Let's talk Bufferbloat.
Bufferbloat is basically an industry wide issue that generates massive latency (network lag) under specific usage conditions that are very casual to most home users, such as uploading medium and large size files. Yes, bufferbloat is the reason why internet breaks when you start uploading pictures of your holidays and transfer large files, making your connection unusable for the time of the upload. If EE tells you it's because of your network setup or how the broadband reaches your area, they are either unforgivably ignorant or lying to you.
Fixing bufferbloat is as easy as including SQM or AQM (Smart/Active Queuing Management) in a router's firmware update, which only the ISP can do. Unfortunately, EE has been ignoring this ever since the Brightbox was released. It is now 2020 so I think EE definitely owes its customers a week worth of effort to include a SQM/AQM function in their routers.
If you are a DSL customer, go to www.dslreports.com/speedtest, run the test and see how you score F for bufferbloat. This is why when you upload stuff on Google Drive, WeTransfer, Instagram, Youtube, FTP, etc., your connection speed will drop so low that you cannot even load a page in your internet browser.
A complete article on bufferbloat, and how it's being ignored by many ISPs, is here : https://www.computerworld.com/article/3111075/the-hidden-cause-of-slow-internet-and-how-to-fix-it.ht...
There's even a whole website dedicated to bufferbloat. Here is an article explaining what can be done (ISP side) to fix it : https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/bloat/wiki/What_can_I_do_about_Bufferbloat/
Like most ISPs, EE locks their router to be used only on their own broadband service, and uses routers that aren't compatible with third-party fIrmwares. EE is therefore fully responsible for keeping the Brightbox's performance up to date, as opposed to keeping its customers permanently locked out of a normal quality service.
I am writing this post so EE spends one week including AQM/SQM in the next Brightbox firmware update, and solve this massively frustrating bufferbloat issue once and for all.
