Fibre broadband prevents downloading apps from Google Play

[cakemonitor]

Hi,

A few months ago I switched my fibre broadband connection from BT to Vodafone. Since the switch almost everything has worked fine and the connection has been really good - except I cannot download or update any apps on my Android phone via Google Play using this connection. They either get stuck on 'pending' or it states they have started the download phase but the download never progresses or completes. However, If I disable WiFi on my phone then I can download and update from Google Play just fine over 4G. Also if I try from work or a friend's house it works fine over the WiFi connection, and furthermore, if I use a VPN on my phone I can download and update apps just fine from my home WiFi. It also worked without issue the whole time I was with BT broadband.  The only time it fails is specifically if my phone is routed onto the internet via my Vodafone fibre broadband connection.

I considered that maybe the IP address which has been dynamically assigned to my router was previously used by someone who did something to get blocked by Google, so I logged in to the router control panel and I went to Status & Support -> Reconnect and pressed the 'Reconnect' button and verified that a new IPv4 address was issued to the router. However my phone still cannot download apps or app updates via Google Play from my home broadband.

I have just run a test from my phone at speedtest.net and it reports 16ms ping and 75.5Mbps download speed.

As said above, it's not a general issue with my phone settings or Google account because it works via every other internet connection that I have been able to try. The problem exclusively occurs when connecting via my home broadband.

How can I fix my home broadband so that I can download and update Android apps?

Thanks in advice for any help.

[Jayach]

Interesting. Are you anywhere near Cirencester?

On this other thread, YouTube terrible speed and buffering - Community home (vodafone.co.uk), being unable to download from Google play is also mentioned. Can you use YouTube successfully?

[cakemonitor]

I'm in Cornwall, so not that close to Cirencester (about 200 miles) however being further South West it might be somehow related in terms of network topology?!

And yes, I have also had some issues with YouTube being slow to load! But this always works eventually and is intermittent - sometimes videos play almost instantly and other times there is a buffering-like delay of up to about 15 seconds. However the issue with Google Play downloads/updates isn't intermittent, it just never works unless I connect to a different network.

[Beth]

Hi @cakemonitor! It's really strange to hear that the issue only occurs when you're using Wi-Fi, especially as this is usually the default setting for Google Play for apps to download over Wi-Fi only. I'm sorry this is happening.

Do you have any other Android devices in your home and are you able to download/updates apps using the Wi-Fi?

Can I also ask what version of the Google Play store you have? You can view this by going into the Settings of the Play Store itself under About. It should be Version 32.1.10-21 

[embattle]

I've been having this issues as well, apps just won't update via the Play Store on multiple phones/tablets unless I go onto mobile BB when they download instantly. I'm also having issues with YouTube buffering at times as well.

[ZinGeRs]

Hmmm thought nothing of my phone implying it was updating android apps this morning, but seem to have stalled at update 1 of 10 never done this before. 

Obviously they have updated now but I am at work (non vodafone) 

Will have to keep an eye on this to see if it continues

[Gemma]

@embattle - to help keep everything together, I've replied to your other post. 

[jondm1]

I've had exactly same issue for a couple of weeks. All our devices (two phones, three tablets, watch etc) have this issue. If I switch to mobile data, use a VPN on wifi (vodafone) or use wifi at another location then apps download instantly (and completely). At home, and on plain vodafone wifi, apps will most likely take many seconds to start to download, and will take many more seconds to complete (if at all). Many times, the updates wont even start, and if they do, then they fail. All other apps and samsung store is seemingly uneffected. I thought my router was failing, but if other are having the issue, then suggests an account or vodafone backend issue. I'm now leaving vodafone due to this (was completely happy prior to this issue), as I couldnt get anywhere with support...

[embattle]

It is something to do with Vodafone and how it handles Google services, it affecting YouTube as well causing excessive buffering.

[cakemonitor]

Hi @Beth , the version of Google Play on my phone is 32.2.15-21 however I had previously tried downgrading it to the stock version and then letting it update itself in case there was any problem with the app itself. Also, the problem isn't only present on WiFi, I'm experiencing the YouTube playback problem via a wired connection on my PC too and my partner is seeing the same problems on their Android phone. The only common factor is that the fault is only present when using the Vodafone network - I've tried 4G mobile data, the internet connection at work and at friends' houses, and I've tried using a VPN while at home and on each of those networks Google Play app downloads and YouTube video playback works fine. But these services fail exclusively when I use the Vodafone network.
Given that over the weekend I've seen at least a dozen other people across the UK reporting the same problem, I'm quite confident that it's nothing to do with my devices or settings, but rather it's a fault on the Vodafone network itself.
I've opened a support request via Twitter, and let them know as much detail as I can. Hopefully this will quickly be recognised as a service fault and fixed as a matter of urgency.