Hi folks, I got my new 1gb FTTP installed the other day, VM is new in my area, the connection is maybe 3 days old at this point.I ran some line tests for latency and jitter, as I will be using the line for gaming, straight away I noticed the latency wasn't as good as my VDSL BT, it was okay but definitely slower latency wise to the same servers.here is the BQM, I wonder if with the connection being new that this is some sort of testing phase?

Hi there, We've been advised by our networks team that we’re conducting regular tests on our new XGS-PON network to measure performance. These tests should not be affecting connectivity as they are halted if the system detects you are utilising the network for activities such as gaming. If you are impacted by any connectivity issues, please open a separate thread so we can look into this further. Best,

Just want to say, you're a hero. Not joking I logged in just now to post this graph and ask exactly the same. I'm on a new XGS PON install and my BQM is identical. Looks to be 100ms spikes exactly an hour apart?

If your going to do checks VM you need to not make impact the service its no good you saying it will not impact the service because we bloody know it is you only have to do a check wait 10mins (or when BQM updates) then BQM shows a spike I wonder how that could of happened?

Well yesterday around 4pm the hourly spikes stopped, although the choppy ping is still present, it's definitely an improvement i hope at some point we will see a nice consistent flat ping, we really need it for gaming, especially for FPS shooters

I am wondering actually, as due to a few dropouts I was having since install. I used the websites checker which runs tests against your connection. I did notice however, that this appears to test regularly automatically (potentially hourly?). If you put your postcode and surname in HERE, you can see the timestamp of the last test. It may be that while this test is running over 10 or so seconds, ICMP isn't prioritised and results in what looks like an increase in latency?I pinged OUTWARDS to google.co.uk with constant and left it running while manually running a test and my latency didn't increase. But obviously this could be a representation of how ping is prioritised for incoming requests when something else is happening. It would certainly make sense to me!

New 1GB FTTP with strange regular latency spikes, is it normal?

50 Replies

Riche90
Dialled in
2 years ago
Just want to say, you're a hero. Not joking I logged in just now to post this graph and ask exactly the same. I'm on a new XGS PON install and my BQM is identical.
Looks to be 100ms spikes exactly an hour apart?
Riche90
Dialled in
2 years ago
I am wondering actually, as due to a few dropouts I was having since install. I used the websites checker which runs tests against your connection. I did notice however, that this appears to test regularly automatically (potentially hourly?). If you put your postcode and surname in HERE, you can see the timestamp of the last test. It may be that while this test is running over 10 or so seconds, ICMP isn't prioritised and results in what looks like an increase in latency?
I pinged OUTWARDS to google.co.uk with constant and left it running while manually running a test and my latency didn't increase. But obviously this could be a representation of how ping is prioritised for incoming requests when something else is happening. It would certainly make sense to me!
Lordcast0r
Tuning in
2 years ago
Hi Riche90, thanks for the reply, may I ask how new is your FTTP?
- Riche90
  Dialled in
  2 years ago
  Was installed last Tuesday. So I've got the Hub 5X.. and all the headache that comes with it. I had disconnects every day or so since Tuesday and a complete outage yesterday between 8am-4pm.
Riche90
Dialled in
2 years ago
Doesn’t line up with that time actually and seems to update when I click but I swear earlier it had an earlier timestamp. Still with the frequency being so solid, I have to expect it’s something causing ICMP responses to be delayed or deprioritised. Have you managed to track poor network performance at these specific times? I’ll try tail a constant ping out to a file, track the times and line them up.
Tudor
Very Insightful Person
2 years ago
I saw something like this reported on the board with a Hub5 when they first came out, I think VM were doing some kind of monitoring. Believe it either just went away or there was a firmware update.
Riche90
Dialled in
2 years ago
Yeah it seems too perfect to not be on purpose.. at first I wondered if there was correlation between the average ping riding up to the peak and then dropping at this spike but my graph has them in the middle. I think they're separate things. Mine has continued since.
Riche90
Dialled in
2 years ago
Well mine was consistent, now the graph will be red as my connection is down AGAIN. They cancelled my engineer visit the other day because they said the 8am-4pm issue was widespread and being reported by many. I asked if it was related to my daily outages since install though, to which I was told "maybe it built up to it". Now I have to book an engineer for 2 days away and likely won't have internet again all tonight. 😑
Lordcast0r
Tuning in
2 years ago
Awe man that sucks, nothing worse I can think of than no internet 😂
I still have my VDSL connection ATM, and I won't get rid of it until I know for sure VM is gonna be stable at all hours of the day...
I'm hoping these spikes are just some sort of monitoring that's going on, I didn't do any kind of research to see if others have noticed anything. I haven't had any drops or lag while in game, I did however notice the slightly unstable ping, which led me to doing the tests, but so far no real issues.

I hope you get yours sorted soon
- Riche90
  Dialled in
  2 years ago
  Yeah in discord I keep getting intermittent moments where voice just halts like my connection is dead momentarily.. they are VERY few and far between so not sure if they align with these spikes. I'm going to run a powershell script that pings 1.1.1.1 8.8.8.8 and google.co.uk continuously and tails out to a file. It should also alert me if my ping deviates by more than 50% or I get a no response.
  Silly me ripped the openreach splitter off the wall. In reality now it's getting to the point I would have made do with VDSL until FibreHeroes come round my area in about 4-5 months time and I can go with an alternative provider. This has been beyond shocking so far. Unreliable to say the least and just get parroted 'you should have a backup connection'.
  It's like every pipe in your house spewing water out and someone saying "you should invest in a bucket". Well that's not going to fix the issue and it's not acceptable to have SUCH poor service availability. I absolutely understand nothing is 100% uptime, but it was down for 95% of my work day, so I was patching servers in Australia over 4G... that's what I'm paying for Fibre for, good latency, good bandwidth... and I'm relying on a mast 8 streets and a field away. 😅
  - Lordcast0r
    Tuning in
    2 years ago
    I feel your pain, I remember well my first VM FTTC connection and all the issues that plagued that, terrible customer service, I had hoped that FTTP would be flawless, but perhaps that was incredibly naive of me.
    Now that you mention it I have noticed Discord issues! But I can find no packet loss at all
    
    My VDSL connection has been running really well the last couple of months too, even at peak times, I think it's perhaps everyone local is switching over to fiber so less stress, VM have installed where I live but other parts ofy town have BT going in with telegraph poles, I wonder if switching to BT FTTP would even be possible for me here, is it even an option
Riche90
Dialled in
2 years ago
Anyone from VM come to these forums? Would be good to know what these spikes are. When I get my disconnects sorted, then I’d like to know what these are. Like I said very intermittently in voice or video I do get a big hang, which I think might be at these points once an hour.
Recoil13
Tuning in
2 years ago
For what it’s worth, I too am on an XGS-PON connection (which to be fair has been pretty reliable since I got connected), and it seems I have a similar pattern in latency on the BQM.
- Riche90
  Dialled in
  2 years ago
  Thanks for that! Good to get more data in here. Do you ever have intermittent, as in very rare moments where live voice/video calls hitch? Not offline content.
- Lordcast0r
  Tuning in
  2 years ago
  Hi Recoil13, thanks for the info, can you say how long you have had your connection please?
  - David_Bn
    Forum Team
    2 years ago
    Good Morning Lordcast0r, thanks for your post on our Community Forums, and a very warm welcome to you!
    
    Sorry to hear of the connection issues, experienced so early in your customer journey with Virgin Media.
    
    Can you please provide us with an update on how the services are currently performing for us?
    
    Further BQM graphs are welcome
    
    Thanks,
    
    David_Bn