:10 am I loose reception. My router shows full signal and internet however it's not transmitting. I reboot the router and all works well until the next time. This happens almost every night. I called Vodafone and they didn't understand the problem. They reset the sim, no difference. Prior to this I used EE, worked fine in the same router. I changed because Vodafone speed is faster. I am in LS22. Looks like I'm going back to EE!

[speedysmithy]

Hi David

Did you ever find a solution to this? I'm a professional Fixed 4G wireless broadband installer and I have one client on a Vodafone mast who is suffering the midnight to 3AM blackout. I have an RPi on this network which checks the internet connection every 10 minutes and so I have a recording of the blackout and I cannot connect to the network from remote. Strange thing is I have three other clients (CCTV)  connected to the same tower which have no issues.

This problem 'seems' to have coincided with the 3G switch off. I am also wondering if this is a contract issue 'Data Sim' vs 'Regular Sim'  = Data, Voice and text.

Chris

[Davidch]

Chris

I still get a significant slowdown every night but after installing an external modem I have been able to attenuate the issue somewhat. Part of the trouble seems to be the way many modems struggle to find a better signal at night, sometimes preferring a stronger signal from a slower cell or mast rather than a weaker but faster one. I know some people have got round it by locking to specific bands or towers that don’t exhibit the problem so severely, even if they are not the strongest or fastest during the day, but not many consumer modems provide this facility and of course in many areas there is only one viable mast anyway. It is strange that your other clients don’t experience the problem. Perhaps they don’t notice or their modems are switching cells/towers more efficiently, though I imagine you have already checked this.  I don’t think it is anything to do with the 3g switch off or data vs regular sim, though I can’t be sure and I’m confident you will never speak to anyone at Vodafone who will be able to tell you. In short, I think the only way of dealing with the problem, short of a policy change at Vodafone, is to install a good quality directional external modem/aerial to ensure you are getting the best signal possible then try to find a viable signal  during  your client’s blackout time. It has worked to an extent for me: I get around 150 Mbps during the day and a manageable 30 Mbps after about 9pm. Fast enough for Netflix!

Good luck

[Basketballnut]

No resolve so far. However, I would agree with you re it starting with 3g turn off. I have just replaced my directional antenna and It doesn’t seem as bad as before. However, 1 day it didn’t reset at all until I manually did that.  With regards to stronger and or faster signals at night, I get a faster connection at night, around 100 mb and approx 30/40 mg in the day. Also, since 3g switch off, my signal seems to drop off regularly for a few seconds which does cause issues.

[Leese]

I admitted defeat, EE bought me out of the contract, no more issues for me.

[Gemma]

Hi everyone, @speedysmithy - please ask your client to contact us on Social Media. We can take a closer look there and if needed we'll request examples so that we can raise this to our engineers. @Basketballnut - if you could also please send us a message on Social Media, we can review the drop outs that you're facing. @Leese - I'm sorry to hear this has got to the stage of you leaving us. I hope we get to turn this experience around in the future. @Davidch - thanks for helping out and your advice. 

[Davidch]

With respect, I doubt very much that speedysmithy’s client would thank him for being directed to the endless hamster wheel of Vodafone’s social media helpline. It is a guaranteed way to lose the will to live - and speedysmithy may not have an endless supply of replacement clients!