Vodafone Fibre - Experience
I'm starting a new thread as the previous one was comprehensively derailed. This is not a thread regarding Vodafone's infrastructure, just their service and (more specifically) my experience of it.
I had been on BT Infinity since launch and then upgraded to BT Infinity 2 immediately it became available. My last bills have been £54 / month (inc line rental). I was previously using my own Netgear R7000 router which I was fully aware could not be carried over.
My first experience of Vodafone was my Dad moving to their Fibre service a month ago. He's almost 80, not that well and Vodafone's service to him was excellent. He had 100 questions prior to ordering, another 100 after, they took care of him very well. His actual move from a basic 8Mb (max) service with PlusNet was done on time.
I myself have contacted Vodafone a few times and consider their service excellent. It's easy to get their number, they answer the phone very fast, speak perfect English and there's no need to listen to 10 messages / choose tons of options. This is very much at odds with BT. The one issue I had is that their staff do not know that you can't use your own router and I only found this out via forums & confirmed by being put through to tech support.
The Move
- Once I'd decided to migrate the process to arrange this was straight forward. I was given a date of the 8th, that date was confirmed very quickly & that is the date it happened.
- The Router was delivered to work in plenty of time.
- Good instructions for installation. I can see why my Dad had no problems.
- Clear instructions were also emailed, with a general reminder the day before install.
- On the Evening of the 7th I went to bed with BT Internet online. Woke up disconnected.
- At 7:10am I plugged in the Vodafone router (just one device)
- By 7:30am there was activity and the Broadband light was showing a connection.
- By 7:45am the service was fully operational and that was it. Moved over to Vodafone.
So the speeds.
- At first I was connected solidly @ 62 / 18. This was the same whether measured from my iPhone (within 5m on the same floor) or the PC (wired).
- There have however since been at least 3 occasions where the connection has dropped for approximately 1 minute and restarted. All ISP's warn this may happen in the first 10 days, so no big deal.
- Each time it has restarted though the connection speed has dropped. I now get approx 55 / 17.5
- Overall this is still very comparable with what I got from BT so as long as though it becomes stable over the next week I'm happy.
- Also worth mentioning that the Vodafone App for managing the router is a nice touch. Simple and easy.
My next test is to monitor speeds downstairs (through a very think reinforced concrete floor). The Netgear router had no issues here.
Any questions, please fire away.
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
What are the advertised speeds?
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
I'm curious as as to their reasoning for not allowing your own router? I can't believe there is any technical inability, so I'm guessing they don't like to provide you with a username/password and force you to use theirs.
Does the provided router have a 'modem' only mode like Virgins routers that would enable you to use your own equipment in conjunction with theirs?
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Smudger
What are the advertised speeds?
I'm on an "up to 76" service. Was informed I'd get 55 - 65 with a Min of 45.
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AGTDenton
Does the provided router have a 'modem' only mode like Virgins routers that would enable you to use your own equipment in conjunction with theirs?
For me I just want 1 device so haven't looked into it. If the supplied router turns out to have issues then I'll investigate.
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andy14
For me I just want 1 device so haven't looked into it. If the supplied router turns out to have issues then I'll investigate.
I discovered this which might be of some value in the future, so not ideal but if it became a sticking point there's a potential workaround.
https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-...2489247/page/2
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AGTDenton
Cheers. Could be useful in future, but I'm hoping to keep just 1 device. Currently building a new desk and want to keep the whole area as clean as possible. 1 less device, less cables, less power, all a good thing.
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
Unfortunately the service is deteriorating quickly. The currently situation makes bleak reading. Here's the current list of issues.
- The "New" Router I've had supplied has a very old config on it. This makes resolving all my issues 10x harder and needs to be fixed before I can even begin to start fixing anything else.
- Only the 2.4Ghz frequency is used by default. I can't change this due to the above.
- The Router reports that AC isn't even in use.
- Apple Airplay will not work. Vodafone I advised "I phone Apple". !!!!!! When a provider says this you know you are in trouble.
- The Router reboots itself randomly. The longest it has stayed up for is 2 days.
So I wasted 30 minutes on the phone to Vodafone yesterday. And another 30 minutes this morning. I now have to go home "reset the router" and hope that solves everything. Which of course it won't, I'm just being fed down the standard support route.
Already wondering if moving away from BT was a very bad idea.
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
When you say old config do you mean old firmware??? If so just get them to push you the latest one, I believe that most of the issues you are having are resolved by the updated firmware.
If you go to the Vodafone e-forum one of the very long threads there has details of what the latest firmware number is.
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jimborae
When you say old config do you mean old firmware??? If so just get them to push you the latest one, I believe that most of the issues you are having are resolved by the updated firmware.
If you go to the Vodafone e-forum one of the very long threads there has details of what the latest firmware number is.
I checked the versions late last night (and therefore know it's well out of date - I cross-referenced to forum posts from mid 2016). But support wouldn't force an update to my router and I can't instigate one. They say that doing a RESET on the router will perform an update (can you tell I'm not convinced) and that's now what I will do when I get home from work.
Then I'll call them back..... Again.....
For reference my firmware version is 5.4.8.160.13.75, Vodafone confirmed the latest version is 5.4.8.1.219.1.30.1.6 (they need longer version numbers)
Re: Vodafone Fibre - Experience
Andy did you get this sorted, i.e. the firmware updated, in the end?