Virgin Media Community

[ChuckMountain]

Having issues with upload speeds dropping as well as drop packets but only on upload speed.  Testing with Sam Knows shows my speed direct to router is dropping to around a 1/10 of the expected 50Mbit upload speed.  Download speed is fine and in line with expectations.

I rang CS and was on hold for sometime which I appreciate is because of Covid however the CS agent wasn't particularly convincing.  He noted there was an issue somewhere in the network however couldn't give a fault number or ETA on fix despite me asking.  When persisting he blamed it on radiation in the atmosphere which although can interfere with comms was a new one for me for this type of fault.  My power levels for upload seem to be on the upper end, is this likely to require a call out.  The CS Agent opened a work order against this fault but no number or ETA etc.

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID

1	32600000	59.020599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	5
2	46200000	56.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	3
3	39400000	57.770599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	4
4	25800000	59.020599	5120 KSym/sec	8QAM	6

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	125	0
2	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	125	0
3	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	125	0
4	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	125	0

So lots of T3 errors 

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	138750000	2.099998	38.983261	QAM256	1
0				UNSUPPORTED	0
2	146750000	1.599998	40.366287	QAM256	2
3	154750000	1.599998	38.983261	QAM256	3
4	162750000	1.799999	38.605377	QAM256	4
5	170750000	1.799999	38.983261	QAM256	5
6	178750000	1.799999	38.605377	QAM256	6
7	186750000	1.700001	37.636276	QAM256	7
8	194750000	2.000000	36.609653	QAM256	8
9	202750000	2.500000	36.609653	QAM256	9
10	210750000	2.599998	37.355988	QAM256	10
11	218750000	2.900002	38.983261	QAM256	11
12	226750000	2.900002	38.983261	QAM256	12
13	234750000	3.000000	40.366287	QAM256	13
14	242750000	2.900002	38.983261	QAM256	14
15	250750000	2.799999	40.946209	QAM256	15
16	258750000	3.299999	40.366287	QAM256	16
17	266750000	3.299999	40.366287	QAM256	17
18	274750000	3.299999	40.366287	QAM256	18
19	282750000	3.700001	38.983261	QAM256	19
20	290750000	4.199997	38.983261	QAM256	20
21	298750000	4.199997	38.983261	QAM256	21
22	306750000	3.900002	38.983261	QAM256	22
23	314750000	4.199997	40.366287	QAM256	23
24	322750000	3.200001	38.983261	QAM256	24
25	402750000	3.200001	38.983261	QAM256	25
26	410750000	3.400002	40.366287	QAM256	26
27	418750000	3.000000	40.366287	QAM256	27
28	426750000	3.900002	40.366287	QAM256	28
29	434750000	4.099998	40.366287	QAM256	29
30	442750000	3.900002	40.366287	QAM256	30
31	450750000	3.799999	38.983261	QAM256	31

Bit of a blip on Channel 4 downstream.

Had one day this week where it was ok and then boom back again.  Today is bad again looking at Broadband Quality Monitor

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/08e11411112134d11786602b5a5db72fe8...

You can see when it came back on Thursday

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/4b9d2a2eb159946df3667766a5dc88b610... 

[ChuckMountain]

It had stripped all the formatting out even its own 

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	0	0	0
0	NotLocked	0	0	0
2	Locked	4163180815	0	0
3	Locked	4252691369	0	0
4	Locked	4234412107	497712	0
5	Locked	186736436	2938	0
6	Locked	356605643	0	0
7	Locked	2836682068	0	0
8	Locked	3639536120	0	0
9	Locked	3834190814	0	0
10	Locked	4018530670	2	0
11	Locked	4172887122	0	0
12	Locked	3983229736	0	0
13	Locked	4087760571	0	0
14	Locked	4036116472	0	0
15	Locked	3971329711	1	0
16	Locked	2569177867	0	0
17	Locked	2572247938	0	0
18	Locked	2690106562	0	0
19	Locked	2724610819	0	0
20	Locked	2667323031	0	0
21	Locked	2820239212	1	0
22	Locked	3049857154	0	0
23	Locked	3213287447	4	0
24	Locked	4039766094	2	0
25	Locked	69181539	5	0
26	Locked	199556330	6	0
27	Locked	271459817	7	0
28	Locked	419737509	8	0
29	Locked	435101382	10	0
30	Locked	361197254	8	0
31	Locked	3693907665	12	0

[Natalie_L]

Hi ChuckMountain, 

Thank you for getting in touch. 

I am very sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with the service.

I have checked your account from our side and the stats appear to all good from there. 

The order does appear to still be open, I appreciate an ETA was not provided but did they give any indication regarding the next steps?

Thanks 

[ChuckMountain]

Hi Nat,

Thanks for coming back to me and confirming the order status. 

Unfortunately, I got little indication of next steps nor what this involved.  As far as I am aware no technician is coming which is fine if there is no problem my end.  He did say I wouldn't get a follow-up call, so not sure how I will know if it has been fixed other than a lack of gaming issues and my Broadband Quality Monitor not having any red.

Over the weekend the problem went away on Saturday at around 8pm as can be seen here

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/a1181f4475afea8cc8a5353850b765970f...

but then back again at around 3am on Sunday morning

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/9413f402abc6c96f66becadaf90550fce1...

and has been back again since though the uploads speeds are better this morning but I am still suffering some packet loss

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/78449ddc7a1dd201ce4159ab075e6820c8...

What are the next steps?

Many thanks

[gitty]

Is your transmit power that high all the time? The only reason you have four bonded channels is because of the extra power you get with DOCSIS 3.1.

[ChuckMountain]

Yes to transmit power which is higher than the usual values I have seen recommended, hence wondering if I do need a technician to adjust\filter those.

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID

1	32600000	59.020599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	5
2	46200000	57.770599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	3
3	39400000	59.020599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	4
4	25800000	59.020599	5120 KSym/sec	8QAM	6

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	76	0
2	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	76	0
3	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	76	0
4	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	76	0

Not quite sure what you mean by extra power.  Do you mean DOCSIS 3.1 uses more juice compared to 3.0 or to give higher bandwidth more channels are used?

[gitty]

3.1 modems are more powerful (they support more upstream spectrum) and the rules about transmitting are a bit different, so they can go higher.

[ChuckMountain]

Thanks so it is more likely to be something upstream my router as the problem comes and goes?

[ChuckMountain]

The upload speed is now back down again and am starting to see red again on my BQM 😞

[gitty]

Your transmit power is much higher than it should be, that is a sure thing. Is your modem behind a splitter?

High transmit power can also be caused by an impairment somewhere. Natalie_l said that the numbers look fine at their end... The power is not fine, but the codeword stats could be fine.