Internet keeps cutting out on wired ethernet connection.

[11aidandawes]

On Monday 1st April, the internet was down for everyone in my postcode, it came back on 2nd April at around noon but since then my internet has been randomly cutting out on my PC every few minutes which is connected directly to the Hub4 router via ethernet cable. The task bar in the bottom right does not say I have lost connection to the internet or anything but games and apps such as Discord fully freeze up/cut out so I am definitely getting 100% packet loss or fully losing connection.

I've attached two clips showing my issue below, please see the links below, if you aren't familiar with this game it may be a little hard to follow but you can see me lose connection, the characters either freeze or continue to walk in one direction before teleporting to where they're supposed to be. (You can see a red square with a warning symbol in it on the left in the first clip at around 0:04 seconds as well as a lightning bolt symbol which I know means bad/lost connection to the server and at 0:05 there is an icon on the left with 3 orange rectangles that signify packet loss. Same for the second clip.

This happens literally every few minutes:

https://streamable.com/syphlo

https://streamable.com/sjnst7

I've shared my experience both in this forum and on the Virgin Media subreddit over the past couple of weeks but haven't been able to fix the issue I am facing. I will provide my Broadband Quality Monitor below but I don't think the issues are represented on there somehow. 

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/0c17ac529c00d48229d05cbf74cafcee34...

I have factory reset my router multiple times since the problems started occuring and even bought a brand new ethernet cable yesterday and even with both of these things taken into account I'm getting the same issues still. I'm thinking about purchasing a brand new coaxial cable too just to be fully sure it's not any of my own equipment.

I had ZERO issues prior to the maintenance in my area on April 1st and there isn't any more maintenance scheduled for my area so I'm not sure what's happening. One thing that may be of note or just some strange coincidence is that about a week after the issues started, there was an electric power outage in my area and once the electricity came back on for everyone my internet was actually perfectly fine for about a day before returning to my previous problems.

It's been 18 days now and I'm still having issues, any advice of any sort would be very much appreciated and I'd be more than happy to give any further info that is required.

Thank you very much everyone.

[jpeg1]

That's an unusual BQM. The latency is pretty good with few significant delays BUT with a constant low level of lost packets. 

These could be the cause of your gaming problems. 

It would be useful to see your upstream and downstream and router logs. 

[11aidandawes]

Hi there,

Thank you very much for the help, please see below upstream, downstream and router logs.
(may have to send across multiple replies) 

3.0 Downstream channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID

25	331000000	0.900002	38.605377	QAM256	25
1	139000000	4.199997	38.605377	QAM256	1
2	147000000	3.799999	38.605377	QAM256	2
3	155000000	3.799999	38.605377	QAM256	3
4	163000000	3.299999	38.605377	QAM256	4
5	171000000	3.000000	38.605377	QAM256	5
6	179000000	2.799999	38.983261	QAM256	6
7	187000000	2.900002	38.983261	QAM256	7
8	195000000	2.700001	38.983261	QAM256	8
9	203000000	2.599998	38.605377	QAM256	9
10	211000000	2.599998	38.605377	QAM256	10
11	219000000	2.799999	38.983261	QAM256	11
12	227000000	2.799999	38.983261	QAM256	12
13	235000000	2.799999	38.983261	QAM256	13
14	243000000	2.599998	38.605377	QAM256	14
15	251000000	2.599998	38.605377	QAM256	15
16	259000000	2.799999	38.605377	QAM256	16
17	267000000	2.799999	38.983261	QAM256	17
18	275000000	2.599998	38.983261	QAM256	18
19	283000000	2.200001	38.983261	QAM256	19
20	291000000	2.099998	38.983261	QAM256	20
21	299000000	2.000000	38.983261	QAM256	21
22	307000000	1.799999	38.605377	QAM256	22
23	315000000	1.400002	38.605377	QAM256	23
24	323000000	1.099998	38.983261	QAM256	24
26	339000000	0.900002	38.983261	QAM256	26
27	347000000	0.900002	38.605377	QAM256	27
28	355000000	0.599998	38.983261	QAM256	28
29	363000000	1.000000	38.983261	QAM256	29
30	371000000	1.099998	38.983261	QAM256	30
31	379000000	1.200001	38.605377	QAM256	31
32	387000000	1.200001	38.983261	QAM256	32

3.0 Downstream channels

Channel Lock Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors

25	Locked	38.605377	0	0
1	Locked	38.605377	0	0
2	Locked	38.605377	0	0
3	Locked	38.605377	0	0
4	Locked	38.605377	0	0
5	Locked	38.605377	0	0
6	Locked	38.983261	0	0
7	Locked	38.983261	0	0
8	Locked	38.983261	0	0
9	Locked	38.605377	0	0
10	Locked	38.605377	0	0
11	Locked	38.983261	0	0
12	Locked	38.983261	0	0
13	Locked	38.983261	0	0
14	Locked	38.605377	0	0
15	Locked	38.605377	0	0
16	Locked	38.605377	0	0
17	Locked	38.983261	0	0
18	Locked	38.983261	0	0
19	Locked	38.983261	0	0
20	Locked	38.983261	0	0
21	Locked	38.983261	0	0
22	Locked	38.605377	0	0
23	Locked	38.605377	0	0
24	Locked	38.983261	0	0
26	Locked	38.983261	0	0
27	Locked	38.605377	0	0
28	Locked	38.983261	0	0
29	Locked	38.983261	0	0
30	Locked	38.983261	0	0
31	Locked	38.605377	0	0
32	Locked	38.983261	0	0

3.1 Downstream channels

Channel Channel Width (MHz) FFT Type Number of Active Subcarriers Modulation (Active Profile) First Active Subcarrier (Hz)

159

96

4K

1840

QAM4096

759

3.1 Downstream channels

Channel ID Lock Status RxMER Data (dB) PLC Power (dBmV) Correcteds (Active Profile) Uncorrectables (Active Profile)

159

Locked

39

-4.5

537990165

208

[11aidandawes]

3.0 Upstream channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID

1	49600000	45.020599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	1
2	23600000	43.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	5
3	30100000	43.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	4
4	36600000	44.020599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	3
5	43100000	44.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	2

3.0 Upstream channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	US_TYPE_ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	US_TYPE_ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	US_TYPE_ATDMA	0	0	0	0
4	US_TYPE_ATDMA	0	0	0	0
5	US_TYPE_ATDMA	0	0	0	0

3.1 Upstream channels

Channel Channel Width (MHz) Power (dBmV) FFT Type Modulation

6

10.0

47.5

2K

QAM128

3.1 Upstream channels

Channel Channel Type Number of Active Subcarriers First Active Subcarrier (Hz) T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

6

OFDMA

200

53.9

0

0

[11aidandawes]

Network Log

Time Priority Description

Fri Apr 19	6	CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 24; Chan ID: 159; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: 1.;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
Fri Apr 19	3	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
Thu Apr 18	6	CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 24; Chan ID: 159; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: 1.;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
Thu Apr 18	6	US profile assignment change. US Chan ID: 6; Previous Profile: ; New Profile: 11.;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
Thu Apr 18	5	DBC-REQ Mismatch Between Calculated Value for P1.6hi Compared to CCAP Provided Value;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
Thu Apr 18	6	CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignore: (TLV-9) , (5-85) ;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
Thu Apr 18	5	MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;
Thu Jan	3	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;

[jpeg1]

It looks like your Hub had a factory reset on Thursday. The stats are all normal except for the 3.1 Upstream channel. That might explain the constant lost packets.  I think you are going to need a technician visit, and probably a new Hub. 

[jpeg1]

Correction to my last. Having checked again I don't think that upstream reading is causing your problem. But your live BQM is still having regular packet loss, which should not happen.

You really need a technician visit to sort this out. Perhaps a VM person can pick this up and help. 

[Sephiroth]

The BQM tells me that your locality is busy on the Internet when the upstream latency (blue) is densest.  That said, we’ve seen much worse.  But Jpeg1 has spotted the consistent low level packet loss across the 24 hours which is not significantly denser during the busy hours.  This suggests noise and its is usually the upstream frequencies that are more prone to noise.  

The Forum Team need to arrange a tech visit and need to take the BQM into account.  It would help to post ta new BQM to show that this lost packets happen all the time.

If the problem was in the downstream, it would show as Post-TS errors.

[11aidandawes]

Hi Sephiroth,

Please see below my BQM for today:https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/81d2668b837c5d1c25f275155ddea6b646...

I'm talking in private messages with a VM person as we speak to arrange a technician visit however they've told me that if they find the issue is my equipment and not theirs they're going to charge me £25?? So for that reason I want to make sure I've done everything I can to try to fix this myself before concluded that it's a fix Virgin Media need to do. Any advice?

I also asked to switch my Hub4 for a Hub5 but they told me there would be another extra charge for this, despite me being told that there are faults with the Hub4 by multiple people online so it seems a bit unfair for them to charge me for me having issues with their service. It's just a bit of a nightmare really.

Any advice on stuff I can try before a technician visit? Thank you very much for the help btw.

[Sephiroth]

The BQM still shows the small but persistent packet loss.  I assume that you are in router mode so that there is no third party equipment involved; right?

One thing you could do, and it would be valuable, is to see what's happening with a neighbour.  The techs won't find anything wrong with your circuit unless they put a noise meter on - but it helps to have a neighbour's BQM so that they can get the matter referred to Network Team.