Vodafone Broadband Checker giving false information

Pennypocket123

I am currently a Vodafone customer with Fibre 2 level of service i my rented accommodation. Prior to purchasing my new house I went onto the Vodafone Broadband Checker to see what level of service was available at the new property.  As I work remotely in the IT sector it's a bit of a deal breaker for me to have a reasonable level of service.  Having put the postcode and house name of the new property in the checker it produced 2 results - the second of which matched my current package of Fibre 2.  Based on this knowledge I proceeded to buy the property and take out a substantial mortgage.  Having completed the transaction, I called Vodafone to arrange my service to be transferred to the new property only to be told that Fibre 2 wasn't actually available and only Fibre 1 was available.  Fibre 1 is way too slow to do any IT work.  I have now had my case escalated twice and during each discussion, the Vodafone representatives have acknowledged that the facts have been "misrepresented" on the website.  I have screen videos showing the ability to purchase the Fibre 2 option at that address despite that not actually being available. I would really appreciate any advice on how I can pursue this because they have clearly made false claims and unfortunately I have based my life decisions on them.  Or has anyone else had a similar experience and how did it pan out?

littleboo

I'm sure that the statement "Fibre 1 is way too slow to do any IT work" is not universally true, but that aside, presumably its FTTC and the speed available is dictated by line length? It's also possible that when you came to place the order, there would be no free ports and so no service available at all. What do you want to happen?

Neil_Jones

Pennypocket123 said:

I am currently a Vodafone customer with Fibre 2 level of service i my rented accommodation. Prior to purchasing my new house I went onto the Vodafone Broadband Checker to see what level of service was available at the new property.  As I work remotely in the IT sector it's a bit of a deal breaker for me to have a reasonable level of service.  Having put the postcode and house name of the new property in the checker it produced 2 results - the second of which matched my current package of Fibre 2.  Based on this knowledge I proceeded to buy the property and take out a substantial mortgage.  Having completed the transaction, I called Vodafone to arrange my service to be transferred to the new property only to be told that Fibre 2 wasn't actually available and only Fibre 1 was available.  Fibre 1 is way too slow to do any IT work.  I have now had my case escalated twice and during each discussion, the Vodafone representatives have acknowledged that the facts have been "misrepresented" on the website.  I have screen videos showing the ability to purchase the Fibre 2 option at that address despite that not actually being available. I would really appreciate any advice on how I can pursue this because they have clearly made false claims and unfortunately I have based my life decisions on them.  Or has anyone else had a similar experience and how did it pan out?

I'm assuming since there's no mention of "Fibre 2" on Vodafone's website now FTTP is a thing for many people you have this legacy package:

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband/providers/vodafone/fibre-2/

Which is a FTTC package up to 67Mbps.

Therefore "Fibre 1" is simply the legacy up to 38Mbps which depending on your definition of "IT Work" may not be slow at all.

The modern FTTP equivalent seems to be the Everyday Package.  Can you not get FTTP where you are?

Pennypocket123

Apologies for my comment regarding Fibre 1 being way too slow for any IT work - it is true for my own case but I agree probably not universally.  There is a fibre connection to a pole approximately 50-75m away from my property.  Vodafone has now changed the outcome on their broadband checker to show that they cannot supply broadband to that address.  I would like to be allowed out of my current 24 month contract with them with no termination charges.  I would also like them to be held accountable for providing a checking service which was clearly not fit for purpose and gave completely false information.  If you cannot believe a function on a website which is supposed to provide a checking process, what is the point in having that function there?  Would the fact they have agreed they have misinformed me and have put a completely new result on the checker not be seen as an admission of guilt?

MattMattMattUK

Pennypocket123 said:

I am currently a Vodafone customer with Fibre 2 level of service i my rented accommodation. Prior to purchasing my new house I went onto the Vodafone Broadband Checker to see what level of service was available at the new property.  As I work remotely in the IT sector it's a bit of a deal breaker for me to have a reasonable level of service.  Having put the postcode and house name of the new property in the checker it produced 2 results - the second of which matched my current package of Fibre 2.  Based on this knowledge I proceeded to buy the property and take out a substantial mortgage.  Having completed the transaction, I called Vodafone to arrange my service to be transferred to the new property only to be told that Fibre 2 wasn't actually available and only Fibre 1 was available.  Fibre 1 is way too slow to do any IT work.  I have now had my case escalated twice and during each discussion, the Vodafone representatives have acknowledged that the facts have been "misrepresented" on the website.  I have screen videos showing the ability to purchase the Fibre 2 option at that address despite that not actually being available. I would really appreciate any advice on how I can pursue this because they have clearly made false claims and unfortunately I have based my life decisions on them.  Or has anyone else had a similar experience and how did it pan out?

You cannot "pursue" this at all, there is just no legal basis for any kind of action. 

I agree with the above comment, there seems to be no such thing as "Fibre 1" or "Fibre 2" anymore, it looks like a legacy plan that was discontinued at some point in 2023 or 2024. They have a few FTTC options and a FTTP option depending on location. Did you use/have you used the Openreach checker? Is there copper, FTTC, FTTP? Another option would be Starlink, in most of the UK you would get 250Mbps+ download and 30Mbps+ upload, which appears considerably faster than the legacy "Fibre 2" tariff was. 

Pennypocket123 said:

Apologies for my comment regarding Fibre 1 being way too slow for any IT work - it is true for my own case but I agree probably not universally.  There is a fibre connection to a pole approximately 50-75m away from my property.  Vodafone has now changed the outcome on their broadband checker to show that they cannot supply broadband to that address.  I would like to be allowed out of my current 24 month contract with them with no termination charges.  I would also like them to be held accountable for providing a checking service which was clearly not fit for purpose and gave completely false information.  If you cannot believe a function on a website which is supposed to provide a checking process, what is the point in having that function there?  Would the fact they have agreed they have misinformed me and have put a completely new result on the checker not be seen as an admission of guilt?

There is no "guilt" in a legal sense, they are not liable for anything.

Whether you can leave without paying termination charges depends on if you signed up at the new address on the basis that they could supply you broadband and cannot, or that you transferred your contract from a previous address. If it was the former, then yes, because they cannot provide you with a service, if the latter then no.

Pennypocket123

Thanks for all the comments and help.  Fibre 1 and Fibre 2 are both still showing on Vodafone's website when you select a product. They have said I will be getting a further call from their team to try to resolve the issue.

Ectophile

I've recently retired from IT work.

Remember that lockdown thing we had 5 years ago?  I was on ADSL back then.  It ran at 8Mbps dowload and a massive 1.1Mbps upload.

I decided I wasn't going to risk getting an upgrade, as a failed upgrade would force me to go back into the office. So I stuck with it until lockdown ended.

The reason it worked was that I still had a desktop computer sitting on my desk in the office, and it had already been set to allow remote desktop sessions.  So the first thing I did every morning was remote desktop onto that machine, and did all my work on that.

littleboo

If you can leave penalty free, is there an alternative network provider available?

QrizB

In the abstract, I would have expected a FTTC / SOGEA service that can deliver 40Mbps to be capable of delivering the faster 80Mbps option unless there are physical impediments.

OP how far is it from your property to the cabinet? Could you be far enough that 80Mbps isn't reliable?

What speeds does the OpenReach broadband checker suggest?

What sort of broadband do your neighbours have, and what speeds do they get?

iniltous

TBH why are you using the VF ‘checker’ and limiting  yourself to their offerings or what they say is ‘available’ , presumably they are using Openreach in your area so use the checker that underpins all OR based products, what does this checker show for your address 
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

This  will show what Openreach say is available rather than what any single ISP says , if help required deciphering the results post the entire return here although it’s relatively self explanatory, SoGEA ( what you need to be looking at , is it available ?  ) and the VDSL clean/impacted speed estimate, is what you need to be looking at 

JSmithy45AD

Pennypocket123 said:

... As I work remotely in the IT sector it's a bit of a deal breaker for me to [not] have a reasonable level of service...

Should you not be on a business plan in that case rather than a residential?