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dinth's avatar
dinth
Dialled in
5 years ago

UDP issues on SuperHub3 - collective thread

Hi. I decided to open a collective thread for UDP issues on SuperHub3, as it seems that many users are pestered by them, the impact is high and Virgin Media is not aware or fails to acknowledge the issue so far (they've been trying to fix my issues for a past year and nobody ever suggested that this has anything to do with UDP packets, until i found whats exactly the issue on my own).

This is the main thread for those issues was this one: https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/My-350Mb-connection-is-throttled-to-10Mb/td-p/3953746/page/15 but it was originally created over a year ago and has a slightly misleading title. 

What we know so far:

1. The issue only occurs on SuperHub3 (and reportedly on SuperHub4) modem. SuperHub2 users are not affected. 

2. The issue occurs if an app/service is using an UDP connection to the internet. Examples of such apps: BBC Iplayer app, most online games, Microsoft Teams, Skype, third party VoIP apps, all kinds of VPN apps, torrent download apps. 

3. All UDP connections are performing very badly on Superhub3 modem, but also whenever there's a significant UDP traffic passing through the modem, other, non-UDP internet connections are slowed down to crawling speeds.

4. Depending on an user, the reported slowdowns are to between 10Mbps and 2kbps (!) speed measured through Speedtest. At the same time ping times go up all the way to 2000+ ms and huge packet losses (sometimes over 40%) occur. In other words, even web browsing is not possible if there's a significant UDP traffic going on through modem. 

5. VM street level fixes do not fix the problem - i had a whole uplink cable between CATV manhole and Virgin Media cabinet replaced by VM and it has not fixed the issue.

6. Replacing a modem does not fix the problem either - replacement SuperHub3 modems also have same issue.

7. Here's how the issue looks like on ThinkBroadband/Speedtest with just 1Mbps of UDP traffic flowing through the modem:

It's really sad, that Virgin Media fails to acknowledge this problem, as hundreds, if not thousands of people may be severly affected by it. The advice VM is giving out to the users is unhelpful and sometimes harmful (I've been told i need to chase the walls in the newly refurbrished house to replace my VM cable and desperate to fix the problem I have done that). Just look how many threads are being open on this forum describing similar issues with apps using UDP connections. 

 

Microsoft Teams
superhub3
torrent
UDP
voip
vpn

192 Replies

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  • janskit's avatar
    janskit
    On our wavelength
    4 years ago

    Hi folks,

    Just received my hub3 to replace the superhub 2 ac and what a mistake upgrading to 350mb was. Should've kept 200mb and SH2ac as it's a much more stable modem.

    The moment a single torrent download is initiated the connection stumbles. using Wireguard VPN to connect to torrent site is better but still a suboptimal experience.

    I am using modem mode and Edgerouter erlite-3 and initially I thought perhaps it cannot handle the traffic as I have multiple VLAN's on it, several dhcp servers etc but I'm pretty sure router is not the issue here. 

    I guess the question to VM is - when can one try out Hub5!

    • Kath_P's avatar
      Kath_P
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      4 years ago

      Hi janskit, 

      Thanks for your post and apologies to hear you're having an issue since swapping Hubs. 

      I'm happy to take a look in to things but I've been unable to locate your account via your forum credentials. I will need to confirm some information with you in order for me to proceed with checks.

       

      I have sent you a private message regarding this and will investigate further once I receive your reply. Just click on the little plum envelope at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox.


      Thanks,
       

      • dinth's avatar
        dinth
        Dialled in
        4 years ago

        Hi Kath. Nice to see that someone from VM staff actually reads this topic, but im afraid that your offer to help is just meant to take discussion about @janskit issue offline. I have been very vocal about this issue since i upgraded to SH3 a few years ago and here we are, few years have passed, i have made countless escalations - including the regulatory body which gave you a set time to resolve my issue and you failed to that - and yet, my issue is still not resolved. Same story with dozens of other users in this thread and potentially hundreds of users who dont know about this thread. 

        Your users have actually done all the work here, found an issue, came up with a troubleshooting procedure that can be used to confirm the issue, ways of reproducing the issue and even told you what you need to do to fix the issue - which is swapping the modem for SH2 or SH5. And yet, VM is still refusing to do that, probably because you dont want to acknowledge that there was an issue with SH3/4 in the first place. 

        Kind regards

    • Kath_P's avatar
      Kath_P
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      4 years ago

      Hi janskit, 

      Thanks for coming back to me with your details via private message. 

      I have gone in to your account and checked the Hub itself and all is looking good. Your power levels and signal levels are all optimal, the uptime on the hub is good and I'm not seeing any issues within the area either. 

      I know you mentioned in your PM that switching back to Router mode is not something you wish to consider right now but as everything is looking as it should be, the next step is to take out any third party equipment to check if this is causing issues. When you get a chance to do this, please post here and let us know so we can then monitor things further. 

      In terms of the Hub 5, there is no news on when these are being released to a wider customer base as of yet. Those who have the connection/account suitable have already been contacted. Once we do have more news on this, we'll be sure to let you know. 

      Thanks,

       

      • janskit's avatar
        janskit
        On our wavelength
        4 years ago

        Hi Kath,

        Thanks for the message. As I mentioned in the message, the signal levels were good and overall modem looks fine, it's the particular usage scenario that makes it trip over itself. Unfortunately I guess you don't have the tools and/or knowledge to address the actual issue here.

        No, I won't switch it to Router mode because honestly the functionality is so limited that it doesn't deserve this name. I guess you called it a "HUB" for a reason.

        The router I use was perfectly fine handling the use i subject it to on a slower connection (200mbps) when paired with the Superhub2 ac. It does have the processing power to handle much more than it currently does in terms of conncurrent connections.

        Cheers

        J

         

         

  • a_gulliver's avatar
    a_gulliver
    Joining in
    3 years ago

    Probably an unusual but related problem. Virgin just foisted a Hub 3 on me, and upon installation one of my devices refuses to work.

    I have a "Spectranet" ethernet adaptor for the 1980s 8-bit Sinclair ZX Spectrum. This is a brand new piece of hardware for putting a vintage computer online, and it worked perfectly PnP with the Hub 2. Everything worked with the Hub 2. The Spectranet won't work with the hub 3. It initially connects and gets  an IP number but cannot communicate with any sites. Some research suggests the device uses UDP. This is a bit beyond my knowledge, out of my depth. 

    Can anyone help? I tried re-installing the Hub 2 with the intention of throwing the hub 3 back at Virgin but it now refuses to work at all, with any device. 

    • dinth's avatar
      dinth
      Dialled in
      3 years ago

      Respect buddy. Can you do a ping or something from your Spectrum? Maybe it's DHCP, like wrong dnses?

      • a_gulliver's avatar
        a_gulliver
        Joining in
        3 years ago

        I'm not sure it's possible to ping from the Spectrum. 

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    Try getting a router with 1Gb ports and put hub in modem mode

  • dinth's avatar
    dinth
    Dialled in
    2 years ago

    Regarding the original issue - I have upgraded my broadband to 1gbps and got SH5 which fixed all the issues with udp

    • 1979Damian's avatar
      1979Damian
      Dialled in
      2 years ago

      Unfortunately when I upgraded to 1gbps around 18 months ago, VM forced customers making that upgrade to take a SH4 (due to some issue at the time with the SH5 and VMs mesh solution).

      Ironically, even if you didn't have a mesh network, VM insisted on saddling the customer with another so-called 'SuperHub' that once again contains the flaws Intel Puma SOC that craps itself when decent volumes of UDP traffic are sent its way. Not sure I can face dealing with VMs telephone operatives, just to try and get a SH5 TBH.