Hub 4 1Gbps not delivering

[AmMin]

The Hub 4 WiFi experience has been dreadful. I previously posted “Hub4 1GB intermittent WIFI. Connection unstable. Speeds all over the place” as the service, using WiFi, dropped out, especially when video conferencing (eg zoom/googlemeet…),  was inconsistent and unreliable. Re-setting multiple times did not provide a solution. PODS did not improve the speed nor reliability.  I decided to connect directly with an ethernet cable. I have done this with 2 different PC’s both running W10 from different manufacturers and with all drivers up to date. I have used 3 different ethernet cables (2 x Cat 6 and 1 x Cat 7) and connected each, in turn, to Port 4 and removed all other ethernet connections from the hub and disconnected WiFi. And tested on couple of different browsers. The speed tests were not all to the same target as the servers used are found automatically. The results are below using Ookla and Virgin approved ‘SamKnows .  

ISSUE 1: Speeds into Hub INCONSISTENT & TOO OFTEN BELOW VIRGIN THRESHOLD or ZERO

Speed into the Hub 4 varies and is often sub 500 Mbps or gives an error message that the router could not be found. SamKnows speeds into the Hub ranged from a low of 387 to a high of 926Mbps over the last few days. This fluctuating speed is not new. On 16/8 the speed ranged from a low of 253 to a high of 1029 Mbps.

On 13/09 morning I re-set the hub given this is a typical request. Removed all ethernet cables. Turned off and removed power cable. Waited roughly 10 minutes before reconnecting. Disconnected WiFi. Added ethernet cable. Here’s what happened. Speed into the Hub ranged from an error message to 999 Mbps and through 203 to 335 Mbps….

Questions:

• What is happening so that the speeds are so consistently below 1 Gbps or even 500Mbps or that the router is not recognised?    
• f I put Virgin Hub 4 into modem mode and get a WiFi 6 router with ports that are 1Gbps or higher (as i know I have a WiFi issue and a PC with WiFi 6 drivers) will that solve things or is there an underlying issue that requires fixing first?

ISSUE 2: Speeds out of the Hub TOO SLOW Using Ethernet Cables

Between 10 and 12/09 SamKnows speeds to my PC were between a low of 178 to a high of 292 Mbps (except when not recognizing the router when it was zero) and has shown consistently low speeds out to our devices.  Ookla was between a low of 112 to a high of 384 Mpbs with uploads between 35 to 47Mbps.  This is using ethernet cables.   

After re-setting hub on 13/09 and using an ethernet cable SamKnows speeds were 283 to 346 Mbps and Ookla was 130 to 341 Mbps on one pc and 953Mbps once before further test results at 441 and 481 Mbps on the other pc.    

This proves high speeds are possible but are simply not happening.  None of the speeds get anywhere near 1Gbps service on a consistent basis.

Note: I do not know if the service drops, especially on zoom, if I used an ethernet cable instead of WiFi, but that solution would be 100% impractical as the hub/router is in the wrong place for working tethered to a cable. I also do not know if the drop outs and buffering occur on all devices at once as they are not all in use at once.

Questions

• What stops my service from delivering +900Mbps through a tethered cable? 
• What is needed to make sure the hub is doing what it should do?

Other

I shall update the issues with WiFi and can share the BQM and router logs on my first post. 

Many thanks for all your help in advance.

[AmMin]

Here's the BQM.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/da49016b81d55bad0edadde6f67d31db86ce693e

Are you able to see all the data since the start of this month from this link of just today's data?

[lotharmat]

BQM looks a bit spiky and you have the exact drop off at 0200 this morning that I have! - VM must be doing work!

Post up your Hub stats!

[AmMin]

Thanks lotharmat

The BQM since the start has shown been spiky with latency exceeding the top of the graph multiple times a day. Can you see prior day BQM's or only today? 

Hub stats - part 1

Cable Modem Status
Item	Status	Comments
Cable Modem Status	Online	DOCSIS 3.1
Primary downstream channel	Locked	SC-QAM
Channel Overview	Downstream	Upstream
DOCSIS 3.0 channels	31	4
DOCSIS 3.1 channels	1	0
3.0 Downstream channels
Channel	Frequency (Hz)	Power (dBmV)	SNR (dB)	Modulation	Channel ID
9	203000000	6	40.946209	QAM256	9
1	139000000	5.9000	40.366287	QAM256	1
2	147000000	5.9000	40.366287	QAM256	2
3	155000000	5.9000	40.366287	QAM256	3
4	163000000	5.6000	40.366287	QAM256	4
5	171000000	5.2000	40.946209	QAM256	5
6	179000000	5.5000	40.366287	QAM256	6
7	187000000	6.0000	40.366287	QAM256	7
8	195000000	5.8000	40.366287	QAM256	8
10	211000000	5.8000	40.366287	QAM256	10
11	219000000	6.1000	40.366287	QAM256	11
12	227000000	6.2000	40.366287	QAM256	12
13	235000000	6.3000	40.366287	QAM256	13
14	243000000	6.7000	40.946209	QAM256	14
15	251000000	6.1000	40.366287	QAM256	15
16	259000000	6.0000	40.366287	QAM256	16
17	267000000	5.9000	40.366287	QAM256	17
18	275000000	6.1000	40.946209	QAM256	18
19	283000000	6.7000	40.366287	QAM256	19
20	291000000	6.1000	40.366287	QAM256	20
21	299000000	5.8000	40.366287	QAM256	21
22	307000000	5.8000	40.366287	QAM256	22
23	315000000	5.9000	40.946209	QAM256	23
24	323000000	7.0000	40.366287	QAM256	24
25	331000000	7.5000	40.946209	QAM256	25
26	339000000	7.1000	40.946209	QAM256	26
27	347000000	7.4000	40.366287	QAM256	27
28	355000000	6.8000	40.946209	QAM256	28
29	363000000	7.1000	40.366287	QAM256	29
30	371000000	7.4000	40.946209	QAM256	30
31	379000000	6.8000	40.366287	QAM256	31
3.0 Downstream channels
Channel	Lock Status	RxMER (dB)	Pre RS Errors	Post RS Errors
9	Locked	40.946209	0	0
1	Locked	40.366287	0	0
2	Locked	40.366287	0	0
3	Locked	40.366287	0	0
4	Locked	40.366287	0	0
5	Locked	40.946209	0	0
6	Locked	40.366287	0	0
7	Locked	40.366287	0	0
8	Locked	40.366287	0	0
10	Locked	40.366287	0	0
11	Locked	40.366287	0	0
12	Locked	40.366287	0	0
13	Locked	40.366287	0	0
14	Locked	40.946209	0	0
15	Locked	40.366287	0	0
16	Locked	40.366287	0	0
17	Locked	40.366287	0	0
18	Locked	40.946209	0	0
19	Locked	40.366287	0	0
20	Locked	40.366287	0	0
21	Locked	40.366287	0	0
22	Locked	40.366287	0	0
23	Locked	40.946209	0	0
24	Locked	40.366287	0	0
25	Locked	40.946209	0	0
26	Locked	40.946209	0	0
27	Locked	40.366287	0	0
28	Locked	40.946209	0	0
29	Locked	40.366287	0	0
30	Locked	40.946209	0	0
31	Locked	40.366287	0	0

[AmMin]

Hub Stats Part 2

3.1 Downstream channels
Channel	Channel Width (MHz)	FFT Type	Number of Active Subcarriers	Modulation (Active Profile)	First Active Subcarrier (Hz)
41	96	4K	1880	QAM4096	759
3.1 Downstream channels
Channel ID	Lock Status	RxMER Data (dB)	PLC Power (dBmV)	Correcteds (Active Profile)	Uncorrectables (Active Profile)
41	Locked	43	9.7	5732130	3
3.0 Upstream channels
Channel	Frequency (Hz)	Power (dBmV)	Symbol Rate (ksps)	Modulation	Channel ID
1	39400000	43.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	4
2	46200000	43.770599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	3
3	60300000	44.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	1
4	53700000	44.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	2
3.0 Upstream channels
Channel	Channel Type	T1 Timeouts	T2 Timeouts	T3 Timeouts	T4 Timeouts
1	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	0	0
2	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	2	0
3	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	0	0
4	US_TYPE_STDMA	0	0	1	0
General Configuration
Network access	TRUE
Maximum Number of CPEs	1
Baseline Privacy	TRUE
DOCSIS Mode	3.1
Config file	cmreg-vmdg640-bbt076-b.cm
Primary Downstream Service Flow
SFID	48
Max Traffic Rate	1200000450
Max Traffic Burst	42600
Min Traffic Rate	0
Primary Upstream Service Flow
SFID	47
Max Traffic Rate	55000270
Max Traffic Burst	42600
Min Traffic Rate	47
Max Concatenated Burst	55000270
Scheduling Type	42600

I have collated several set of Hub stats over the last 1 month. I often see Pre RS Errors but not Post RS Errors. I often see T3 errors

[lotharmat]

PreRS errors are fine - It is the PostRS and 'Uncorrecteds' for the 3.1 channel that are more concerning!
]
T3s are pretty normal - if a handful between reboots - it is if they start climbing rapidly there is a problem!

I can only see the current BQM - to show others you can get the 'direct link' of the one you want to share and paste it up on here.

The only thing that really stands out to my eye is the pretty high power level on the 3.1 channel -now this may be fine. Others with much more experience would be better placed to comment / rule out!

A few people have their BQM live graph in their signature for quick access which is handy

[AmMin]

Some BQM graphs as each day there are multiple high latency spikes.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/5f7726307254ac2f657481a83c22849a64843bed-14-09-2021

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/e407eb1b975128e4cd4df968c0807438c7bee23b-13-09-2021

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/0c3f01a9e869f847742bb74276775ce14127be08-10-09-2021

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/c2ecfb252a6f4f54b8e6d7c7938a5b0ae004669a-09-09-2021

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/6837e575f468961ed04dce82fb1702e971ccb7b9-04-09-2021

And the spikes go on

Which leaves me with a puzzle.

The speed into the Hub is wildly variable and often sub 500 Mbps. 

The speed out of the Hub, over an Ethernet cable, is nowhere near the promised service speed. 

The speed out of the Hub, over WiFi, is so variable it makes no sense.  Internet connections drop, WhatsApp phone calls drop, work zoom calls drop.... 

Questions:

1. Is there an unusual high power level on 3.1 and, if so, is it important?
2. What makes speeds over an ethernet connection so far from the promised land?
3. Is the only way to get decent WiFi by purchasing our own router. Before I spend that cash is there anything wrong with the Hub itself?

Thanks everyone      

[AmMin]

This morning SamKnows says "no router found" Unable to measure speed on the virgin approved device

On the BQM there is a latency spike around 8am, 12 pm, 4pm and 8pm etc most days often to the top of the the graph. And spiky latency at other times but not as predictable

[Kath_F]

Hi AmMin, 

Thanks for coming back to us here and apologies to hear that things haven't improved at all. 

Taking a look at the Hub itself, things aren't looking to bad. There are a few downstream channels that the levels are a little too high but there are borderline. Before we can continue to with diagnostics, these need to be adjusted so they are at an optimal level. 

We won't be able to fix this remotely so I would like to arrange for an engineer to come to take a look at this for you. I just need to confirm the address to ensure we are booking the visit on the correct account. 

I have sent you a private message regarding this. Just click on the little plum envelope at the top right hand side of the page to access your inbox.

Thanks,

[AmMin]

Hello Kath,

I have sent you my details via PM and look forward to another engineer visit.

I would like some clarity on what is going on. My reply is quite long and will cover several pages.

Here’s some context

I took the Hub 4 with 1 Gbps when Virgin promised me the speeds would be va-va-voom and everything would work seamlessly. It doesn’t. I have spent too many hours reading through these fora when I should be doing other things like building my business or relaxing with my family. The first engineer replaced some connections, said everything was fine, split the WiFi into 2.4 and 5 GHz. Perhaps the title to this post should have read “Less Va-Va-Voom and More Slo-Slo-Slow”.

Virgin has not fixed known Hub 4 flaws. There is an .ax vs .ac compatibility issue (also known as WiFi 6 vs WiFi 5) especially if your computer, like mine, has Intel Killer AX WiFi drivers. Virgin is unwilling to acknowledge the issue even though it has been written about on multiple forums including Virgin, other PC OEMs as well as Intel.  The Hub 4 modem/router provided is not fit for purpose; the PODS do not improve WiFi and, after multiple resets, it comes down to Virgin being unable or unwilling to guarantee a WiFi speed or even a WiFi connection even when your device is within a meter of the Hub 4. I now understand, but find it hard to accept, that I need to spend more cash on a tri-band WiFi 6 given the design flaws of the Virgin Hub 4 but before I put the Hub 4 into modem mode I need to make sure it is working properly

• Speeds into the Hub consistently falling below the minimum speed guarantee
• Speeds out of the Hub over an ethernet connection nowhere near the 1G
• Latency spike
• Uncorrectables increasing each day on the 3.1 downstream

I am now going to post and share each topic so we can hopefully resolve everything in one go and before I spend more of my money on Netgear or similar.