Virgin Media Community

[Wizen]

I'm within my 14 day cancellation period, and I'm seriously considering cancelling. The speed is pretty good. It's 550Mbps at the best of times, and between 300-450 at peak times. But I have a bad history with the Hub 3, so when I signed up, I specifically asked whether I'd get the newer hub. I was told that all new installations in project lightning (FTTH) areas were Hub 4, so I wasn't too concerned...

But I was given a Hub 3, and this one is somehow even worse than the one I had 4 years ago. It emits a high pitched coil whine-like noise intermittently. It's enough to keep me awake across the room. Absolutely horrible noise. And on top of that, I ran the VM Connect app to scan my house, as the wifi doesn't reach the dining room, kitchen, utility room, fourth bedroom or upstairs bathroom without cutting out and reverting back to the BT Hub (which is in the same room). It recommended I get boosters, but the link in the app didn't work. And it turns out the mesh boosters are an extra £5/month (and unavailable at the moment due to high demand - what a surprise). 

Is there any way to stop the horrible high pitched whine from the router? Can I get a new router while I'm within my cooling off period? And what mesh networks would you guys recommend to supplement the horrible wifi on the Hub 3? I'm looking at Google Nest WiFi atm, but it's a bit expensive.

[stabilo00]

What speeds can alternative providers support in your area ?

[Andruser]

I've flagged the noise issue for the forum staff to advise.  I would suspect the PSU myself, and they should be able to get you one posted out.  There was a bad batch of Hub 3 PSUs a few years back, and it's possible you've got a "reused" Hub rather than a new one - if the original customer didn't notice the noise then its unlikely that it would have been picked up in the "reconditioning" process, that probably involves little more than a hard reset, a wipe with a greasy cloth and a brand new box.

In terms of mesh system, I'm using a TP-Link Deco M4, and found it fabulous.  Shop around for the best price, as it can vary quite a bit.  You may need to add devices to the QoS table if you want the highest peak speeds at that device, or use it for gaming, but other than that it is a great piece of "fit and forget" equipment.  There's plenty of choice if you don't want that - the only things I'd avoid are Amazon/Eero and Google/Nest devices because as you've seen they are often poor value, not to mention the probability of them "phoning home" with your every internet move.  The BT Whole Home disks are good, but again pricey, and they don't have a built in router, so you have to keep the hub in router mode.  Tenda make some good value kit, TP-LInk are an excellent mid-point, Asus and Netgear are pricey but very competent.  The only hardware thing I'd look for is gigabit ethernet ports, because if you buy a cheapo mesh that doesn't have gigabit ports, although it will probably work fine, it'll be constrained to 100 Mbps at the cable connecting it to the hub.

Check your latency with a BQM during your cooling off period.  There's quite a few latency related problems across VM's coax networks at the moment, there shouldn't be ANY problems in a new build area, and if there are then I'd suggest you give serious thought to bailing out.  Setup a BQM over at https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality that'll show what's going on with your VM connection.  Post a link to a live, shared graph here and we'll see what's happening.  Usually needs to run for 24 hours before we can draw reasonable conclusions, but the live graph will continuously update so you can do that immediately.

[Martin_N]

Hi Wizen,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community. 

I'm very sorry to hear about the noise coming from the hub 3. I have taken a look on our side and our automated systems has identified a network issue over several days which is affecting multiple customers in your area. There is a high percentage of customers in the street whose power levels aren't quite right. This is likely to cause connectivity and performance issues. Our engineering teams have been automatically notified of the issue and will will need to send a network technician to the cabinet to fix the issue. We will fix the issue as soon as possible.

Due to the noise from the hub we would still like to private message you to get your details to look into if a replacement hub is required. 

I will message you shortly. 

^Martin

[Wizen]

Thanks for your responses. I've set up a line monitor here:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/1fd4cfde8b1e2f8db1ab014edcf009ed51...

The line isn't on a new build estate, but it's in an area that VM has just expanded in the last few months, using BT telegraph poles and ducts to blow fibre to the home, where it is then converted into coax at the wall box. 

I think you're right about the PSU on the router - it sounds like coil whine to me, like the kind you'd get on older, cheap electronics.

And thanks for the suggestion of a mesh network. I've just been messaged a trial invite for a new mesh network that VM is deploying. Hopefully I'll get in to that. The wireless range is dire compared to the BT Hub I also have installed. Half my house is a black spot. Fingers crossed I can get it resolved.

[Andruser · Accepted solution]

Good news, the BQM is pretty "clean", and hopefully the few spikes are down to the work fixing the network issues Martin referred to.  Keep an eye on it, when working normally there shouldn't be any packet loss at all.  Other than those spikes, commendably low latency for a Hub 3, which is presumably because it's mostly FTTP.  So looks like you have nothing to worry about in terms of the network utilisation issues affecting some/many other VM customers 

[Wizen]

Thank you for looking into the graph. I'm PMing with Martin from VM at the moment, so hopefully I can get a replacement Hub that doesn't whine all night, and all will be well. I'm also looking into your suggestion of the TP-Link M4... It's a heck of a lot more reasonable than the Google Nest Wifi I was looking at! Anything that acts as a router and mesh will do me - as I'd prefer to use the Hub 3 in modem only mode.

Cheers.

[John_GS]

Hi @Wizen

Thanks for sending the details. You'll need a technician visit as all your upstream channels are out of spec. 

I've booked it in for the first available slot. You can find out more and track them here

Let us know how the visit goes. 

Kind regards,

[Wizen]

Hi John,

Any chance the engineer will be able to swap out the modem while they're here? I can still hear that high pitch noise coming from the modem. Usually I wouldn't really mind, but I work and sleep in the room where the modem is located, so it's in my ear all day, almost like tinnitus.

Also, with regards to the upstream channels, is it the modulation that's playing up?

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	46200051	27.3	5120	32 qam	3
2	39400039	26.8	5120	32 qam	4
3	53700031	26.8	5120	32 qam	2
4	60300031	26.8	5120	64 qam	1

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	ATDMA	0	0	2	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	1	0

Cheers,

Tim

[John_GS]

Hi, Tim.

Thanks for coming back to me, yeah if you speak to the engineer when they're there. They can check the modem and swap out if needed.

Kind regards,