Virgin Media Community

[CarlosOwen]

Hello,

For about 5 or 6 weeks now I've been having seriously bad ping issues when playing games. Counterstrike GO is the main one I play.

I have a 200mb connection and it happens even when I have 100mb download and around 10mb upload speed.

My neighbour opposite who also has Virgin is also having the exact same problem. Our pings spike at the same time. Other people in my local area who also play with us also having similar issues.

We've tried everything. Goes without saying we're all particularly unhappy. What can we do?

[Andruser]

Sounds like an area issue.  What can you do? 

1) You or somebody else has probably tried raising a customer service request?  And has that got any result or response?  Is there a known problem with a review date?  You've checked on line for the service status to see if there's any issues?

2) Gather more evidence - always easier to get a problem fixed if there's clear data that highlights a problem.  So got to Thinkbroadband, create an account, set up a broadband quality monitor, let it run for 24-48 hours, see what that shows/  Have a look at your hub's status page - post the contents of the tabs titled Downstream, Upstream, Network log in three replies here and somebody will see what that shows and advise.

3) If you feel you've exhausted VM's ability and willingness to help, leave and get an Openreach connection, which will always beat a cable connection for latency (although the problems you describe sound resolvable if VM can be bothered).  Depends on what you want, of course - VM offer fabulous bandwidth when the service is working, but latency is inherently patchy because of the radio frequency technology used between the street cabinet and customers' properties.  

[CarlosOwen]

Hey Andruser,

This is really helpful. Thank you.

1) I've tried to call - no call centres open of course. I've tried to raise on the website, but says all working fine so can't raise any kind of ticket. Any other idea on how I might raise a customer service request with Virgin? There's no known problem. No service status issues.

2) I've just signed up to Thinkbroadband and will monitor over the weekend. Thanks! Will grab bits from the hub's status post and put it all together in this thread in 48 hours' time.

3) I'd love to leave, but think getting an Openreach connection at the moment would be difficult (and I'd probably have to pay to exit Virgin - contract ends next January unfortunately. Ideally I'd like to go for a FTTP connection in the future. Interesting point about the radio frequency - thx for sharing.

[Andruser]

Looks like it's a waiting game, unfortunately.  The response times from VM staff through these forums is highly variable at the moment, but probably the fastest you'll get (although that was true before coronavirus issue).  

Let the BQM run, use the internet as normal, see what it shows, and post a link to a snapshot chart here.  There's plenty of people round here able to infer what's going on from a BQM (and don't forget the hub status figures).  But I note your comment about "even when I have 100 Mb download speed".  This and the comments about neighbours suggest this could be an area over-subscription problem (the BQM usually proves this or not), but if you're only getting 100 Mbps on a 200 deal, then you could invoke VM's minimum speed guarantee.  Assuming that you're measuring speed on a wired connection and you can show any instance of 106 Mbps or less, VM will have to either fix it to achieve at least 107 minimum, or let you leave without penalty.  But bear in mind that in the current world, things move slowly, so don't hope for a quick fix, unless this happens to be known area fault or over-subscription and there's a planned fix.

[KP-11]

3) Interesting... I thought Virgin Media is also fibre? I just got a letter saying CommunityFibre is installing gigabit connections in my area.

[jem101]

VM is more accurately described as HFC which is Hybrid Fibre Coax. It's copper coax cable from your modem to the street cabinet, in the cabinet is an amplifier and another (heavier) coax cable linking it to the next street cabinet and so on until it arrives at a cabinet with a RF to fibre converter, then it's fibre back to the headend and out to the internet.

[Andruser]

I am under the impression that some of the newer build out areas are FTTP, so no coax. 

But any established VM service area, even for a new installation, that'll certainly be coax to the premises.  Back in it's day (pre-2000), coax cable was THE broadband technology to beat.  Now, well, think about the initials: CATP.  Cable has had its day, but until you've got a genuine FTTP alternative, it may still be the best option if you prefer bandwidth over latency.

[jem101]

---

@Andruser wrote:

I am under the impression that some of the newer build out areas are FTTP, so no coax. 

But any established VM service area, even for a new installation, that'll certainly be coax to the premises.  Back in it's day (pre-2000), coax cable was THE broadband technology to beat.  Now, well, think about the initials: CATP.  Cable has had its day, but until you've got a genuine FTTP alternative, it may still be the best option if you prefer bandwidth over latency.

---

Yes, that's true and I almost went back to edit my post above after typing it to mention that but got distracted and forgot! But the majority of VM subscribers will still be connected via coax so the description is still suitable for most.

[CarlosOwen]

Here's a 24 hour snapshot. Will leave it running for another 24 hours and update on Monday evening.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/09f31cf264bba98e7ac8e2407e2de22f5a...

[CarlosOwen]

Downstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID

1	659000000	2.9	38	256 qam	32
2	475000000	4.4	40	256 qam	9
3	483000000	4.3	38	256 qam	10
4	491000000	4	38	256 qam	11
5	499000000	4	40	256 qam	12
6	507000000	4.1	40	256 qam	13
7	515000000	4.3	40	256 qam	14
8	523000000	4.3	38	256 qam	15
9	531000000	4	40	256 qam	16
10	539000000	4	40	256 qam	17
11	547000000	4	38	256 qam	18
12	555000000	3.9	38	256 qam	19
13	563000000	3.7	38	256 qam	20
14	571000000	3.5	38	256 qam	21
15	579000000	3.5	38	256 qam	22
16	587000000	3.7	38	256 qam	23
17	595000000	3.4	38	256 qam	24
18	603000000	2.7	38	256 qam	25
19	611000000	2.7	38	256 qam	26
20	619000000	2.7	38	256 qam	27
21	627000000	3	38	256 qam	28
22	635000000	3	38	256 qam	29
23	643000000	3	38	256 qam	30
24	651000000	2.7	38	256 qam	31

Downstream bonded channels

Channel Locked Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors

1	Locked	38.9	175707	0
2	Locked	40.3	28232	0
3	Locked	38.9	34624	0
4	Locked	38.9	38801	0
5	Locked	40.3	41790	0
6	Locked	40.3	42210	0
7	Locked	40.3	51643	0
8	Locked	38.9	50695	0
9	Locked	40.3	57981	0
10	Locked	40.3	62424	0
11	Locked	38.9	67557	0
12	Locked	38.9	72371	0
13	Locked	38.9	73916	0
14	Locked	38.9	89172	0
15	Locked	38.9	91702	0
16	Locked	38.9	95467	0
17	Locked	38.9	113606	0
18	Locked	38.9	129335	0
19	Locked	38.6	121579	0
20	Locked	38.9	134955	0
21	Locked	38.6	139730	0
22	Locked	38.9	171917	0
23	Locked	38.9	166172	0
24	Locked	38.9	154289	0