Forum Discussion

NoGGy's avatar
NoGGy
On our wavelength
2 years ago

Poor Line Quality Gaming

I had 500mb fibre installed recently (last month) and have great download and upload speeds. Getting on average 550mbps down and 55mbps up. This is fairly consistent. 

Streaming video etc is fine, although on occasions it does buffer. However, when it comes to gaming, its an absolute bloody night. I play CS, Battlefield etc. Any form of online shooter is a pain to play. Its playable with an average ping of around 15-20ms, but I get regular spikes up to 150ms/200ms for 2-3 seconds and it drops down again. I currently have a new Hub 5x, which I think could be the cause of the problems, but I am not sure. Just to provide some evidence, I have run a number of line quality tests, with mixed results. As you can see, its shocking. These tests are done 30 seconds apart and its terrible. 

The same happens when its plugged in. I also also run the same tests on a different internet connection and via my mobile and I don't get any of these issues. 

 

  • NoGGy's avatar
    NoGGy
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    Further results from another source @8pm. 

    Never had any of these sort of issues with BT

     

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    You need modem mode to stop VM doing speed tests to hub

    • NoGGy's avatar
      NoGGy
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago

      Hi Alessandro, do you know if this actually resolves the issue? I have seen comments from people who said they did all of that, also had multiple engineers out and still never got this issue resolved. 

  • harveyl12's avatar
    harveyl12
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    Do you mind me asking roughly where you live as I live in chesterfield and its where the network is brand new and only came available arund 3-4 months ago for me. Full Fibre into premises install with the new 5x hub and I have the same issues. You also commented on my thread

     

    • NoGGy's avatar
      NoGGy
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago

      Yeah I am in Northamptonshire. 

  • harveyl12's avatar
    harveyl12
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    Hi mate, just done the same test as you and look at my results. Exact same poor upload latency issues. I've just opened a complaint about this now as it must be an issue with the new network they are using or the new 5x hub being provided. Its a joke that I can test a 60MBps ADSL line and that is perfect with no latency issues

    • NoGGy's avatar
      NoGGy
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago

      Hi buddy,

      Same here, thanks for also posting your snapshot. I have already raised a complaint as well. Going through the forums, you will see that even people on the older Hub and some people using Modem mode with their own router, still cause issues, which is very concerning. I did see some feedback about "noise" on the line, which I guess if that can be improved, I suspect it will help, but if I run the same test 10-15 times, out of that 10 times, it will show bad latency issues and delayed packets 7 out of 10 times. It's very odd. I have been with Virgin for about a month and it's unplayable. I am getting about 100mb more than my old BT Fibre line (which was also 500mb) but never had issues like this. 

      • harveyl12's avatar
        harveyl12
        On our wavelength
        2 years ago

        I’ve ran the test multiple times over the last 12 hours and every time I have upload latency of up to 500ms and all the time. Annoyingly virgin media is the only fibre provider in my area at the moment so I’m going to have to ge then to sort this as it’s very annoying

  • harveyl12's avatar
    harveyl12
    On our wavelength
    2 years ago

    It doesn't surprise me at all, I can't stand talking to them with being a network admin myself. Always know more than them anyway. I've setup a new BQM now but not started gaming yet so I will see what its like tonight.

    I've read and it could be down to upload BufferBloat but even if it is my parents VM broadband 2 miles away from mine on the hub4 does not have these issues and the upload latency doesnt ever go over 40-50ms. Most the time theres is 20-30ms. I'd just buy a router if I was able to put the stupid Hub 5x into modem mode yet. And I'd see if having some SQM would help with the latency.

    I Just don't think I should ever be seeing 300-600ms upload latency even when the upload is being loaded with a speed test. I feel like it should never reach this high and defintley not as often as it is.

    • NoGGy's avatar
      NoGGy
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago

      Hi Harvey, I got an engineer coming in a couple of days, so I will do the same as you and show them my graphs etc. During my discussion with the complaints people (who are actually being quite helpful), I provided all the evidence. I now have about 6 days worth of BQM graphs and its constant. When I moved from BT last month, I was getting around 350mbps with about 45mbps upload, on a 500mb connection. Now Virgin is much faster and that cannot be denied, I am getting far better speeds, but whenever I was gaming or uploading or ran tests, the maximum latency/jitter I would get on upload and download was about 50ms. It never went above that. I never ran a BQM on my BT circuit, as I never needed to, but I did plenty of speed tests over the 2 years I was with them and never ever experienced jitter or latency issues. I have also asked for an older hub, I believe the Hub5 (not the Hub5x) has modem mode. I have a decent Linksys router with the Velop mesh system sat in a box as I can't use it with Virgin as they don't use an NTP, but that was a great system and had excellent wifi throughout the house and never had these issues. I did plug directly into the router and tested BF5 and still get the latency/lag warning message every 30 seconds. 

      • harveyl12's avatar
        harveyl12
        On our wavelength
        2 years ago

        keep me posted with if you get a resolution.

        i don’t think you can use a Hub 5 if you are on the new GSX-PON network where the fibre going all the way to the router. I know I can’t because there is no other fibre network in my area apart from virgin media’s new GSX-PON FTTP connection.

         

        Did you call the complaints department then? That might be my next move rather than going back and forth with them over email

    • harveyl12's avatar
      harveyl12
      On our wavelength
      2 years ago

      Massive coincidence as it has always shown the consistent spikes until I was last on the phone and was told the question would be asked if the tests can be stopped. We will see, I sure hope they don't start testing it again.