Lagging and ping spikes since switching to EE Full Fibre

[awilson4]

Hi there, apologies in advance for the long post. 

I was a BT Fibre customer who switched to EE Full Fibre around 7 months ago. Since then I have had issues with my broadband which I cannot get to the bottom with EE advisors due to it showing fine on their end.

Details of kit and setup:

• SmartHub +
• Old package: Full Fibre 150 Essentials  Current package: Essentials: Full Fibre Gigabit
• Distance devices are from SmartHub+: around 5-8 metres depending on device. One floor in property, no stairs. 
• Affected devices: PC, Gaming laptop, Playstation 5. Mobile seems to be unaffected.
• No ethernet connections to devices at this moment - explained below.

Recap of issues raised and solutions given with EE Customer Service

• I raised the issue of unstable connection. I was provided a Smart Wifi Plus hub. This made no difference. 
• I raised the issue of an unstable connection again. I was provided THREE more Smart Wifi Plus hubs despite the first making no difference and living in a small property. This also became a charge of £7 monthly on my account. Obviously no difference
• Added the "Gaming boost" add on to my account. This made the speeds slower and the connection even more unstable when active. This was an additional £5 on my account and obviously did not solve the problem.
• I phoned EE again to raise the issues. I ended up upgrading my broadband package to Gigabit. Smart Wifi Plus Hubs were removed. Gaming add ons were removed. Speeds are higher than before, unstable ping continues. 
• Phoned and raised issues AGAIN with EE. Solution was a new SmartHub+ was sent out incase of faulty router. High ping spikes remain. 

The issues are not around the speed of my connection, but the latency and ping spikes. It feels like a very unstable connection when watching streams or in particular, gaming. 

When switching to Full Fibre, I had to have the router and Openreach full fibre white box installed in the bedroom due to it being the only available place as advised by Openreach. This meant I was no longer able to connect with an ethernet cable to my Playstation 5 or PC due to them being in a different room. Before installation, I raised these concerns to EE (as a heavy user of internet and preferring a wired connection) and I was ensured that due to Full Fibre being a much better service I should be able to use my PC/Console etc as effectively as before. This is not the case. 

The PS5 is unusable. The connection is completely unstable, with speeds going from 2MBS to 200MBS and Ping on games ranging from 20MS to 700MS. I managed to get some stability on this by using a Powerlink Adapter but would need to reset the router everyday to create stability in the connection.

On PC the Wifi speeds on the PC are very good, hitting around 500MBS (despite my Stayfast guarantee of 700MBS). However, this does not fix the issues with latency. On online games I fluctuate with ping again from 20MS to 80MS. I have ran multiple online ping and latency checkers and whilst it can be stable around 25MS it will then shoot up to 2000+MS every 45 seconds which explains the instability in gaming and watching streams. 

When playing online games with my boyfriend with both my PC and a gaming laptop connected in the same room, the latency issues really ramp up and we are unable to play. This is not an issue at his place where we are both using ordinary Fibre connection (him wired with Ethernet cable, me on wifi). This means it is unusable at my property despite the advertisement of EE Full Fibre supporting multiple devices at once. 

The other issue is on my work laptop where Teams calls can jitter and become unstable. 

Is my only solution running an ethernet cable directly through my property? I am truly at my wits end as someone who uses the internet so heavily on a day to day basis. Either that or upgrading to the Wifi 7 router (which I think I would need to get the most expensive package).

Any help is very very appreciated.

Thanks,
Ashley

[Peter_W]

Good afternoon @awilson4.

Welcome to the EE Community, and thanks for taking time to explain everything that's been happening here with so much detail. 

Based on what you've mentioned here, am I correct in thinking it's only since switching from traditional fibre (FTTC) to Full Fibre (FTTP) that the latency-based issues first started to occur?

If you haven't checked this already, can you please head to http://192.168.1.254/ when connected to your EE Hub, and check to make sure Full Fibre mode is enabled?

When the Hub Manager loads, select Advanced settings > Broadband, put in the admin password which should be displayed on the card attached to the Hub, then check the setting for Full Fibre mode.

Peter

[awilson4]

Thanks so much for replying Peter.

"Based on what you've mentioned here, am I correct in thinking it's only since switching from traditional fibre (FTTC) to Full Fibre (FTTP) that the latency-based issues first started to occur?"  yes, this is correct. From being moved over to EE from BT it was also an upgrade to FTTP that I received.

I have accessed the settings as per your instructions. I cannot see where Full Fibre would be enabled. Screenshots below!

[Peter_W]

Thanks for checking that @awilson4.

This was definitely an option on previous Hubs, but it could be that this is now enabled by default on the Smart Hub+.

When you last contacted our team how were things left with you?
Peter

[awilson4]

No worries at all, definitely worth checking.

I phoned this morning and I was advised to restart my router (for the 100th time) and that it will be "monitored". I also have a number to arrange a call back if the problem persists, which it of course will. 

I think the problem is on paper the connection is excellent. Good speeds, good coverage etc. It's unfortunately the latency that is the main issue but I'm not sure the best way to communicate this with any agents. 

[Peter_W]

Thanks @awilson4, it's good that you've got the option to forward this on for further investigation. 

We've had a thread on the Community earlier this year where someone has been reporting some similar issues. 

I'd definitely recommend checking this out as there are a few things you can give a go.

Peter

[XRaySpeX]

What does it say on the Home > Status page of the router?

[awilson4]

Hi Ray,

it says this:

[XRaySpeX]

The "FTTX" confirms you are on Full Fibre. You have the 1 Gig ONT.

[noface_]

Hi there not sure if you still need help. But I’m an openreach engineer and it sounds like u been told by the engineer who installed your router where the “best” place for your ONT to be well if you feel your ONT+Router would be better suited closer to where you had your previous connection, contact EE and request a “ONT SHIFT” this will give the engineer the job of moving you’re Full fibre connection to a spot of your choice, now I’m sure you know there’s drilling and cabling required to do this but if you go through a safe route with the openreach engineer I’m sure they’ll help and if the Job comes out as an ONT shift they’re going to have to help anyway lol.

If you go ahead with this option I’m not sure what profile you have for your broadband speeds but if it’s above 1GB you also will need a 2.5ghz ONT just allows for more speed compared to our regular ONT the 2.5Ghz (Nokia) ONT have a orange base for the Ethernet port and if it’s the Adtran brand ONT it’s a thicker more bulky ONT compared to the 1GB Adtran. This route is a much longer route in order to sort your issue but maybe will benefit you in Long run and will likely result in an extra hole or two to be drilled in the property to get your ONT + router to where you want it also once work is done the engineer can take a “light reading” which must be between -12.00db and -29.00db anything in between those numbers means it’s a solid light reading the lower the light reading the better