I think my Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub is dying

[sroughley]

Been quite familiar with my Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub Router for some time now. I frequently use the UI to enable/disable kids devices and configure the guest network. It has always been quite easy to use until recently. My Xbox is connected via Ethernet and has had perfect service since I installed the Voda FTTP service. About a month ago my Xbox started experiencing connection issues. I have tried replacing the cable, wiping the console and resetting the Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub to factory defaults. The only thing that works is the router factory reset. For what its worth this only affects gaming services and is also affecting gaming services from other devices. If I reset the router to factory defaults it will work for a few days then it stops and needs resetting again. Also I have noticed the router admin portal has become intolerably slow. It now takes as much as 5 minutes to access one screen in the admin portal. For instance, if I try and navigate in the portal from the default 'Overview' page to the 'About' page, this simple interaction takes 5 minutes to complete. This never used to be slow. 

All of this has led me to believe either something has been reconfigured from the ISP end that is having a huge impact on the router, or the router is quite simply dying.

I have tried to get onto support for weeks now but no one is ever available to help.

What should I do? The router is basically unusable and I am relying on my ThreeUK 4G connection for many services now. Its unacceptable.

[Jayach]

Unfortunately, if the router is failing you will need to contact support, either by phone 08080 034 515 or online chat https://www.vodafone.co.uk/bbservcd/.

However it may not be a faulty router. Did you add anything to the LAN (especially routers or switches) or reconfigure any thing about the time it started. It sounds like it could be a "network storm" where multiple packets are getting duplicated and simply overloading things. Resetting the router cures things until they build up again.

[sroughley]

Thanks for responding. I'll keep trying to reach support then.

FYI, there is no network equipment on the network other than consumer devices with the exception of a Synology NAS. I'm now wondering if that could be part of the issue. While I'm trying to speak to someone in support I'll keep an eye on things. When the router next starts to act up I'll see if removing the NAS from the network improves things.

Thanks again,

Ste

[Jayach]

When it next happens it may be worth checking if the CPU usage is very high. The user interface has a low priority, so if it is very busy that may explain it. It's on the bottom of the Status & Support page.

[davebuk]

Hi.

I've been having the same issue for a while now. My stats show: CPU Usage 2% Memory Usage 69% which seem fine.

Are there any other things to try? Sometimes the web GUI is so slow it times out and wont save any settings that I've tried to change.

[sroughley]

OK, after a few weeks its happened again. CPU is on 3%, RAM on 80%. I've disconnected the Synology NAS so ruled that out. UI is very slow to respond, XBOX is struggling to reach XBOX services. Complaining that Teredo and service URLs are unreachable. Again my PC started to become unable to access gaming services. Every other device on the network is running perfectly fine. My mobile phone gives me D/L speeds of 200Mbps with near zero latency.

One point of interest here is that my PC gave me the option to 'Fix It' on the Windows 10 Xbox Networking settings. I did this and then the network tests started to pass BUT the game services were still clearly unavailable i.e. my games wouldn't load nor would the Xbox Game store etc.

I have tried setting my Xbox DNS to 8.8.8.8 and this gets the Network Tests passing, much like on my PC, but the games will not login, nor will Xbox services load. I am holding off doing the factory reset this time in the hopes that someone here can give me a further suggestion to try before I go nuclear.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Ste

[davebuk]

Have you checked Upnp universal plug n play for port forwarding is on?

[sroughley]

Yes, this is one of the first things I check. I even disable it, apply and save changes then re-enable it to make sure that it is behaving correctly. That doesn't seem to have done anything here though.

[sroughley · Accepted solution]

Update on this... The pain continued and I persisted in analysing the issue. I found a few indicators that proved it was either the gigabox router or the Xbox at fault. The issue would be temporarily improved by restarting the Xbox, usually allowing me to sign-in to Xbox live after a restart but the next time I started the Xbox it would act to again. I ran network diagnostics and found that when the Xbox was unable to connect to the internet the network monitor was reporting very high packet loss. This would happen even when the Xbox was the only active device on the network but simply restarting the Xbox would resolve the issue so I knew it was either the Xbox or router playing up. I figured I'd rule out the router first so I removed the gigabox and installed a TP-Link archer C9 in PPPoE mode and lo-and-behold the problem has stopped altogether. Anecdotally other household members have noticed improved wi-fi stability ever since. I'm closing this as resolved now. I guess I could explore trying another gigabox or investigating why this one was acting up but Vodafone support has been absent at best and I don't have time to pursue it myself.

So, my tip: if you are having Xbox live connection issues, intermittent wi-fi dropouts or seeing obscene levels of packet loss then I'd go straight for trying an alternative router that supports PPPoE. I hope this helps save someone else the same amount of wasted time I've dealt out here 😩

[Cynric]

You do have the latest software update from Synology? There's a serious issue that has recently been patched.