29-06-2024 07:37 PM
Last Friday, we eagerly upgraded from 72mb EE internet to Full Fibre Gigabit (900) and have had nothing but issues ever since. We already had a Smart Hub Plus SH31B so EE didn't send new equipment.
We are seeing terribly slow speeds, EE's speed test within their own app often showing 2-4 Mbps (nowhere near the guaranteed 700 Mbps) and Openreach's preferred speed test site fast.com not going higher than 140 Mbps at all. ee.co.uk itself takes almost 2 minutes to load all the images, it looks like I'm back on dialup from the 90s.2 Mbps on EE's own speed test within their app
Packet loss is unbearable and makes gaming impossible, and video streaming on netflix, disney+, amazon prime video is impossible as it constantly buffers, seemingly due to the packet loss.packet loss on Call of Duty PS5 (connected via ethernet)
packet loss on Xbox (connected via ethernet)
traceroute to EE's primary DNS server listed on the SH+
packetlosstest.com result
It's been almost impossible to get any support from EE's "Tech Guides", after the usual "lets try rebooting your router" they want to schedule an openreach engineer to visit. We've had 2 openreach engineers visit now, both have run multiple tests including their full SFFP test which show the line itself reaching speeds of 825 and 900. As soon as we reconnect to EE, speed is crawling again. Openreach have replaced the ONT, swapped the fibre to another port on the CBT, and confirmed no faults or alarms have been noted on the line. The light reading on the fibre into the property reads -15, which is meant to be a good strength. Openreach also rebuilt the config their side, but no change.
Openreach tried to get through to someone higher up at EE to escalate and were told EE would send a new Smart Hub Plus SH31B, we waited for this to arrive and it didn't make any difference either. There literally is nothing else we / openreach can do at our property to eliminate issues so we're stuck hitting a brick wall trying to get EE to investigate further.
What makes it worse, also last Friday our next door neighbour had their full fibre upgrade, 500 Mbps through BT Retail, and they are getting their full service and not experiencing the same problems. They are connected to the same CBT as us (its just us 2 connected as it's only just become available in the area)
EE tech guides claim they've never heard of anyone have such issues, although the Openreach engineers hinted that the majority of their repair calls at the moment are to EE customers with issues not too dissimilar to ours.
Has anyone else had similar issues on EE's Full Fibre service and reached a positive conclusion with EE? Any advice on how best to escalate this would be appreciated
Solved! See the answer below or view the solution in context.
28-06-2024 11:04 PM
The information I put up on the forum is only part of what I use here on the EE Broadband we have.
The pings are useful because this allows me to monitor when reroutes happen in the access and core network. My Ofcom / SamKnows equipment allows me to see when I have drops, latency, download, upload, jitter, and various other things.
Various screens in the EE router allow me to see what impacts the access / backbone network is having on me as a customer.
The biggest issue that all of us have as customers is the if it is not what I would call simple issue - drops on copper / fibre, router miss-behaving, internal wiring issues etc. then the only way to get it fixed is get it escalated. Then there are not many processes / procedures to pass issues in BT Wholesale.
Regards
Infinidim (John)
28-06-2024 11:13 PM
I have looked at the data stream using Wireshark going to a number of locations I use and there are a lot of retransmissions and packet drops which often impact the useability of my apps.
Regards
John
29-06-2024 09:13 PM
Hi John and @evans57,
I'm not sure if you are aware that you can do this but it might be worth connecting a device directly to the ONT to see if that gets the speeds you're paying for. Refer to this for more details on how:
https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/faq/921/
The login details are here: https://ee.co.uk/help/broadband/getting-started/using-and-configuring-a-third-party-router
29-06-2024 10:47 PM
I was aware of the ability to connect to the ONT directly using the method described in the URL's that you posted.
My issue has always been within the core BT network not in the access later - fibre or copper.
My background is actually working with technology and telecoms for quite a while.
Regards
Infinidim
30-06-2024 10:49 PM
Interestingly if I connect to NordVPN, choosing Netherlands in this case, fast.com shows 400 Mbps and things like video streaming works correctly. When disconnecting from NordVPN on the same device, fast.com displays around 100 Mbps but video streaming constantly buffers even on a 30 second 1080p MP4 file (only a couple of mbs)
It seems to be a pretty big routing or peering issue
01-07-2024 12:07 AM
Definitely.
This is a real strange one.
I did some tests to fast.com. As I have NordVPN here and test with and without it. One without it to the UK where the fast.com server is actually in the UK (London it looks like) and one with NordVPN to the Amsterdam where the fast.com server appears to be in the Hague. The performance was actually what I expect speeds / latency etc. given the route that the VPN takes to the Netherlands. I know it will go from the UK AS2856 to the AS5400 in the Netherlands via one of two gatway locations in the UK to the Netherlands. Ironically the route to the Netherlands is all on BT IP networks - both AS's are owned by some part of BT.
The Amsterdam link to fast.com uses one of the Dutch networks to link to AS5400.
That's all I can find out from here.
Regards
John
01-07-2024 12:48 PM
Thank you for your message above regarding using Nordvpn to try speeds outside the UK, and after trying a few countries found that my speed reported by Fast.com was significantly higher than trying direct!!
I changed over from Plusnet to EE to get the 1.6gb service and found some of my local speedtest sites (South Coast sites) were reporting speeds less than half than on my old 900mb service, and initially thought my router was the cause!!
Have now found a few which do report expected speeds, but quite a few are still showing very low speeds ☹️
This definitely needs looking into by the relevant departments.
01-07-2024 01:44 PM - edited 01-07-2024 01:45 PM
Plusnet use exactly the same access copper / fibre as EE and BT Retail as they are part of the BT GROUP.
Also the same backbone for the broadband service.
John
01-07-2024 06:17 PM - edited 01-07-2024 06:18 PM
Hi all,
Posting this here because it sounds very similar to the problems I was having. Upload unaffected, just download.
Story here; https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Broadband-Landline/Routing-problem/m-p/140030
I ended up having an engineer booked to come out on Saturday morning, and at 8.20 I got a text saying ‘we’ve fixed the fault’. No visit needed.
Sure enough, a reboot of the router and ONT and I’m now getting my full speeds.
Unfortunately, because there was no engineer visit, I have no idea what the problem was or what they did to resolve it. But I’m happy for Support to take a look at my account to see it’s something that might be resolved for others.
01-07-2024 06:47 PM
Thanks for updating with your experience @SwannyD2
I've got an "escalated" openreach engineer due to attend on Wednesday, so really crossing my fingers that the right people will now investigate and I will have a similar outcome 🤞🏻