Jitter and packet loss every day for the last few months

I've been having daily jitter and packet loss, I notice it when gaming, having video calls at work and even when just surfing the web, e.g. getting disconnected from chat apps. This is being extremely frustrating.

I'm using an ethernet cable and I have tried restarting the modem (Hub version 3), using it with and without my own router, using modem vs router mode. From Wireshark I didn't get a lot of info, but have seen up to 15s of no packets registered. I used Hyperoptic in my previous address and had 2 years of literally zero jitter and low latency with the same setup (cables, my own router, computer, etc).

BQM from today (Sunday), I have been having heavy jitter between 4pm and 8pm:

Live BQM graph: https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/3df506065f2ed90fc507dbf59591946f2584e0c0

See screenshots for channels after a modem restart, there are no logs around the time jitter was happening today:

(edited mac addresses below)

Zoie_P
2 years ago
Hi debx1,

Thank you for your post and welcome to our forums 🙂
I am so sorry to see you are having issues with your internet and packet loss. I have checked our systems and can see there is an issue with your upstream, that would require a tech. I can get this booked in for you and will pop you over a PM. Just keep an eye out for the little envelope 📩
Thanks,

Zoie

33 Replies

debx1
Tuning in
2 years ago
See some packet loss just now when pinging Twitter:
debx1
Tuning in
2 years ago
Packet loss when pinging Akamai.com:
Client62
Alessandro Volta
2 years ago
At least 4 Upstream channels are expected and all in QAM 64. Here only 2 are present, 1 degraded to QAM 16.

Is there a local service fault ? Check via 0800 561 0061 - it is an automated service.
- debx1
  Tuning in
  2 years ago
  Thanks for the reply. There was no service fault after calling 0800 561 0061. Same from my account in the VM web site (intentionally hidden part of the post code):
  All the 4 URLs/IPs that I'm pinging had packet loss only until 11:30pm yesterday, that's probably a sign of oversubscription in my area, I'll keep running this PingPlotter tool for a few days:
  Updated BQM also clearly shows packet loss from 7pm to 11pm:
  This happens very frequently, I notice it almost every day and it's been really frustrating. Should I ask for a technician to come over and see if there's anything that can be done?
  - Zoie_P
    Forum Team (Retired)
    2 years ago
    Hi debx1,
    
    Thank you for your post and welcome to our forums 🙂
    I am so sorry to see you are having issues with your internet and packet loss. I have checked our systems and can see there is an issue with your upstream, that would require a tech. I can get this booked in for you and will pop you over a PM. Just keep an eye out for the little envelope 📩
    Thanks,
    
    Zoie
debx1
Tuning in
2 years ago
The technician just removed a 3-way splitter that was making the signal weaker, now I see higher power values (~5dBmV instead of ~0) and 4 upstream channels (instead of 2), but only 2 of them are 64 QAM. I'll report back if I'm still having packet loss after a few days. Or else they recommended to ask for a new modem as I have a Hub 3.
- Daniel_Et
  Forum Team
  2 years ago
  Hi debx1, thank you for the update.
  
  How have things been since you posted?
  
  Please pop back to us at your earliest convenience.
  
  Regards,
  Daniel
debx1
Tuning in
2 years ago
Looking better during the following 48h after the visit, no packet loss across the board yet:
- Beth_G
  Forum Team
  2 years ago
  Hi debx1
  
  Thanks for the update. I'm afraid that we cannot see your image as it has been blocked (probably due to having an IP/MAC address on there) however if things seem to be fine for now, that's great. If you need any further help just give us a shout.
  
  Thanks
  
  Beth
debx1
Tuning in
2 years ago
Unfortunately, I had severe packet loss throughout the whole day on Saturday. Here's an image from PingPlotter, which does not contain any personal info, only IPs from external/public domains. Packet loss is represented by the red vertical lines across all 4 first graphs, the last graph is my own router (not the Virgin modem). Would it be possible to swap my Hub 3 for a newer model to make sure that is not where the issue is? Is there anything else you can do?
Anonymous
2 years ago
Are you still having only two upstream channels? Are you doing any unnecessary splitting of the signal, which increases the transmit power?
Only two channels = less capacity, which can lead to higher queueing delays.
To add, one of the channels (16-QAM) is not working at full capacity due to noise.
debx1
Tuning in
2 years ago
I'm having 4 upstream channels and higher power since the technician came in and removed a 3 way splitter (had sent a message earlier in this thread). Then I had no packet loss for ~4 days but it was really bad on Saturday, unusable for some long minutes at night, really frustrating, see screenshot above. Wishing I could upgrade to a new modem to rule that out.
debx1
Tuning in
2 years ago
Today the technician replaced my Hub 3 with a Hub 5, after I had some other issues over the last 2 weeks since the previous technician visit (disconnected from work meetings, dropping from online games, severe packet loss for minutes, etc). The new BQM graph shows lower minimum latency but still some spikes of high latency with the Hub 5:
I'm hoping the Hub 5 will improve further the availability, fingers crossed, I'll report back after a few more days if I still have issues or not.
And I'm not looking for a perfect connection or for perfect measurements, I just don't want to disconnect/freeze during work meetings, live streams and online games multiple times every week.
jpeg1
Alessandro Volta
2 years ago
That BQM shows a moderately busy network connection during the evening. Can you post a live link so we can see what it's like during the day?