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Vodafone disaster at Canary Wharf!

Renaissance

Casual Member
Post code: E14 8LP

Since early 2021 I've been using Vodafone 5G mobile broadband, using a couple of different 5G routers (Vodafone ZTE MU5001, Huawei E6878-870). I've always found it to be excellent with good, consistent data speeds, typically getting 100-200 Mbps on 5G.

Some time around the week of Jan 23rd, the n78 (3.6 Ghz) carrier totally disappeared in the Canary Wharf / western Isle of Dogs area, replaced by n1 band (2100 Mhz) DSS 5G. This is what I would call "INO" 5G: 5G in name only. It says 5G, but it shares frequency with 4G signals and only gets you 4G speeds.

Worse, even though download speeds are ostensibly not too bad for 4G (10 - 40 Mbps depending on time of day), and show reasonable signal strength, the browsing experience "feels" much worse with page loads inexplicably slow or even stalling, games frequently laggy and reporting connection issues, etc. packetlosstest.com reports significant packet loss, even at off-peak times!

Screenshot 2023-02-14 at 17.45.34.webp

(note: test performed with a direct cable connection to the router. This is not WiFi packet loss!)

Putting in an O2 or a SMARTY (Three) SIM card in the same equipment feels like a night and day difference - despite weaker signals and similar (or slower) download speeds, browsing feel much snappier than with Vodafone.

For the past few weeks I've been getting various SMS/emails from Vodafone about maintenance work going on in the area, but most of them have been completed now and the n78 5G signal has never come back. The network status map also claims there are no issues with 5G, which is a lie.

There is one outstanding maintenance site shown on the map to the north-west of me, but each week the completion date keeps getting pushed back another 7 days. This has been going on for weeks now. Does anyone know if this site is the source of the missing Vodafone n78 signal? Will my problems be solved when they complete this maintenance?

Screenshot 2023-02-14 at 18.13.48.webp


I think I'm done with Vodafone if they don't get this sorted soon!
 
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Lol, sounds similar to what I'm seeing.

By me, 3 is absolutely useless. So I go the https://bidb.uk website to see whom, if any, will be deploying fast technologies...lo and behold, Bidb reports that 5G is available in my area. What a pleasant surprise.

I confirm this by checking on Vodafone's website...5G is enabled in my area.

Put sim into my router, and I'm only connected to bands n1 and b8.
Speeds are around 33mbs. What an unpleasant surprise.
 
Similar issue here, mostly with the mast bottom right in the pic I think. Vodafone just say it'll be fixed "tomorrow" and will compensate me when fixed. EE has problems here too as their site got knocked down, and now Vodafone has issues. Generally turning off 5G is faster but still sluggish at times.
 
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@747flier That location on Millwall Dock where Vodafone is showing "network issues in E14 9NN" is a major data centre / internet exchange. There's been some construction going on there for a while - looks like they are adding more floors on top of the building maybe?
 
I'm on voxi.
My issue is YouTube.
I'm looking at nerd stats and see that despite of high download speed it's not buffering. And as such I have to wait for a minute when it randomly starts buffering at high speed.
Download speed are typically announced as high (can be 1000Kbps or 30000)
Anyone had similar issues?
At the same time speedtest showing 35Mbps download speeds and 20 for upload.
Other web pages are loading fast as well.

It drives me crazy that YouTube is not able to deliver content.
 
I'm on voxi.
My issue is YouTube.
I'm looking at nerd stats and see that despite of high download speed it's not buffering. And as such I have to wait for a minute when it randomly starts buffering at high speed.
Download speed are typically announced as high (can be 1000Kbps or 30000)
Anyone had similar issues?
At the same time speedtest showing 35Mbps download speeds and 20 for upload.
Other web pages are loading fast as well.

It drives me crazy that YouTube is not able to deliver content.

People are complaining about issues with YouTube and packet loss on the Vodafone thread (check the previous pages too):


Try with a VPN. If you don't have one, use Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 app which is free. This should bypass the bottleneck.

Or move to another network/MVNO. It's faster than waiting for them to fix issues :P
 
Vodafone's packet loss appears to be affecting a large part of the UK (including myself) for nearly 3 months now. Make sure you put in a complaint and cite packet loss issues — apparently some people on the VF forum got a significant discount when complaining.
 
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Vodafone's packet loss appears to be affecting a large part of the UK (including myself) for nearly 3 months now. Make sure you put in a complaint and cite packet loss issues — apparently some people on the VF forum got a significant discount when complaining.
Must be really incompetent to still be having this issue, I guess they don't care.
 
Must be really incompetent to still be having this issue, I guess they don't care.
I reached out to them over a month after it began, and it seemed as though they weren't even aware of any problems... You'd have assumed they'd have automated monitoring and alarms in place. Last I heard, they were under the impression that it's a capacity issue, despite the issue coming on suddenly overnight. The guy I spoke to was nice, but the whole situation reeks of incompetence.
 
23/2 Update: Still no return of service on the n78 band, data speeds still slow as a result. Maybe even slower than before - tested 10 Mbps download (and 29 Mbps upload) just now. On the bright side, packet loss issue seems to have gone away for now?

Vodafone still reporting maintenance at one site in the area, which gets extended every week for another week...

I've also been testing out a SMARTY (3 network) SIM with mixed results. 3 coverage map shows outdoor service only, but I get decent n78 signal strength and 100 Mbps+ indoors with an antenna attached to the router. But the problem is the paired 4G signal is very weak, and it will occasionally start flipping between cells and dropping the 5G connection as a result. I've even caught it dropping down to 3G at times. This is on the ZTE MU5001. Maybe I just need a full-sized router with bigger internal antennas?...

Screenshot 2023-02-13 at 23.36.42.png
 
17/3 Update: I have returned from holiday this week to find the Vodafone N78 carrier back online in the Canary Wharf area (finally!). Performance is back to normal and all is right with the world again 👏🎉

Screenshot 2023-03-15 at 15.19.09.png


Curiously, I do still have some packet loss on Vodafone according to packetlosstest.com, which doesn't occur on O2 or SMARTY's 5G. However, this doesn't seem to be affecting browsing performance to the extent that it was before. Everything is feeling reasonably snappy again. Yay!
 
I have graphs running on two different routers at two locations/masts on Voxi and Lebara and both show the same packet loss between roughly 12pm - 11pm (severe after 4pm). Voda barely acknowledge there's an issue so who knows when they'll get around to fixing it. I would tell my friend to change provider but unfortunately Voda provide the best/only 5G signal in his area.
 
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