Terrible traffic shaping on Vodafone

Over the last 3 months, there have been a number of complaints of slowdowns on the Vodafone network,

"Tech Support" (clueless script readers) claim no problems, however there is awful traffic shaping taking place within the Vodafone network. "You sync and 79Mb sir, therefore you are getting the fastest speed possible - there is no problem sir".


Speed tests - are always high (it seems they prioritise that traffic).
Youtube / Netflix / Amazon - always fast. (It seems they prioritise that traffic)
Single thread downloads - run somewhere between 2MB/s and 0.3MB/s between approx 4pm and midnight.
Multi thread downloads - run better between 5MB/s and 1MB/s between approx 4pm and midnight.
Easynews/ NNTP in general is pretty much 0.5MB/s all day.


However - stick all the above through a decent VPN provider and i get full line speed 7.8MB/s So there does appear to be aggressive traffic shaping taking place.

Anyone know the OFCOM policies on Shaping - I understand its acceptable to manage extreme network conditions - but this is everyday implementation to shape as much traffic as possible, now I'm pretty sure this is not allowed under the OFCOM code of practice.


Thoughts?

Edited by Tam (Fri 21-Dec-18 22:45:57)

Hi.
Finally found someone with the exact issue i am having.
Been with Vodafone for past couple of years and took out a new contract two or three months ago and since then (although the timing may be coincidence) my actual download speed has been awful and so unreliable. Updates on Xbox are taking hours rather than mins. Been in touch with Vodafone and get he standard reading from a sheet bull!!!!. Changing channels on the wifi etc. Not really sure what to do next. Probably Leave!
Can anything be done?

Switch providers and sell them your not staying in contract because of your issues not much else to it really.

Vodafone is an extremely congested service at current, with a bunch of problems... They are a recent player to the ISP market in the UK, after deciding to re-enter this space. You will get no traffic shaping with the more established players, BT, Sky, TalkTalk etc.

If you complain and threaten ombudsman, I foresee them allowing you to terminate the contract.

Can you run a single threaded speedtest at www.speedtest.net
At the bottom of the page below GO you will see connections, press it so it changes to single... then run the test.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sun 23-Dec-18 02:30:31)

In reply to a post by kebabman:

Hi.
Finally found someone with the exact issue i am having.
Been with Vodafone for past couple of years and took out a new contract two or three months ago and since then (although the timing may be coincidence) my actual download speed has been awful and so unreliable. Updates on Xbox are taking hours rather than mins. Been in touch with Vodafone and get he standard reading from a sheet bull!!!!. Changing channels on the wifi etc. Not really sure what to do next. Probably Leave!
Can anything be done?

Nope extremely common with VF and has been for over a year. I've got BT at a few properties now and no issues with the speeds... As far as mass market goes I would stick with Talktalk, sky, BT, Plusnet etc, they are well established and have ironed out these issues. Headend congestion is almost unheard of.

Ones to avoid, Vodafone, Post Office, SSE, Zen (recently had issues - traditionally very good).

Single thread test this very site runs https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest has been showing the problems with Vodafone for some time, but it is a mixed bag i.e. some do get a good service

By running the test here the results do get shared in various monthly summaries, which ISP do seem to worry about (sometimes)

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/15455638705...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7902792572

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7902920355

Edited by kebabman (Sun 23-Dec-18 14:04:36)

Curiously, VF state they don't do any traffic shaping.

It has been suggested in to the VF community they are some messed up routing as well, causing traffic to route to america and back as well.

Looked into someone who was moaning about the routing, but they were looking at a specific Netflix node which may have routed via US

Nothing suggests US routing when we look at the IP of Vodafone customers, what we see is lots of congestion and have told Vodafone this