Vodafone Broadband Opinions

jamieh

Hi all,

Moved into a new house recently, got a phoneline installed (no NTL available)

I'm planning on ordering Vodafone broadband tomorrow. They offer 3mb for €40 as opposed to Eircom who offer 1mb for €47.

Anyone got any advice on Vodafones service?

Shammy

read other posts in this section , personally vodafone b/b is crap i'm with them , but then again most of the exchanges belong to eircom.
considering this is Ireland , we're screwed either way.
No NTL in my area either

dlenegan

hi
i live in the bettystown area and since i joined vodafone havent had a problem had eircom and had constant problems and nothing with vodafone although it works through the same line from eircom exchange just shows u eircom equip **** .

eskimo

OP you should read this thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055711126

When it was BT, my broadband was fine. Since the automatic switchover to Vodafone last month, it's been dodgy as hell. Very annoying.

ondafly

I hate to say it, but Vodafone BB for myself has been very disappointing. I've had the same physical DSL line for nearly 7 years, originally being IOLBB, than became BT. Was 100% always, no disconnects ever, barely an outage I can remember. However since being moved to Vodafone as of November, its become a bit of a pain:

- I enjoy playing the xbox on live, but since moving to vodafone I get the joy of lag after 6pm consistently. I'm told this is contention on my line and there is nothing that can be done. I don't ever remember trouble prior to November, but perhaps it is contention

- 24hr external IP disconnects/ failure to reconnect. i.e. my dsl modem every 24 hours releases its external IP, but then always fails to reconnect. So when I originally plugged in my modem when I first got it was 7pm, of course then 24 hours later every day roughly around 7pm my Internet disconnects until I go in and power cycle the modem. This is becoming a real pain !

- I'm on the 8mb package - but I barely see 2.5mb.

I have complained, but the reality is I cannot get NTL BB, or any other package thats any better than what I currently have so I shall continue on with Vodafone in the hope that it improves.

Demosthenese

ondafly wrote: »

I hate to say it, but Vodafone BB for myself has been very disappointing. I've had the same physical DSL line for nearly 7 years, originally being IOLBB, than became BT. Was 100% always, no disconnects ever, barely an outage I can remember. However since being moved to Vodafone as of November, its become a bit of a pain:

- I enjoy playing the xbox on live, but since moving to vodafone I get the joy of lag after 6pm consistently. I'm told this is contention on my line and there is nothing that can be done. I don't ever remember trouble prior to November, but perhaps it is contention

- 24hr external IP disconnects/ failure to reconnect. i.e. my dsl modem every 24 hours releases its external IP, but then always fails to reconnect. So when I originally plugged in my modem when I first got it was 7pm, of course then 24 hours later every day roughly around 7pm my Internet disconnects until I go in and power cycle the modem. This is becoming a real pain !

- I'm on the 8mb package - but I barely see 2.5mb.

I have complained, but the reality is I cannot get NTL BB, or any other package thats any better than what I currently have so I shall continue on with Vodafone in the hope that it improves.

I have exactly same deal. Switched over from EsatBT after several years, the Vodafone line is to me anyway - the EXACT SAME - 3.6upload speed and 321megs upload speed. Never changes. Only reason i am looking to change from them is cos the upload speed badly affects Xbox Live connection, if it were 510 upload i'd stay with them cos thats where the problem lies for online gaming.

Depending on your needs online, i'd say give them a go, they are friendly enough to deal with also as i enquired to cancel with them only yesterday and they asked that i let them know if i was definately going to see if they could "Do something"??? I wish i'd asked what it was they could do ;(

but to me anyway, 7 odd years with them as BT - same as with Vodafone. So go for it.

Shammy

Demosthenese wrote: »

I have exactly same deal. Switched over from EsatBT after several years, the Vodafone line is to me anyway - the EXACT SAME - 3.6upload speed and 321megs upload speed. Never changes. Only reason i am looking to change from them is cos the upload speed badly affects Xbox Live connection, if it were 510 upload i'd stay with them cos thats where the problem lies for online gaming.

Depending on your needs online, i'd say give them a go, they are friendly enough to deal with also as i enquired to cancel with them only yesterday and they asked that i let them know if i was definately going to see if they could "Do something"??? I wish i'd asked what it was they could do ;(

but to me anyway, 7 odd years with them as BT - same as with Vodafone. So go for it.

I am the same as you two , and was told that it is a contention issue which basically means vodafone crowded the exchages for quick cash.

djgaillimh

Speeds have been up and down for me ever since the switch from BT. Have the occasional dropout too, and today I lost service completely for most of the evening. Nothing wrong with my line either.

You may not be able to get NTL but you should look into Magnet or Smart before you go anywhere else. Smart is probably the best ISP in the country... availability is pretty limited though.

dogpile

It seems Eircom hold the stranglehold on all DSL because basically it's their infrastructure and even they are low on the totem pole of providers so unless you can get UPC it's welcome to BB bananna Republic :cool:

ashleey

Regarding the dsl dropouts: i got confirmation on the talk to vf forum that it is how they run their network. If like me you have a netgear router it won't reconnect automatically. Try a different brand? I am and would love to bill vf.

eskimo

ashleey wrote: »

Regarding the dsl dropouts: i got confirmation on the talk to vf forum that it is how they run their network. If like me you have a netgear router it won't reconnect automatically. Try a different brand? I am and would love to bill vf.

Can you explain the highlighted part please? I don't know what you mean. Thanks!

Shammy

I've tryed netopia and bt voyager with both the same results

jamieh

Hi All,

I've gone for Smart broadband in the end.

...going by what ye've said I'm better off staying away from Vodafone.

Fingers crossed Smart works out ok

dlenegan

i feel so sorry for you people moan moan moan if your modem resets every 24 hours phone tech support tell them to switch always on....so simple it doesnt matter who you end up with magnum, ibb or even bt if you just moan moan moan and dont phone them and tell them there s a problem they wont know...oh sorry you most probably forgot how to use the phone.....well no hope just sit in your pity moaning bitching party and carry on feeling sorry for yourselves.
dlenegan

ashleey

dlenegan wrote: »

i feel so sorry for you people moan moan moan if your modem resets every 24 hours phone tech support tell them to switch always on....so simple it doesnt matter who you end up with magnum, ibb or even bt if you just moan moan moan and dont phone them and tell them there s a problem they wont know...oh sorry you most probably forgot how to use the phone.....well no hope just sit in your pity moaning bitching party and carry on feeling sorry for yourselves.
dlenegan

For Mr. Smart Alec, you know who you are, please read the thread in the following link:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055793240

Just in case you need some tech support for that, I've copied the relevant part from the Vodafone Representative, who is extremely helpful and mannerly in responding to issues for Vodafone customers:

Hi Ashleey,
Just a little info while Paul is awaiting a response from our networks team.
The maximum length of a connection is 24 hours, after which the router drops the IP address and renews it, leading to a single disconnection every 24 hours.
What should happen is that the router automatically starts the connection back up again, so it looks like the network isn't recieving a signal from the router to reconnect, or similar (this may just be down to a faulty or incorrectly configured, from the factory, router, as the test ones we use here, and my personal one at home do restart the connection correctly - this is assuming you have the Huawei router, apologies if not).

Hope this helps, and please post if you need further assistance. The Vodafone policy is also explained, thus:

H Kaiser,

If your modem supports the option to have a "Nailed up" connection this should prevent the the need to power cycle your router once the IP is renewed.

We do also offer a static IP address, which costs €3.99 per month and is available to all packages.

Paul.

and:

Hi Ashleey,
There is an organisation called Ripe who allocate IP addresses to ISPs.
At the moment, they are carefully monitoring the number of IP addresses that each ISP has to give to their customers, as there has been a surge over the last few years in internet users and the number of IP addresses required.
This means that they expect ISPs to use IP addresses as efficiently as possible, if a customer isn't on the internet, the IP address should be removed and returned to the "pool" to become available for other users.
The 24 hour session reflects this, after 24 hours, the service checks whether the IP is in use, then renews the connection or not depending on the status. If the connection is not needed, once a service makes an internet request, then the router will make a request to be assigned an IP address.
For this reason, there is a charge for a static IP address, it takes an IP out of our "pool" and permanently assigns it to a line, meaning that it isn't available to be reused any more. The majority of customers don't have equipment or services that require a static IP, so there is a small charge to make sure that only customers who need one will have one, so that the most efficient use can be made of our IP range to meet Ripes guidelines.

and all the best of wishes from someone who prefers to offer help to people who may not have your technical brilliance.

Shammy

dlenegan wrote: »

i feel so sorry for you people moan moan moan if your modem resets every 24 hours phone tech support tell them to switch always on....so simple it doesnt matter who you end up with magnum, ibb or even bt if you just moan moan moan and dont phone them and tell them there s a problem they wont know...oh sorry you most probably forgot how to use the phone.....well no hope just sit in your pity moaning bitching party and carry on feeling sorry for yourselves.
dlenegan

Wow 2 posts both pro-vodafone , well done.
The reason i am complaing on here is simple i have been complaining to vodafone since the changeover (last nov i think) , i have also been on there facebook page.
You must be a little kid to make that assumption of people.

ashleey

I wouldn't consider my self pro-vodafone though. I hope I was just pointing out some issues I'm having with their VF at home service which arise due to their policy of 24 hour IP drops.

I agree with your criticism of our unhelpful contributor though.

It seems that unless you live in a cable area, our choices are fairly limited if you want to avoid Eircon and their excessive pricing, but you have to put up with some limitations with all of them.

Cabaal

Ok lads, I've deleted your pointless posts, you've escaped an infraction.

Any more of this and somebodys getting a ban, get back on topic

ashleey

Cabaal wrote: »

Ok lads, I've deleted your pointless posts, you've escaped an infraction.

Any more of this and somebodys getting a ban, get back on topic

Apologies

center15

I'm not too happy with them since I got moved from BT, broadband drops a bit although when it's connected the speeds are perfect. They also lowered my interleaving on my line (for lower pings, was 53ms now 22ms) in the space of an hour. +1 for customer service.

Sponge Bob

If BT Ireland kept their IP address allocations I could easily see Vodafone being caught short as they are a relatively late entrant to large scale RIPE allocations where some of the BT Ireland blocks would have been allocated as far back as 1992 or 1993 .

That explains why they program a disconnect.

center15

Sponge Bob wrote: »

If BT Ireland kept their IP address allocations I could easily see Vodafone being caught short as they are a relatively late entrant to large scale RIPE allocations where some of the BT Ireland blocks would have been allocated as far back as 1992 or 1993 .

That explains why they program a disconnect.

Actually makes sense, I wonder why BT would keep all those IP's though.

ashleey

I posted a potential solution to the router behaving badly to ip address reallocations in the thread linked in my earlier post.

The potential solution is to add a firewall rule to allow the ping from the vf servers through. It seems to be blocked as the router sees it as coming from a new address that wasn't authenticated in the original CHAP login. Basically you tell the router all of the vf dhcp addresses and to allow packets from them through.

Hope it works. Still testing mine at mom.

medelina

If you're with another provider, I'd steer clear of vf for a few months until they have all the teething issues and switchover sorted.

I was with BT for 4 years and had no hassle and was due to swtich to vf early this month. As I thought my wireless modem was busted (or so I thought), I asked if I could get a wireless modem (as per offer on website) and agreed to switch over in december and sign up for 12 months in order to get it. What could go wrong :rolleyes: I was in all likelyhood going to be staying with them for 12 months anyway.

That caused complete confusion, I didn't get my wireless modem, I did however get two vodafone accounts (neither of which they told me the number of, despite asking me for the number when I ring). According to them I wasn't getting bb from them at all on either account. I informed them that I was actually getting bb from them, so then a few days later I get a letter saying that my bb only package is setup. I didn't want a bb only package so rang again, and it turns out I still have 2 accounts, now one with the E40 phone and bb packge, and one with bb only. They're so nice the decided to give me bb twice !!

anyway, I (hopefully) got the bb only package cancelled and just have one now, which is the one that was switched over from BT. I didn't bother asking for a new wireless modem as I'll be glad to be on the BT switch package that means I can jump ship if this continues (plus I got the old modem working again).

bb itself has been just ok, but as said in other posts up until now it hasn't proved the most reliable. My experience with customer service is complete confusion. Talked to a guy at the end today and he seemed to be on the ball, but I'll believe it when my accounts are sorted. Other people I've talked to have just added to the confusion.

I also have some problems with my iphone weather and youtube app.I'm not sure if that's down to the vf bb or the fact that I reset my modem? anyway I never had problems when I was with BT.

They do however give the best value package for what I want and is available to me, so I'll stick with them for a while and hopefully things will settle down.

lawrenceSummer

i moved and the only difference i see is with the bill, same internet, same phone call package, im still using the old eircom modem and happy you with it

BlackWizard

I'm having awful issues with vodafone. Speed is just gone awful and there are disconnections too. Their support is terrible once you get past the initial contact.

Their website is often unusable either through being really slow or just not working or cant login error messages. This issue has been around for a long time.

There is a vodafone forum. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1270

You can see for youself the amount of issues people are having. It's affecting LOTS. I bet an even greater number of customers are just not complaining either with their service. They just think its very slow in the evening and think it's normal.

ashleey

BlackWizard wrote: »

I'm having awful issues with vodafone. Speed is just gone awful and there are disconnections too. Their support is terrible once you get past the initial contact.

Their website is often unusable either through being really slow or just not working or cant login error messages. This issue has been around for a long time.

There is a vodafone forum. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1270

You can see for youself the amount of issues people are having. It's affecting LOTS. I bet an even greater number of customers are just not complaining either with their service. They just think its very slow in the evening and think it's normal.

With regard to some iphone apps not working:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055798126

It is a DNS issue with VF and is sorted by changing your DNS address to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in your router page.

With regard to the IP address reassignment problem: firewall rules do not help and basically it is a Netgear firmware problem. My new D Link DSL 2740r has worked perfectly with the reassignment. You should get continuous uninterrupted dsl sync despite the 24 hour rolling IP address.

With regard to billing, I have had no problems.

With regard to speeds, mine has been fine as I don't think I am sharing with many neighbours. If that changes, bear in mind that VF have a very high contention ratio.

VF, is way cheaper than Eircon.

medelina

ashleey, thanks for the pointer. that's sorted now

ashleey

No problem. A kind soul, helped me with that strange VF issue.

henryporter

I used to have way more problems getting cut off with when I was with Eircom. Vodafone has been down maybe twice since I got it 4 months ago, so I'm happy with their service. I've seen new Eircom routers come with a VOIP connection though - apparently 2c a minute anywhere in the world, although of course Skype is free.

lucernarian

Assuming you're using a broadband connection, I'd say it's more the dire line quality and wet string that passes for phone lines in Carrickmacross that's the problem. I've seen some woeful maintenance records around there, and I could think of a handful of poles that laid in a ditch for up to 5 years before they were replaced a couple of years ago, among other things.

If the internet stops working for a couple of minutes and needs a modem restart or the DSL light is flashing or off etc, and it happens at random times up to several times a day, it's a line quality issue and nothing to do with the problem these posters are having.


Vodafone customers are not the only one who have the 24 hour IP address problem. I'm on BT's ADSL2 service and the modem they gave me keeps dropping the internet connection after the modem has been connected for 24 hours. Sometimes clicking connect on the router's homepage was enough, sometimes a restart was needed.

Don't all DSL companies in Ireland give 24-hour IP leases in this country?? And can anyone shed light on why some modems can seamlessly keep the PPP connection up with an IP address change, while other routers e.g. the Huawei routers cannot do that?

dogpile

I swapped the Bewan modem over for a Zyxel and it's stopped losing connection..

speeds are still pretty woefull in the evenings tho

lucernarian

dogpile wrote: »

I swapped the Bewan modem over for a Zyxel and it's stopped losing connection..

speeds are still pretty woefull in the evenings tho

Interesting that only some routers have this 24 hour IP problem. I wonder what's the cause...