Latency spikes and packet loss spikes EVERY hour for the past 18 months.

Never had this issue when the house was on a GIG1 (HUB4) plan in my dads name. 18 months ago I switched to M350 (HUB3) in my name for a better price as an new customer. Same address, same wiring etc, nothing changed physically on the set up. I run the hub in modem mode and use a Deco x20 as my router. Zero issues or drop outs in normal day to day stuff, it's just when gaming and you could almost set your watch by the frequency of it.

Every single hour without fail, for about 30 seconds, I'll have huge ping spikes and huge packet loss making my games unplayable in that moment, before it all settles down like nothing has happened. Most noticeable on Rocket League and PUBG. Every hour there will be 30 seconds where everything just goes to **bleep** and I can't move or do anything. It's cost me more games/goals than I can count and frankly I'm really fed up with it now. Ping will jump from 40 to 1000+, packet loss will jump in to the red and I will sound like a robot in party chat. Everything in the Series X connection settings is as it should be, open NAT, low ping, no packet loss etc.

It makes no difference if I'm hardwired or over wireless, it happens regardless. I know it's my end as my partner I play with has no issues on their end as I'm being thrown around and sounding like a robot over comms to them, telling me it isn't on the games server side.

I remember reading a post here a while back, from somebody on GIG1 who said he had to contact virgin and ask to be opted out of some random speed test thing they do each hour? I can't remember the full details of the post but I'm not sure if it would apply to me on a M350 plan on a HUB3, I'm pretty sure he said it was exclusive to the GIG1 and the latest hub. He concluded it was Virgin sending packets periodically to the router to measure performance/speed and it was also hindering his gaming sessions in the same way it is mine. He opted out and his issues ceased.

This has been going on for the best part of 18 months now and I've done countless resets of the whole system, I've tried wireless vs wired, I've tried using the HUB3 in both router mode and modem mode, nothing fixes it. I do have broadband quality monitoring (BQM) set up and it doesn't show problems, my connection is always online except for big outages that everybody in the area will get. Does this Virgin sending packets to the router ring any bells with anybody? Could they also be doing it to a HUB3 on M350?

This 30 second period of madness is exactly the same every time, making me think it isn't random. It's pretty much 30 seconds of every hour, my ping will shoot right up, in the red, and packet loss the same, as I get thrown around the map/arena without touching my controller, rendering me completely useless until it settles down and then plays like nothing has happened for the next hour. Rinse and repeat.

I would appreciate any guidance before I have to get on the phone to Virgin, for them to no doubt tell me everything looks fine on their end, as for 99.99% of the time, the connection is fine and I can game as normal.

TLDR - Huge ping spikes and packet loss for 30 seconds of every hour. Pretty much a pattern for the best part of the last 18 months.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any input!

packetloss

ping spike

21 Replies

legacy1
Alessandro Volta
3 months ago
Before we blame VM lets have the PC to the hub in modem mode no router. run
ping -t 192.168.100.1
and
ping-t 194.168.4.100
as your playing and check for high ping
Some routers have a useless lets find the MAX bandwidth by doing a speed test to then set the QoS limit which is a useless thing because it causes a ping spike when it does the check.
even if its not that any other device you don't know about pegging your MAX speed can cause a ping spike unless a well set QoS/BWM is setup correctly and that the bandwidth is available.
you also say BQM looks fine so might be a routing issue that is causing this.
- klayton88
  On our wavelength
  3 months ago
  I'm not on a PC, I'm on Xbox Series X. There is only myself on the network, which consists of a phone, a laptop and a TV, none of which are in use when I'm gaming.
  How can I run ping tests to the Xbox?
Carley_S
Forum Team
3 months ago
Hi klayton88

Welcome back to the Community Forums.

Sorry to hear of your connection concerns when playing on your Xbox.

Do you find this only happens on certain games or are you experiencing this on all games you're playing?

Checking the systems on our side we aren't able to run the full checks as our router is in modem mode. Just to double-check, do you have your Xbox connected to a third-party router?
- klayton88
  On our wavelength
  3 months ago
  My router is in modem mode yes, using a Deco x20 as the router. Never had issues using this set up when the house was GIG1 with a Hub4. Now I'm M350 with a HUB3, still running in modem mode because the speeds and coverage were abysmal with the HUB3 over WIFI.
  I only really play a handful of games but the most noticeable are multiplayer games which require a steady ping, Rocket League, COD, PUBG.
  I've ran the HUB3 in both modem mode and router mode, wired and unwired, and for about 30 seconds of every hour I'll get massive lag spikes and packet loss before it settles down like nothing has happened. No connection drops, no low speeds, just 30 seconds of madness where it ruins my games. It isn't the Deco unit as it happens when using the HUB3 in router mode, wired or unwired too.
  See attached pictures from the last few days from BQM.
  - Matthew_ML
    Forum Team
    3 months ago
    Thank you for reaching back out and letting us know this.
    
    We cannot guarantee our equipment to work with any 3rd party kit and when it does we don't expect it work 100%.
    
    I've taken a look and I can see your levels are very good, how has this been since Monday?
JymboCloud
Just joined
16 days ago
VM are definitely doing disruptive routine jobs on their network. Here are my Broadband Quality Monitor graphs. Like clockwork the packet loss hits, games are disrupted, calls can be interrupted etc. I only used ethernet connectivity and not wifi, although this BQM is measured externally and therefore excludes my equipment. I have a 2.2 Gbps link and that performs beautifully except for the hourly slabs of packet loss.
- legacy1
  Alessandro Volta
  16 days ago
  Guess VM are blind and they don't listen so deaf too
- Kath_P
  Forum Team
  13 days ago
  Hi JymboCloud,
  
  Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐
  
  We're sorry to hear hear you're having issues with your connection. Checking things here, your hub is showing that all power levels and signal levels are within optimal. The disconnections, packet loss, speed and latency are all also showing within optimal levels.
  
  Do you currently have any additional networking equipment connected to the hub i.e. Network Switches/third party router? If so, please remove these and connect the device directly to the hub. It is important we are testing the intermittent connection with the device connected directly to the Hub via an ethernet cable without any additional equipment connected.
  
  Once you've removed any third party equipment, we need to complete a Pin hole reset of the Hub in an attempt to resolve any unfound issues. Do this by holding a pen in the reset hole on the back of the Hub for 30 seconds. This will reboot the Hub and reset all Hub settings to default. If you have made any changes to the Hub's wireless settings you may need to reconnect your wireless devices to the Hub as the WiFi settings will now be back to default.
  
  If things don't improve after doing this, as our diagnostics on your home network and Hub have not found any issues that could account for connection drop-outs, it will likely mean that the issues are most likely due to the equipment being used in the home.
  
  Keep us posted on how you get on.
  
  Many thanks,