Hi,I have the symmetrical Gig2 service. Over the past few weeks, I have been experiencing periodic packet drops every hour, specifically around 12 minutes past the hour. Despite having the Hub 5x in router mode, this issue persists.Upon investigation, I noticed that I can replicate these packet drops when I run a samknows/realspeed test. It appears that realspeed is running a test against my line at these intervals. Strangely, when I initiate a download of approximately 20Mbps, the dropout does not occur.I have tested this behavior across different devices, both via Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections. Additionally, I have set up a BQM, which clearly shows the regular drops. The absence of drops during the 20Mbps downloads further supports my suspicion that realspeed testing is causing the issue. How do I get realspeed to stop running tests against my line every hour, as it disrupts the service.Thanks

I can confirm, after 1 week of testing, that this is indeed Samknows related.I'm on a Gig2 package and signed up so I could stream, but unfortunately the hourly packet loss due to Samknows is cutting me off and is making it impossible to stream consistently. I've asked a representative to look into it, and if it can't be fixed I'm leaving the service. Whoever made the decision to use an intrusive service breaking tool like Samknows, needs to be fired.I'm disappointed to see that VirginMedia have known about this all along, yet they play dumb when you phone up and point it out to them. Saying they'll send round an engineer to test cables, etc..

People say I'm wrong yet on this I can only be right QoS on the hub is setup with high Priority tests and our traffic lower it explains the drop in packet loss and they also set it up as same Priority causing a ping spike.The sooner we get modem mode the less people can complain.

Looks like the usual VM remote speed testing of the XGS-PON network to me. Just to add the putting green latency of the new network compared to the usual Docsis performance is very impressive.

Hi. Thank you for your reply. I have tested this with and without devices attached and the behaviour is the same. There is no change on the light of the router. It does not disconnect from the Internet. The broadband becomes unstable during this period. If I am on a voip call then this is interrupted. If I work from home then my citrix connection is also interrupted. The only way that I could prevent this from occurring is to run a continuous download of 2 Mbps. This is annoying as for £90 a month I should not have to do this "workaround". I've previously had BT FTTP to my house and did not experience any issues.Regards

I called the "special team" . They apparently made a few changes to my settings but I was not surprised that this did not work. I have given up hope that they will resolve this. I have seen another user having the same issue. Latency Spikes : r/VirginMedia (reddit.com) . VM should stop this testing as this is affecting the quality of the service! Is this something that can be reported to OFCOM?

Broadband drops every hour, possibly caused by realspeed

42 Replies

haywardgg
Dialled in
11 months ago
They sent out an engineer yesterday. He turned up, late. Did a thorough job though, can't fault him for his professionalism. Unfortunately, he found no fault. But, when I tried to show him the graph and ask him about the RealSpeed too, he wasn't willing to comment either way. I miss the old Virgin Media support, the ones that used to listen and take customers seriously, the days when if you suggested it might be related to X,Y, or Z. They'd take a look and if so, do something about it. They've got until Friday.

I'm posting here, social media and emailing the rep, because I'm not convinced any department is taking this seriously. So, this way, when I write to Ofcom, I can at least prove that I did everything I could.

Even the guy who initially started looking into this for me seems like he's had enough! lol
asim18
Rising star
11 months ago
If VM want to test local bandwidth figures surely they can place their own dedicated test modem in their own cabinets? Why the need to regularly saturate actual end user's bandwidth?
This is a 10-15 minute job from inititial complaint to full resolution. Its amazing that this is still going on.

Has anyone complained to realspeed, perhaps if you ask them to stop interfering with your connection they will try to do something about it?
- haywardgg
  Dialled in
  11 months ago
  Exactly, but from where I'm standing, it looks like they'll priorities this tool over their customers satisfaction. Crazy.
  Samknows are silent about it. No replies 😕
  I feel like now I'm just upsetting people at VM. But if I dont "make a fuss", nothing will get done.
  I'm frustrated it's taken them weeks so far and literally nothing.
  Sky will have faster broadband in my area soon, so I guess not all is lost.
legacy1
Alessandro Volta
11 months ago
Maybe if someone hacked BGP for Samknows servers there will be silence from users😏
- haywardgg
  Dialled in
  11 months ago
  I feel bad for the guy that's acting as the middle-man to my complaints (Samuel). I've been in his shoes and I know how utterly soul-destroying it is to have someone complain day in and day out, and being powerless to do anything more than pass it on to an incompetent tech team.
  Today, I get a reply saying they've been testing the router with Samknows and don't see any faults!! I tried to explain that you can't use samknows to test itself, because the problem occurs DURING the test. (cries a little inside).
  I've shown them this: https://itty.win/gen3 dozens of times, but they dismiss it and say "our samknows tests don't show any packet loss".. There are parts of the graph that (depending on when you view it, as it's live) are clean , those are when I start a 2MB download in the background (using Steam set to 2MB limit, lazy I know lol). If my network is downloading anything above 2MB doesn't kick in, but anything below that and the realspeed kicks in every hour and I get packet loss which affects my voip calls, my gaming sessions and kicks me off my charity streams.
  I wish more people would complain to them about this, because I'm confident this is a larger issue than they're letting on. 😞
- haywardgg
  Dialled in
  11 months ago
  My reply didn't show up, I'm guessing it was the QM link.
  
  "Muhahaha" to your comment 😈
  
  Anyway, I just mentioned how bad I feel for the guy from the executive team trying to sort this out for me. I know how soul destroying it can be to have someone complain day in and day out about the same thing, meanwhile you're powerless to do much more than pass-it-on!
  
  They said they've tested the router with samknows and don't see any issues. I mentioned that you can't test samknows issues with itself. I even sent them my BQM graph. You can clearly see, again, the hourly packet loss.
  
  The two spikes at the start of the graph, are the auto test and one they ran manually (they ran a test and it showed up as a clear 10% packet loss spike, but that's not enough apparently). The gap where there's no packet loss, is where I set a 2MB download via Steam (download a game and set the download limit to 2MB, lazy I know). Where I was able to stream, and use voip. The minute I closed Steam, the hourly packet loss started again. Which mean, packet loss during my voip sessions, lag during CoD (haha, first world problems) and my charity stream got disconnected.
  Surely, I'm not the only one having this issue? It's 100% related to realspeed, though.
legacy1
Alessandro Volta
11 months ago
People say I'm wrong yet on this I can only be right QoS on the hub is setup with high Priority tests and our traffic lower it explains the drop in packet loss and they also set it up as same Priority causing a ping spike.
The sooner we get modem mode the less people can complain.
- haywardgg
  Dialled in
  11 months ago
  I set up the same BQM for one of my clients who also has recently joined virginmedia full fibre, a few streets down from me. I think they're on half gig. They have no idea what's causing the regular lag spikes, which are happening even with nothing connected to the hub. Coincidence?
  - carguy143
    Dialled in
    9 months ago
    Interestingly my connection has gone from half gig to gig1 today and my latency spikes have dropped from 160ms, to 80ms. See after the last drop.
- Anonymous
  11 months ago
  legacy1 wrote:
  People say I'm wrong yet on this I can only be right QoS on the hub is setup with high Priority tests and our traffic lower it explains the drop in packet loss and they also set it up as same Priority causing a ping spike.
  The sooner we get modem mode the less people can complain.
  This is an example where L4S will make a difference. While waiting for it to be implemented (in DOCSIS equipment as well)...
haywardgg
Dialled in
11 months ago
Just wanted to give an update. If you're having the same issue as me, maybe you can convince them to turn off realspeed to see if it clears up the packet loss issues. I obviously don't expect a new service to go without teething problems, and I had a couple of packet loss events even with realspeed turned off, but it's clearly an improvement.
- Odynson90
  Joining in
  7 days ago
  I’m so sorry to necro an old thread, but this has had me pulling hair out.
  Did you manage to get VM to disable their auto speed checks on your line? Or is the “real speed off” BQM your 2mb workaround?
  apologies again, and thanks.
  - legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    7 days ago
    VM can't disable auto speed checks for everyone and they can't give you a simple option to disable the only thing they can get away with is if then add a working modem mode.
haywardgg
Dialled in
9 months ago
The hourly latency spikes and for some, hourly packet loss spikes, are due to the SamKnows speed tests. Virginmedia need to stop being vague and acting like it's the customer (gas lighting) and customers need to stop putting up with it. I've worked in the industry for over 25 years. Trust me. It's not you, it's them.
Gary1981
Joining in
9 months ago
Hello there, is there any fix for the hourly drop outs/spikes?
I have had my gig2 since tuesday and it has been dropping out every hour without fail.
carguy143
Dialled in
7 months ago
Has anyone else noticed they no longer get the hourly ping spikes? Mine stopped on Tuesday
m3geezer
Joining in
6 months ago
no mine are still ongoing and have been for months, even after raising a support call that went down a black hole at Virgin. They know what causes yet refuse to do anything about it and act dumb. Luckily I have two fibre providers I use at home, but is painful that I have to pay for a Virgin connection that I can't use for work as nearly every hour i get vpn drops or Zoom/Temas meeting issues because of this. Can't wait to get rid of Virgin for internet they are absolutely hopeless.