Forum Discussion

rolopes76's avatar
rolopes76
On our wavelength
2 months ago

Ongoing Internet and TV Issues – Flashing Lights, Repeated Engineer Visits, and Still No Resolution

I’m reaching out in the hope that someone might be able to help me make sense of this ongoing issue I’ve been having with my Virgin Media internet and TV service.

 

Since moving to my new house in Banbury eight months ago, I’ve experienced repeated service interruptions—at least twice a month, usually on Tuesdays or Wednesdays in the afternoon. Every time, the same pattern occurs:

 

  1. I lose both internet and TV service.
  2. The router begins flashing a white light.
  3. I have to schedule a technician visit (again).
  4. When the technician arrives, they clean the router’s connections with a wipe. Sometimes they even replace the router.
  5. After several attempts—restarting, resetting, etc.—the connection suddenly returns, and we’re all “happy” again…
  6. Until 1 or 2 weeks later—guess what? It happens again. Always on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon.

 

 

Virgin’s app consistently reports that everything is fine—signal is “perfect”, and the router appears to be “online”. However, it’s not working in reality.

 

Calling customer service is frustrating. The chat feature is useless—just an endless loop—and phone support involves waiting 30 to 50 minutes to speak to someone. Once I finally get through, the routine is always the same:

– “Turn off the router.”

– “Wait… turn it back on.”

– “Didn’t work? Let’s reset it.”

– “Still nothing? Okay, we’ll send a technician in 1–2 days.”

 

Then, of course, the same in-home process happens. Sometimes it’s fixed, but only for a short while.

 

Last week, after 8 days with no service, they finally replaced some cables. That didn’t work either. For the first time, the issue was escalated, and someone remotely resolved a “configuration problem” on Thursday afternoon. I was hopeful.

 

But that joy lasted… until Saturday night at 11:30pm, when my wife was watching TV and everything cut out again. This time, I woke up to a flashing red light on the router. And yes—the Virgin app still says everything is working fine.

 

I’ve gone through the usual routine again, and now I’ve got another technician booked—for Tuesday, of course…

 

I’ve been considering switching providers, but I’m genuinely trying to understand the root of this issue. Yesterday, before the red light appeared, I accessed the router (even without internet, I can still access it locally) and saw something odd in the “Network Log”:

 

At the exact time my wife lost signal, the log shows:

“GUI Login Status - Login Success from LAN interface” and

“system.syscfg commit to store”

 

I’ve attached a screenshot of this.

 

 

Can anyone shed some light on what might be going on here? Why is this happening at such regular intervals? What does that system log entry actually mean?

 

I’d really appreciate any insights. I just want to get this resolved once and for all.

Broadband
complaint
Hub5

10 Replies

  • jbrennand's avatar
    jbrennand
    Very Insightful Person
    2 months ago

    Are you on a fibre or DOCSIS service?

    What Hub model do you have?

    Can you do this...

    ______________

    Post up your Hub/network connection details in the format below and someone will check to see if there is a problem there.  In your browser’s URL type in 192.168.0.1  if in router mode or 192.168.100.1 if in modem mode.     No need to log in - just click on the “Router Status” icon/text at bottom-middle (Hub3/4/5) or top/right (SH’s) - of the Login page.

         Then… Navigate to these “data pages” and just copy/paste the normal  “Formatted Text” (not images) 3 FULL sets of data onto here – 2 tables in the Downstream tab, the 2 in the Upstream tab, &  the Network Logs pages.  Don't worry too much about the formatting it can be easily read & DON’T include personal data or MAC addresses - blank them out - if you copy/paste the data, the board software will do this for you (you may need to click the "submit" button again). If character limits are “exceeded” - just do two posts

    Also, If you haven’t already, set up a free, secure and “offlsite”  - “Broadband Quality Monitor” to continually monitor the state of your connection and record any true network dropouts , latency issues, packet drops, etc - it will thus allow you to differentiate between those and simple wifi dropouts.  It does it 24/7/365 and it keeps a visual record of any/all of your network disconnections, useful data to have to match to the Network logs (in your Hub settings) and also in discussions with VM - note it will take a few hours to start seeing a sensible picture - post up the “link” to the “share live graph”.  Click the lower link (Share Live Graph) then, click generate. Copy the text in the Direct Link box, beware, there may be more text than you can see.  On here click the Link icon (2 links chain to the left of the camera icon) In the URL box paste the link you copied and then click OK
     https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality

     

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    2 months ago

    Your screenshot shows you are using a hub5x so you're in the full fibre area, so your TV is IP based and that explains why you loose the TV service at the same time as the internet service..

    I does seem odd that most disconnections occur on  Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, however the red light does indicate problems.  Was the loss of internet on Saturday just wifi, or was it wired devices too?

    The disconnections may be due to dirty fibre optics (even the tiniest amount of dust or dirt on the end of the fibre will affect your internet performance and connection) and although the visiting techs clean the hubs connections with a wipe (hopefully both ends) and have replaced the hub, and  finally replaced some cables, it may be due to the actual nodes at the cabinet (or if an overhead connection on the telegraph pole.)

    • rolopes76's avatar
      rolopes76
      On our wavelength
      2 months ago

      Signal loss occurs for both Wi-Fi and wired connections, every time.

      My Hub is the 5x model, and the technicians say it’s a fibre optic connection. The television depends on the internet signal as well – even the TV box only accepts the internet signal via Wi-Fi.

      Unfortunately, the internet and TV signal dropouts always happen on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

      I have repeatedly informed the technicians who come to my home that it seems to be a configuration issue at some central point, rather than a problem within my home.

      This leads me to believe that there may be a scheduled maintenance routine that causes my signal to drop on these specific days and at these specific times.

      • Roger_Gooner's avatar
        Roger_Gooner
        Alessandro Volta
        2 months ago

        You should demand a full optical power level test at the Hub 5x (Rx power in dBm). If this shows optical power levels are suspect, the fault is outside the home and the tech needs to investigate the fibre from the distribution cabinet to check the fibre drop from the cabinet to the home, test optical power levels from the splitter and potentially reseat connections within that cabinet. If no fault is found then the problem is probably upstream.