FTTP/FTTH Vodafone Gigafast High Ping

Hey all,

We just have had our new full fibre (FTTP/FTTH – I will call it FTTP) connection installed on 22nd June 2020. The ISP is Vodafone Gigafast and we went for 900Mbps package.

We live in Milton Keynes.

We are a BT customer for over a decade and never had an issue with them. We are still with BT and the package is Infinity 2 (FTTC) so we still have not cancelled with BT just yet as we are still within 14 days cooling period with Vodafone. So, if we are not happy with Vodafone then we will cancel with them and stay with BT for a little longer until their BT FTTP becomes available in my area, or even Hyperoptic.

The main reason why we wanted to switch to FTTP from FTTC are because of faster upload speed and lower latency ping. I am already aware that there will not be a huge difference in ping latency when switching from FTTC to FTTP.

With our BT Infinity 2, we always get around 74Mbps download and around 15Mbps upload speed with consistent 9ms ping latency via speedtest.net by Ookla with the closest server selected (Clouvider Limited – Enfield) over wired and wireless connection (2.4GHz and 5GHz). Also, we have been using third-party router (currently ASUS RT-AC86U) connected to BT Openreach modem (Huawei HG612). On Rocket League, average ping is 16ms and on Rainbow Six Siege is around 9ms. Ping to bbc.co.uk is always 9ms.

With our Vodafone Gigafast 900Mbps, we get around 750Mbps download and 920Mbps upload speeds with the lowest ping of 15ms over wired connection to my high-end PC via speedtest.net with closest server selected (Vodafone UK - Manchester). This is not what I was expecting (ping latency) as I was expecting around 3-5ms ping latency. We have also tested on Vodafone’s supplied router and ASUS router, both shows same result. Rocket League average ping is 24ms and around 20ms on Rainbow Six Siege. Ping to bbc.co.uk is 14ms on average.

The weird thing is that the external IP address City/Region with Vodafone is showing Manchester whereas BT is showing Milton Keynes. I live in Milton Keynes and Manchester is 130 miles away from me. Whenever I go onto speedtest.net Ookla, it shows that the closest server is Vodafone UK - Manchester – 2 miles, but I’m in Milton Keynes? Whereas on BT, it shows that the closest server is Clouvider Limited – Enfield – 40 miles which is normal.

My friend who is also with Vodafone Gigafast for about a year and also lives in Milton Keynes (10 minutes drive from my house), he gets around 5ms ping and his external IP address City/Region shows Milton Keynes via speedtest.net Ookla with the closest server selected as Vodafone UK – Watford – 32 miles, which is normal.

I think Vodafone’s routing system is messed up and that they incorrectly assigned my IP address really far away from where I live which causes high pings. Is Vodafone able to change my IP address to Milton Keynes area? What can I do?

The CityFibre cabinet is only 80 metres away from my house so that is not the problem.

I have reset ONT as well as Vodafone Router and ASUS router – no change.

I have contacted Vodafone about this, and they told me that their dedicated tech team will be monitoring my line for the next 72 hours. I have requested to change my IP address to Milton Keynes as well, but still need to wait 3 days.

Any ideas?

So in regards to your IP address saying Manchester over Milton Keynes, this is irrelevant. IP's very often will have the wrong geolocation on them as this data is populated by 3rd party companies, this doesn't mean your internet is routing all the way up to Manchester rather than Milton Keynes.

The latency from FTTC to FTTP is generally 5-8ms of a difference, however this can be based on numerous different things. Can you please run a traceroute using command prompt to bbc.co.uk and then post a result? This will let us see if your internet is routing down to London properly or if it's going somewhere else, in which case it may be a proper fault.

Speedtest.net determining your location is also somehting that can be ignored, as it does it off your geolocation which by nature can be wrong. (Example being I'm in Scotland, yet I'm apparently in London according to Zen).

In reference to imgur.com/fnJPjF0:

tracert bbc.co.uk

So it looks like they actually are routing you up to Manchester, unfortunately I couldn't confirm if this is normal activity or not unless your friend can also share a traceroute with us. It's all based on where the VM core routers are, as your traffic needs to route through them before it goes anywhere else.

I will ask my friend to do the tracert as he is busy at the moment.

Thank you though.

In reply to a post by OfficialUmey:

I have reset ONT as well as Vodafone Router and ASUS router – no change.

How have you connected the vodafone router and the asus router?

In reply to a post by max1486:

The latency from FTTC to FTTP is generally 5-8ms of a difference, however this can be based on numerous different things.

It's usually much lower of a difference.

In examples I've seen (with the same routing) it's around 2-3ms difference at most.

There being a 5-8ms difference would suggest FTTC is adding that much latency.
There are FTTC connections with 5ms pings to bbc.co.uk so that's impossible.

Some ISP's will have different routing for FTTP and FTTC traffic which can make the difference between the 2 more emphasised.
Nobody should be anticipating a 5-8ms improvement in latency when switching from FTTC to FTTP though or they are likely to be very disappointed.

Of course as I said it depends on the conditions, my personal experience was a 5ms difference with the exact same ISP with no routing difference whatsoever. (BT, 23ms to 18ms, FTTC cable distance was super far, only ever got 20Mbps tops on FTTC).

Edited by max1486 (Fri 26-Jun-20 22:50:04)

Currently, my ASUS router is connected directly to the ONT via Cat6 ethernet cable.

What I meant about resetting both ASUS router and Vodafone router, is that I have tested on both of them. Both still show the same results.

Test closest to where you are physically, who cares where the IP says as long as its in the same country.

Well....my gigafast IP thinks i'm part of vodafone india (while being in aberdeen) so at least you don't have that headache.

Edited by epyon (Sat 27-Jun-20 15:38:57)