Vodafone Broadband - Router Wireless Device Limit / Problems

[VSSAK]

I have recently had Vodfone Broadband installed at home and found that the router supplied by Vodafone has many issues with Wireless conections and overall performance. In my opinion the device supplied is not fit for purpose in houses where there are a higher than average number of wireless devices. 

We are only a family of 4, but usually have around 15-20 devices that are often connected to the wireless network of the router on a regular basis (not all streaming at once). From speaking with customer care, for hours at a time, it seems that they reccomend having no more than 5-7 devices connected to the router wireless connection at once and that wi-fi should be switched off on each device when not in use - This is not always possible on devices like Apple TV's or other Smart TV's, Consoles etc...

I signed up for the 76Mbps package to try and avoid such limitations and the line performance of my property is excellenet - 57Mbs Down / 18Mbs Up...

Once the router has more than 5-7 devices connected, the general performance of the router seems impacted with things like - Skype calls dropping regularly, Airplay speakers stopping streaming, streaming becoming laggy and buffering.

I've worked with a number of devices manufacturers to try and figure out why my devices are not working as well as they used to with my previous broadband provider and it seems that the router does have poor wifi performance and / or firmware configuration issues and bugs that make it not really idea for high usuage households, pings within the household devices are often latent / slow and there are often lost packets.

I understand that Vodafone insist on only using the supplied broadband router, but I would hope they would provide a more robust product, given that they are marketing boost, beam forming and other advanced wireless technologies.

I am considering buying a seperate wireless router and connecting it to the Vodafone router via ethernet cable - Does anyone else have experience with poor wi-fi when using a high number of devices ?

Would appreciate any help on configuration / set-up's that work best.

I am at the end of my tether with customer care - All they seem to want to tell me is to reduce the number of wireless devices connected and that whilst there isn't a limit on the number of devices, they reccomend no more than 5-8 devices at any time.

Thanks 

Andy

[BandOfBrothers · Accepted solution]

I'm not a Vodafone Broadband user so I cannot comment on the hardware that is supplied. 

I use a Bt Homehub 5 with Bt Infinity which gives me around 50mpbs download and 10mpbs upload. 

I note the speeds you mention. Is this is what is expected or have you run a speed test. I use the option from Ookla Speedtest.com

I too have visitors and family and devices from Chromecast and an Xbox 360 who hook up to my wifi connection. On checking I have 12 different connected devices. Not all at the same time but around 5-6 are. 

I have also split my connection speeds which are 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz which give different levels of connection. I prefer 5Ghz as this is a better stronger connection but the downside is a person needs to be closer to the Router than the 2.4Ghz option. I cannot comment if this is available to do on your router. Link to explain about these two frequencies.

Another troubleshooting tip is that if I'm finding the wifi connection is slow / drops etc then I log into my Router Settings and choose a different Wireless Channel. My router also uses Smart Technology which should change around my wireless channel if required. 

I think their is publicly available software where a person can check to see how much a particular wireless channel is being used in their area. 

[VSSAK]

Thanks for the tips - I have tried most of them.

Speed tests for the line itself are great 53Mbs + down and 18+ up

The Vodafone connect router does not provide a facility for splitting out different SSID's for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz

Have also tried swapping channels to no effect over the last 3 weeks, I lve in a small cul-de-sac with only 3 houses nearby, so not lots of channel interference, I'd hope - But still to no avail with a number of tries.

I've come to the conclusion that the Vodafone Connect router is of pretty low quality and pretty buggy - From a bit of browsing it seems that it has known issues with DHCP options, DNLA NAS streeming devices, Airplay playback to name just a few...

I'm off out this morning to buy an Apple Airport Extreme and see if I can tether that to the router and disable the Vodafone routers wireless

[BandOfBrothers]

You're welcome. 

An  Airport Extreme is a fantastic piece of kit at I might add a premium price. 

Would you please update your thread with your findings. 

[froggerty]

You can't connect two hubs or routers in series with anEthernet cabe, it won't work, both will have different SSID's. The issue you are experiencing could be due to the amount of devices being used at the same time but there is a possibility that the more Mb's you're using will slow your speed, your BB provider may be restricting,  'strangling' your speed, especially when you're coming to the end of the month and your 'allocation' has been nearly used up, sometimes, if this is the case, you can ask your provider to lift your limit, it will cost you more though. 

[VSSAK]

Well, picked up an Airport Extreme yesterday, got home and installed it - linking it with an Ethernet cable to the Vodafone Connect router - The AE set itself up in Bridgr Mode and I then manually switched off the VC router wifi - avoiding multiple SSID's being broadcasts

A few of the customer service reps had advised me that using another router would not work - but it works flawlessly

All of my wireless woes have gone away and I am able to have 15-20 devices all connected to the AE at once and the dropouts, Skype problems, AirPlay issues and lagging have all gone away

It does seem that the VC router wireless is not very stable or up to the advanced capabilities Vodafone advertise

[VSSAK]

I am of the opinion that the Vodafone Connect router that is supplied and must be used and has a number of options that can't be changed is very low end and seems to suffer with performance issues - internal pings within the network and latency are terrible and often stop basic home services like AirPlay to stop working - I've ended up tethering an Apple AirPort Extreme in bridging mode to get around most of my problems - Though I do believe Vodafone need to fix how poor the router performance is - Customer Service are clueless and no help - I do intend to formally complain, as the router is advertised as advanced and modern - I know it's early days, but it really has caused me a load of hassle in my first month of using the service and Vodafone refuse to acknowledge any problem, provide updates, the router is a detriment to fast broadband in a modern home environment

[froggerty]

All the providers will tell you that routers other than the one they supply won't work but that's a load of rubbish and a lie, they all want you to use what they supply no matter how inferior it is. They can however see what router you are using and if they should ask you why you can then tell them it's because the one they supplied is a load of inferior crap.

[BandOfBrothers]

---

@VSSAK wrote:
Well, picked up an Airport Extreme yesterday, got home and installed it - linking it with an Ethernet cable to the Vodafone Connect router - The AE set itself up in Bridgr Mode and I then manually switched off the VC router wifi - avoiding multiple SSID's being broadcasts

A few of the customer service reps had advised me that using another router would not work - but it works flawlessly

All of my wireless woes have gone away and I am able to have 15-20 devices all connected to the AE at once and the dropouts, Skype problems, AirPlay issues and lagging have all gone away

It does seem that the VC router wireless is not very stable or up to the advanced capabilities Vodafone advertise

---

Thank you for taking the time to return to update your thread that the  device does indeed work and has resolved the issue. 

[andy-m4]

Similar problem here. After reading this thread I re-connected my "old" Netgear R7000 router as an AP and my wireless connection problems have gone away. I don't know what century Vodafone are living in when they launch a brand new service with an 'advanced' router that only supports 5 wireless connections. I don't think I am unusual with 14 devices (that spring to mind) which can be in the house at any one time:

Smart TV

PVR

Apple TV

My Ipad

My Ipone

My work phone

Work laptop x 2

Wifes Ipad mini

Wifes Mac Mini

Wifes Windows phone

Daughters phone

son in laws phone

printer

The Netgear router never had any problems dealing with these devices when I was with plusnet.

Luckily I am still within my 14 days cooling off so now I have 10 days to decided whether to stick with it for the 18 months hoping that VF will fix the issues or go through the hassle of changing again.

[lissacoffey]

I have also split my connection speeds which are 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz which give different levels of connection. I prefer 5Ghz as this is a better stronger connection but the downside is a person needs to be closer to the Router than the 2.4Ghz option. A few of the customer service reps had advised me that using another router would not work - but it works flawlessly

Thanks

Driver Restore

[froggerty]

It would be interesting to know how you have your 2 routers connected and set up, technically it should not work, either one or the other should work but not both at the same time.

[andy-m4]

I have switched off wifi on the Vodafone router, connected it to the Netgear by lan cable and activated access point mode on the Netgear. 

[froggerty]

Well, that's it, you have switched off the Vodafone router and connected to the Netgear so in effect you are only using the Netgear, the other one can't work anyway if it's switched off so there's no point in it being connected, it's not doing anything.

[andy-m4]

...... apart from logging in and connecting to the internet via Vodafone's network. It wouldn't be needed if Vodafone provided users to with their login information to use other routers.

[grolschuk]

Isn't it only the wifi that has been turned off?

The Vodafone router is still acting as the modem and routing the traffic coming from the netgear though...

The issue with the 'not being able to use your own' comes from they won't give you the login details to connect to the service, so still need their kit in place.

[VSSAK]

The only thing that the Vodafone router does, once you have tethered and configured a second router is act as a modem and forward all of the traffic from the tethered router out to the Internet.

As we have no technical details of the connection type or login details for the WAN connection, the Vodafne router has to stay in place.

Bridging mode or Access point mode of the tethered router makes it look like everything is connected via ethernet when you look on the Vodafone router set-up page. Then switch the Vodafone routers wi-fi service off and you avoid having multiple SSID, netwrk names that people can connect to...

[lissacoffey]

 It would be interesting to know how you have your 2 routers connected 

[VSSAK]

The routers are connected via an Ethernet cable regular land port on the Vodafone router to the WAN port on the Apple router

[slimboyfat]

I've been having the same problem, also have approx 20 devices connecting, the Vodafone Connect router just seems to get overloaded even if it's ethernet.

The devices have been split between two Airport Extreme's and further split between 2.4 and 5ghz so Wi-Fi has never been the issue.

The VC router had been dealing with DHCP, and the AE's have been in bridge mode.

Tonight I've configured the main AE to connect in DHCP with NAT mode, and pointed to it in the Static NAT/DMZ settings, also turned off the firewall,  the VC router just has one device (the main Airport extreme, the second one is in Bridge mode connected to the first)

I do get a 'Double NAT' warning in the Airport Utiity but testing the Xbox it says Open Nat so should be good.

Will have to see if it gets any better!