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mrobinson97's avatar
mrobinson97
On our wavelength
8 months ago
Solved

Significant latency and connection problems

Hi all, for the past month at least I have been experiencing lag spikes.

It's most noticeable during video calls for work where I will be disconnected for 20 - 30 seconds and in online gaming, where the ping spikes and I get booted from the game. There's no faults in my area according to the app.

This happens on all wired and wireless devices seemingly. 

I have been trying to troubleshoot this for a week or so and have discovered the BQM tool;

Now I'm no expert, but this cannot be a normal quality of service. I have been on with VM tech support but I don't think resetting my Hub another time is going to help with this.

Any advise is greatly appreciated! 

 

  • mrobinson97's avatar
    mrobinson97
    8 months ago

    Update (Final):

    The issue has been resolved by the 2nd Technician visit. I have delayed updating here in case it was a temporary fix, but my recent BQM is much improved and I haven't experienced any of the issues I was seeing prior to this fix. 

    https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/abe4f4b39d2e14bccf172353081082ee68e598bd-13-09-2024

    So the technician this time basically replaced everything but the Hub, including the converter that @Seph suggested along with moving the port in the cabinet. 

    Technician this time was very good, he ran diagnostics after each replacement and wanted to ensure the issue was resolved before leaving!

    Thanks for your help @Seph, you have helped me learn a few things around network diagnostics that I hope I wont have to use any time soon! 

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  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    8 months ago

    Well when a BQM looks like that its not going to be a simple fix

    you should find out the VM WAN IP gateway your on and BQM it 

  • mrobinson97's avatar
    mrobinson97
    On our wavelength
    8 months ago

    @legacy1 Nope unfortunately not. That's worth a look though!

    I have set up another BQM for the WAN Default gateway listed on my Hub - hopefully that's what you're referring to 🙂

    Will try to update once it's got some data to share.

  • mrobinson97's avatar
    mrobinson97
    On our wavelength
    8 months ago

    Just to follow up;

    BQM for VM WAN

    Completely different story to my personal broadband BQM. I guess this indicates an issue between me and the main network.

     

    Edit: Live link [for the plebs ;)]

    https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/5a0102d2fd6879454c33436a123d5dd50ebdb611

     

  • Sephiroth's avatar
    Sephiroth
    Alessandro Volta
    8 months ago

    Any chance you can post the BQM link as the image awaits mod approval and can't be seen by us plebs?

  • mrobinson97's avatar
    mrobinson97
    On our wavelength
    8 months ago

    Of course!

    https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/5a0102d2fd6879454c33436a123d5dd50ebdb611

     

  • Sephiroth's avatar
    Sephiroth
    Alessandro Volta
    8 months ago

    Presumably the uncorrectable errors on the downstream are still present.  As we can rule out a faulty hub, it must be in the circuit (assuming you're in router mode).  

    Decoding what you've said the technician did, you have FTTP, with what's called RFoG (Radio Frequency over Glass).  There would then be a white media powered convertor to convert fibre to copper (coax).  Did he check that?

    • mrobinson97's avatar
      mrobinson97
      On our wavelength
      8 months ago

      The only cable connections that the technician checked were outside the house and at the back of the Hub. 

      The powered converter was not inspected as far as I know. I went through all of the connections I have access to including these ones and ensured they're were tight but that's about it. 

  • Sephiroth's avatar
    Sephiroth
    Alessandro Volta
    8 months ago

    The convertor is a potential noise source.  But you mentioned that the technician 'cleaned the fibre'.  Those ends go into the convertor.  Can you confirm that you have FTTP so that there is no misunderstanding.  Maybe a photo of what's on your inside wall.

  • Sephiroth's avatar
    Sephiroth
    Alessandro Volta
    8 months ago

    To the best of my knowledge, the fibre comes straight into the house from the street with no coupler in the outside box.  I could be wrong - someone might correct me but I (as VM, which I'm not) wouldn't be wanting to introduce additional "dirt" points for the fibre ends.   

    If your neighbours have no problems, then the convertor becomes #1 suspect right now.

  • mrobinson97's avatar
    mrobinson97
    On our wavelength
    8 months ago

    Update (Final):

    The issue has been resolved by the 2nd Technician visit. I have delayed updating here in case it was a temporary fix, but my recent BQM is much improved and I haven't experienced any of the issues I was seeing prior to this fix. 

    https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/abe4f4b39d2e14bccf172353081082ee68e598bd-13-09-2024

    So the technician this time basically replaced everything but the Hub, including the converter that @Seph suggested along with moving the port in the cabinet. 

    Technician this time was very good, he ran diagnostics after each replacement and wanted to ensure the issue was resolved before leaving!

    Thanks for your help @Seph, you have helped me learn a few things around network diagnostics that I hope I wont have to use any time soon! 

    • Sephiroth's avatar
      Sephiroth
      Alessandro Volta
      8 months ago

      Well done.  It really is a case of the technician’s quality and understanding of fibre networks.  I do this sort of stuff professionally (at design level) but get called in to provide 2nd line support from time to time.  As in you designed it, you fix it.  Always suspect cheap hardware and dirty fibre ends!In the business world, media converters (similar to what’s on your wall) are the ever present pain the butt - and businesses still use them.