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Provider choice for Openreach FTTP

Nayffy

Regular Member
Hi everyone. I'm currently with Vodafone on their 500Mbps package but I keep having issues with pages timing out a few times a day. Not a major issue, but an inconvinience. I've tried their support team and Tier 2 didn't really help. Said they did some account upgrades and something to my router which turns out was them factory resetting it without letting me know so I had to change everything back to how it was.

I'm looking for a new provider due to this, I only went with Vodafone as they were the cheapest but I guess you get what you pay for. I'm wondering what everyone elses thoughts were? Ideally 500Mbps would be good but happy with 100+ with a budget of £35 a month. I did take a look at TalkTalk which fit the bill with a nice router, but haven't been with them in years back in the ADSL days and knew they had a bad rep them.

Any ideas on what providers to go for and who to avoid?
 
TalkTalk's FTTP is good, they customer service sucks like Vodafone's though so if you face any issues then good luck, I'm with Zen right now which are amazing with the customer support that they provide if you ever need help, but Zen is pricey then the rest.

You got BT which are really good as well, customer service is really good, but BT's prices are dependent on where you live so might be pricy for you, for me its pretty cheap.

It all really depends on what your looking for, do you want low latency, do you want good customer service, all isps are mixed XD, i have tried a lot of these isps so yea.
 
TalkTalk's FTTP is good, they customer service sucks like Vodafone's though so if you face any issues then good luck, I'm with Zen right now which are amazing with the customer support that they provide if you ever need help, but Zen is pricey then the rest.

You got BT which are really good as well, customer service is really good, but BT's prices are dependent on where you live so might be pricy for you, for me its pretty cheap.

It all really depends on what your looking for, do you want low latency, do you want good customer service, all isps are mixed XD, i have tried a lot of these isps so yea.
That's good to hear about TalkTalk, might be one to try for me. Luckily I don't often have to call Customer Services, any issues in the home I can deal with myself. This was the first time I called Vodafone in a year since being in my house so CS, whilst important, isn't as important as other things.

I'm not wanting to get the quickest ping in the world, but I'm used to around 10ms so sticking around there is good enough for me. The main thing I'm looking for is a solid connection.

BT are £34.99 (first 5 months half price) for 150Mbps which I think is pushing it, I'd expect 300Mbps+ for that price, but might just be me being fussy. Although TalkTalk have the same deal but with a price freeze until 2026 which is a nice touch but still 150Mbps.
 
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Hi everyone. I'm currently with Vodafone on their 500Mbps package but I keep having issues with pages timing out a few times a day. Not a major issue, but an inconvinience. I've tried their support team and Tier 2 didn't really help. Said they did some account upgrades and something to my router which turns out was them factory resetting it without letting me know so I had to change everything back to how it was.

I'm looking for a new provider due to this, I only went with Vodafone as they were the cheapest but I guess you get what you pay for. I'm wondering what everyone elses thoughts were? Ideally 500Mbps would be good but happy with 100+ with a budget of £35 a month. I did take a look at TalkTalk which fit the bill with a nice router, but haven't been with them in years back in the ADSL days and knew they had a bad rep them.

Any ideas on what providers to go for and who to avoid?
I have had Vodafone (900 Mbps) for a month now and it's been absolutely solid. Never had any issues with pages timing out. Not sure your problem is down to just the fttp service. I do have the Ultra Hub with WiFi 6E though. The older router isn't as good from what I've heard . Talktalk seems to have good reviews for it's fttp service though.
 
Hi everyone. I'm currently with Vodafone on their 500Mbps package but I keep having issues with pages timing out a few times a day. Not a major issue, but an inconvinience. I've tried their support team and Tier 2 didn't really help. Said they did some account upgrades and something to my router which turns out was them factory resetting it without letting me know so I had to change everything back to how it was.

Unless Voda have some capacity issues locally in your area this does seem a bit odd, as they're usually pretty good. Their router is a bit meh, but sufficient for most users.

I wonder whether switching provider without getting to the bottom of the problem could result in the problem moving over to your new ISP if it's not Voda's fault....

- Do the timeouts happen at similar times each day?
- Do you loose other internet access when it happens (eg. Online streams, online meetings, etc)
- What DNS provider are you using if not Voda's default servers?
- Does the issue only impact WiFi connected devices? Are you able to try the same with a wired device? Do you have lots of local competing WiFi interference?
 
wouldnt it just be the same service just different isp? get a different router on amazon, see if it sorts your issues. if not return it.
 
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Unless Voda have some capacity issues locally in your area this does seem a bit odd, as they're usually pretty good. Their router is a bit meh, but sufficient for most users.

I wonder whether switching provider without getting to the bottom of the problem could result in the problem moving over to your new ISP if it's not Voda's fault....

- Do the timeouts happen at similar times each day?
- Do you loose other internet access when it happens (eg. Online streams, online meetings, etc)
- What DNS provider are you using if not Voda's default servers?
- Does the issue only impact WiFi connected devices? Are you able to try the same with a wired device? Do you have lots of local competing WiFi interference?

This seems to happen at random points during the day and night, including after midnight.
When it happens, it stops loading everything including apps and webpages, they just freeze for a minute and show a time out screen, then when I refresh it works fine again. Doesn't seem to happen to videos but I'm assuming this is due to the cache.
I've tried Google, Cloudflare and Vodafones default and it seems it happen to all of them.

The only hardwired device I have is my TV which is when I'm watching videos. I'm going to have to buy an adaptor to try it out on my Macbook.

I'm happy to try a new router to see if that cures the issue, what routers are recommended? It needs good range and I probably connect around 12 devices. None are WiFi 6 so not essential but good for future proofing.
 
wouldnt it just be the same service just different isp? get a different router on amazon, see if it sorts your issues. if not return it.
Only the access network part would be the same. From the point at which it reaches Vodafones equipment in the local exchange it'd be down to the quality of Vodafones backhaul network from there.
 
This seems to happen at random points during the day and night, including after midnight.
When it happens, it stops loading everything including apps and webpages, they just freeze for a minute and show a time out screen, then when I refresh it works fine again. Doesn't seem to happen to videos but I'm assuming this is due to the cache.
I've tried Google, Cloudflare and Vodafones default and it seems it happen to all of them.

The only hardwired device I have is my TV which is when I'm watching videos. I'm going to have to buy an adaptor to try it out on my Macbook.

I'm happy to try a new router to see if that cures the issue, what routers are recommended? It needs good range and I probably connect around 12 devices. None are WiFi 6 so not essential but good for future proofing.
Do you have an old router with a ethernet WAN port. Or one that you could borrow from a friend or family just to try as a swap out? It need not be anything great, just something you could run for a couple of days.

If you can pinpoint the issue to be the voda router then switching to a new ISP on a new contract will yield a new router at which point you can make an informed decision whether to splurge on your own hardware or run with the ISP hardware.

One key decision point for routers is whether the coverage is good enough from the router on its own in the location where you currently have it - or whether you want/need something that supports mesh networking for additional/better coverage, and if the additional WiFi mesh units would be ethernet or WiFi backhaul.
 
Do you have an old router with a ethernet WAN port. Or one that you could borrow from a friend or family just to try as a swap out? It need not be anything great, just something you could run for a couple of days.

If you can pinpoint the issue to be the voda router then switching to a new ISP on a new contract will yield a new router at which point you can make an informed decision whether to splurge on your own hardware or run with the ISP hardware.

One key decision point for routers is whether the coverage is good enough from the router on its own in the location where you currently have it - or whether you want/need something that supports mesh networking for additional/better coverage, and if the additional WiFi mesh units would be ethernet or WiFi backhaul.
TalkTalk was appealing to me for the eero Pro which I've heard good things about and know people with it. Unfortunately I don't have any technical friends or family that would have an alternative router apart from ISP provided. Happy to pay for one if it's going to benefit me not only in the drop outs but just general stability and configuration.

I have 2 spare routers, one of which is a Strong Atria mesh that was £20 from Box, whilst it improved signal and range, it was plagued with wifi drop outs where all devices would be kicked off so I no longer use them. I also have a Huawei WS5200 which I haven't properly tried using as it was bought as a cheap option for a range extender at my old property. Might give it a go to see if it improved stability.

The ONT is under the stairs in a cupboard which isn't the most ideal location, but it seems to work signal wise in most of the house. The other issue is the house has wet underfloor heating upstairs and downstairs. I'm not sure how it's fitted as I wasn't the original owner, but I don't think that'll help wifi coverage between floors.
 
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