https://samknows.com/realspeed/ tests to my Hub 5x usually show download speeds of 1140-1142 Mbps (I am on the Gig1 Full Fibre package). However, since yesterday evening the tests to the hub struggle to achieve more than 250-300 Mbps. I have rebooted the hub a couple of times, including power off/on, but the realspeed downloads to the hub remain slow. I have spoken to Virginmedia support who could not notice anything on their end. Fast.com speeds have dropped from the usual >1Gbps to about 500 Mbps, and https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest is pitiful, 35 Mbps single thread and 230 Mbps multithreaded. Any suggestions on what might be wrong and how to proceed (and convince Virginmedia to have a proper look at this) would be much appreciated.

Having exactly the same issue! Although, I noticed my speeds started to drop about 2 weeks ago and I would loose approx. 100Mbps a day. My last RealSpeed test was 252 down.

Just tried thinkbroadband - not good! (34.6Mbps single, 260Mbps) and even my upload was poor.

Clearly, we have very much the same problem.

No, in fact, it is getting worse, see below for the realspeed test this morning. As I find it unusual that a VM staff member has not looked into this problem so far, yesterday I took the liberty of sending a private message to one of them, providing links to both of our threads, but was reproached for doing so.

Hi again betaspin I'm based in Middlesbrough and have just tested my Gig1 connection using ookla, including two of the same servers you used for comparison, and no issues from this end. (aql Leeds comes up as my automatic server)aql leedsbytemark yorkexa bradfordrazorblue leeds

Sudden drop in SamKnows RealSpeed to router | Virgin Media Community

33 Replies

Client62
Alessandro Volta
2 years ago
Post a screen shot of the result from Realspeed with "Run full test" enabled to demonstrate the issue.
- betaspin
  On our wavelength
  2 years ago
  Here it comes.
AidyM
Dialled in
2 years ago
Having exactly the same issue! Although, I noticed my speeds started to drop about 2 weeks ago and I would loose approx. 100Mbps a day. My last RealSpeed test was 252 down.
- betaspin
  On our wavelength
  2 years ago
  In my case it happened suddenly yesterday evening. What made me run a realspeed test was that the next in a series of Netflix episodes I was watching started in very low resolution. Have you tried the thinkbroadband tests and are you getting very low download speeds there, as well?
  - AidyM
    Dialled in
    2 years ago
    Just tried thinkbroadband - not good! (34.6Mbps single, 260Mbps) and even my upload was poor.
betaspin
On our wavelength
2 years ago
Not surprisingly, the download speed from https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/speed-test is also rather underwhelming... This is more than twice lower than the minimum guaranteed download speed of 565 Mbps shown on https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/our-speeds-explained. I hope that one of the VM representatives here could look into this.
- AidyM
  Dialled in
  2 years ago
  Have you manage to get this fixed?
  - betaspin
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago
    No, in fact, it is getting worse, see below for the realspeed test this morning. As I find it unusual that a VM staff member has not looked into this problem so far, yesterday I took the liberty of sending a private message to one of them, providing links to both of our threads, but was reproached for doing so.
betaspin
On our wavelength
2 years ago
Further decline this evening. Nothing has been fixed despite the promise from the hub 5x support over the phone on Tuesday that the problem in the York area (in YO23 and YO32 and perhaps elsewhere in York) would be resolved within 24 hours. Could a VM staff member have a look into this, please?
- newapollo
  Very Insightful Person
  2 years ago
  Hi betaspin
  It might be an issue with the optical cable since you are on an XGS-PON and using the hub 5X
  Have you used the online /service-status function? You can also a run a test on your equipment from there.
  If nothing is showing you could also try the automated Service Status number 0800 561 0061. This often gives details of more local issues down to postcode level.
  Out of interest have you tried a different ethernet cable in the hub 5x's 10 Gbps port? Also check the desktop's NIC settings as in the screenshots below and make sure they are maximised for your connection.
  EEE Max support speedspeed and duplex
betaspin
On our wavelength
2 years ago
Thanks @newapollo. The online service status and 0800 561 0061 do not show any problems in my area. However, the hub 5x support acknowledged a problem in York over the phone on Tuesday a promised a 24h fix. I have just reset the hub 5x to factory defaults using the VM online trouble-shooter and this did not lead to any improvement. I am sure that there are no internal networking problems, as RealSpeed runs the test on the hub directly, without passing through the internal network. A problem with a dirty optical connector somewhere is a possibility but there is another user in the York area, @AidyM, who is reporting a very similar issue. Another guess is a routing issue or incorrect MTU somewhere.
To add to the confusion, here are a couple of current speedtests which make me think that a VM York routing issue affecting a number of sites, including SamKnows (RealSpeed) is the most likely explanation.
- newapollo
  Very Insightful Person
  2 years ago
  Hi again betaspin
  I'm based in Middlesbrough and have just tested my Gig1 connection using ookla, including two of the same servers you used for comparison, and no issues from this end. (aql Leeds comes up as my automatic server)
  aql leedsbytemark yorkexa bradfordrazorblue leeds
  - betaspin
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago
    Thanks, @newapollo. This is an indication that the problem is a local one. It has been observed in YO23 and YO32 and I hope that VM will be able to do something about it. This could happen sooner rather than later if one of the VM staff members here would be prepared to help. For the record, I have tried all servers available in the Ookla speedtest app and the only one that gives the expected download speed is Exa Networks Limited Bradford. None of the other servers manages to achieve more than a 100 Mbps download, but all provide the full upload speed of just under 110 Mbps.
    Btw, I have never been able to achieve your download speeds from aql Leeds, Bytemark Hosting York and razorblue Leeds which seems to suggest that the way in which I am connected to the VM network has been less than optimal even when I thought that everything was working normally and RealSpeed was giving a download of ~1140 Mbps to the hub.
betaspin
On our wavelength
2 years ago
And I can confirm that there is nothing wrong with the aql Leeds speedtest server and the problem is somewhere in the VM network in York as this is what I am getting this morning from the University of York:
VM staff members, could you please help?
AidyM
Dialled in
2 years ago
Exa on the Windows app:
razerblue on the Website:
razerblue on the Windows app:
All the other servers on the Windows app are similar to this:
- betaspin
  On our wavelength
  2 years ago
  Thanks for checking and I wonder what more could be needed to confirm that there is a VM problem in York that needs to be sorted out. The substantial increase in the ping times for servers other than Exa and razorblue (which is also affected but not as much as other servers) suggests a routing problem.
betaspin
On our wavelength
2 years ago
The slow download speeds are not limited to speed tests. I have just downloaded ubuntu-22.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso and the download speed was hovering between 30-35 MB/s which is way below the speed expected of the Gig1 package (1 Gbps is 125 MB/s). Could one of the VM staff members have a look into this, please?
- AidyM
  Dialled in
  2 years ago
  Same here... downloads are either failing or taking an age. I'm having lot of issues updating local git repos and updating packages.
  Spoke to VM second line again and they stated there was an issue in the area which has now been resolved, and as I'm still having issues they have booked an engineer visit for Monday morning. Don't they normally send out a text message when an engineer visit is booked(?) as I haven't received one.
betaspin
On our wavelength
2 years ago
Just off the phone with VM hub 5x support. They ran a speed test on my hub 5x from their side, confirmed the low speed, asked me to do the pinhole factory reset, ran the speed test again and as there was no improvement, booked an engineer visit for Monday afternoon. They suggested that the hub 5x may need to be replaced. Also just received a text message confirming the booking. I hope that the engineer visit will help identify the problem, whatever and wherever it is. No issues in the area were mentioned during the call.
TheMandalorian
Joining in
2 years ago
I’m also in the York area (YO31) and suffering the same. We are on gig1 but now we are down to 81.4 Mbps (SamKnows). I’ve watched it decline day by day! Our engineer visit was automatically cancelled and the contact centre staff informed us that this is automatic if there is an area fault.
- betaspin
  On our wavelength
  2 years ago
  So most likely it is the whole of York. My SamKnows RealSpeed is now 79.4 Mbps to the hub. Just checked the engineer appointment and it still has not been cancelled.
  - TheMandalorian
    Joining in
    2 years ago
    About 2:30 ish in the morning (I was up with the baby) we lost the internet for 20 mins (router could also have restarted) and we are back to 1gig. Currently 1134 on SamKnows.