Vodafone Broadband dropping out for 5 weeks... advice on what to do next...

wallofbeans

Hi All,

I first had an issue with my broadband dropping out a couple of times an hour (router flashing red for ten mins or more at a time) in the middle of February. I spoke to Vodafone, they got me to do some "tests" and then said they'd book in an engineer (ie Open Reach) to sort it out. A few days later I get a text from Vodafone saying it had been fixed. Great.

But then I realised the problem continued. I spoke to them again, but they'd already closed my 'case' and so I had to start again. New engineer appointmment. A few days pas and again I get a text saying it was fixed. Great! But again, the problem came back.

The third time an engineer came to my house (apparently this was booked and I was supposed to know - but I didn't and just happened to be home) and checked the line, all fine. He went again to fix on the street. I get another text saying it was fixed. Great!!

It seemed fine for three days, but then the problem started again last Friday. And again I go back to Vodafone. New case, new appointment for Open Reach to fix it.

I am now waiting for the text to say it is fixed and it not be fixed...

Has anyone had a similar issue, and how did you find a way out of it?
Can I speak to someone higher up in Vodafone, that might be able to get me out of this loop?
Can anyone advise on a complaints email for Vodafone?

It's driving me slightly crazy, so any advice gratefully received!

M25

You could make a complaint: https://complaints.vodafone.co.uk/resource?id=11306244&db=vodafone

You could leave Vodafone if you're out of contract and try another supplier.

brewerdave

It could be that the copper (or aluminium) line in the street back to the local cab. is degraded and each Openreach engineer is just doing a bit of a holding job to temporarily solve your issue.. If so ,the moving to another ISP may not solve the issue long term.
Openreach are minimising their work on the "old" system as they are concentrating on the full fibre rollout.
One of my neighbours had an issue with multiple drop outs ,and ,because our exchange is "fibre priority"  he was told that his only viable solution was to move to FTTP. His ISP refused to do any more for him on his old copper line and because of the exchange situation ,Openreach would not allow him to move ISPs..

Farway

When you get drop-outs, try a "quite line test" from master socket

Dial 17070, option 2, best with a corded phone to be certain

I had similar, and it turned out to be, as suggested above, old cable at phone pole was worn and when it rained insulation broke down, of course once it dried out all was well until next rain / wind

jw7a28

On the voda phone forums some posts were saying the drop outs were down to the routers supplied but voda phone won't acknowledge the issue. I'm not sure if this is your problem but their solution was to buy a voda phone router off ebay cheap this was supposed to solve their issues. 

gambleruk

I had a similar problem last year, after numerous visits from engineers and lots of phone calls the problem ended up being in the actual box half a mile away from my house, once the engineer went to the box and plugged me into a different port all as been well since, I suggest if all is well inside your house and the engineer says the line is fine outside ask him or vodafone to try this for you, it did not help that my internet went off in the middle of the night all the time but was fine during the day. I raised the complaint through vodafone and once I did it was sorted within a week and had follow up calls to make sure everything was fine.

wallofbeans

M25 said:

You could make a complaint: https://complaints.vodafone.co.uk/resource?id=11306244&db=vodafone

You could leave Vodafone if you're out of contract and try another supplier.

Sent one. And they've responded asking me to wait while the engineer looks into it... again... 

(and can't leave, I'm midway through an 18 month contract)

wallofbeans

Farway said:

When you get drop-outs, try a "quite line test" from master socket

Dial 17070, option 2, best with a corded phone to be certain

I had similar, and it turned out to be, as suggested above, old cable at phone pole was worn and when it rained insulation broke down, of course once it dried out all was well until next rain / wind

I'll need to dig out an old landline phone first. I don't use it at all. 

And what happens when I dial that number?

wallofbeans

gambleruk said:

I had a similar problem last year, after numerous visits from engineers and lots of phone calls the problem ended up being in the actual box half a mile away from my house, once the engineer went to the box and plugged me into a different port all as been well since, I suggest if all is well inside your house and the engineer says the line is fine outside ask him or vodafone to try this for you, it did not help that my internet went off in the middle of the night all the time but was fine during the day. I raised the complaint through vodafone and once I did it was sorted within a week and had follow up calls to make sure everything was fine.

Thanks! So I should mention this to the person who has replied to my complaint? I'm just trying to get them to try something other than the same thing over and over again.

They have already looked at the box at the end of my street several times. Is this what you mean? Or something else?

gambleruk

Yes I presume it will be that box, ask them to plug your line into a different socket in laymans terms, not quite sure what the technical term is for it, every line is assigned it's own socket and as soon as the engineer went to the box and assigned a different one my problem was solved, took 2 months to get to that stage though after 3 different routers and a few visits so think it might be a last resort for some reason. They also ended up sending a what they called a senior engineer eventually so maybe he had come across this problem before and was authorised to change it ?

Farway

wallofbeans said:

Farway said:

When you get drop-outs, try a "quite line test" from master socket

Dial 17070, option 2, best with a corded phone to be certain

I had similar, and it turned out to be, as suggested above, old cable at phone pole was worn and when it rained insulation broke down, of course once it dried out all was well until next rain / wind

I'll need to dig out an old landline phone first. I don't use it at all. 

And what happens when I dial that number?

Nothing, the line should be silent, no buzzing, humming etc, just nothing to hear, hence why best with corded phone & master socket, so you know it is not your equipment

Some more info here

https://www.beachyuk.com/blog/useful-shortcodes-when-diagnosing-uk-phone-line-issues