Intermittent internet drops - faulty router?

[JenseRony]

Hi there,

I've been having issues my internet connexion over the past few weeks and it's becoming quite insufferable working from home in this condition.

Long story short, internet connection intermitently drops. The wifi signal might disappear for a short time and my ethernet connected devices loose internet connection. This usually comes back after a couple of minutes.

Broadband signal seems ok as illustrated:

Here are network status data:

Downstream bonded channels
Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID
1 331000000 6.6 38 256 qam 25
2 203000000 7.5 38 256 qam 9
3 211000000 7.4 38 256 qam 10
4 219000000 6.8 38 256 qam 11
5 227000000 6.6 38 256 qam 12
6 235000000 6 38 256 qam 13
7 243000000 6 38 256 qam 14
8 251000000 5.9 38 256 qam 15
9 259000000 6 38 256 qam 16
10 267000000 5.8 38 256 qam 17
11 275000000 6 38 256 qam 18
12 283000000 6 38 256 qam 19
13 291000000 6.3 38 256 qam 20
14 299000000 6.5 38 256 qam 21
15 307000000 7 38 256 qam 22
16 315000000 7 38 256 qam 23
17 323000000 6.6 38 256 qam 24
18 339000000 6.4 38 256 qam 26
19 347000000 6.5 38 256 qam 27
20 355000000 5.9 38 256 qam 28
21 363000000 5.6 38 256 qam 29
22 371000000 5.4 38 256 qam 30
23 379000000 5.1 38 256 qam 31
24 387000000 4.8 38 256 qam 32

Downstream bonded channels
Channel Locked Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors
1 Locked 38.9 363 149
2 Locked 38.6 471 48
3 Locked 38.6 365 62
4 Locked 38.6 379 131
5 Locked 38.9 349 123
6 Locked 38.6 404 80
7 Locked 38.9 375 46
8 Locked 38.6 274 66
9 Locked 38.6 234 78
10 Locked 38.6 295 64
11 Locked 38.6 244 40
12 Locked 38.9 236 80
13 Locked 38.6 246 63
14 Locked 38.6 345 66
15 Locked 38.9 242 64
16 Locked 38.9 242 150
17 Locked 38.9 222 191
18 Locked 38.6 284 58
19 Locked 38.6 278 141
20 Locked 38.9 249 100
21 Locked 38.9 226 75
22 Locked 38.6 249 95
23 Locked 38.9 300 4040
24 Locked 38.6 273 1506

Upstream bonded channels
Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID
1 46200112 39.5 5120 64 qam 3
2 39399895 39.3 5120 64 qam 4
3 25800229 38.2 5120 16 qam 6
4 32599992 39 5120 64 qam 5

Upstream bonded channels
Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts
1 ATDMA 0 0 1 0
2 ATDMA 0 0 2 0
3 ATDMA 0 0 5 0
4 ATDMA 0 0 0 0

I'm thinking this is a router issue because accessing the router is particularly slow and I have issues accessing the admin panel when these issues occur despite being connected to it via ethernet.

[Andrew-G]

Could be the hub playing up, but my suspicion is a simple noise problem - the upstream modulation has dropped off on one channel, there's a fair number of upstream timeouts, and the downstream channels have an over-generous sprinkling of post-RS errors. Ideally you don't want the hub replacing, as there's a supply problem and you might find your Hub 3 replaced with some six year old techno-antique fished out of the skip behind VM Towers, and whilst that should still give you working internet, at six years old and potentially over 50,000 hours run time it's very much in the autumnal years of its service life.

Whilst a reboot or reset should zero the error counters, and might get a temporary reprieve by re-registering all channels, that won't address an underlying noise problem.  I'll mark this for staff to take a look and advise.

[Jodi_S]

Hi JenseRony,

Thanks for posting on our community forums. Sorry to hear that you're experiencing issues with our internet services, we understand the frustration this issue can cause.

Remotely looking from our end, we have done some further checks and can see that you are indeed being affected by downstream power level issues. Due to this I will pop you over a private message as we will need to book a technician out to address this issue for you. 

Please click on the purple envelope to accept the chat. 

Kind regards Jodi. 

[JenseRony]

Thanks to both of you, I've followed up by DM with you Jodi.

I'll have a look at re-registering channels on the router in the meantime to see if it helps.

[Jodi_S]

Hi JenseRony,

Just a quick message to say I have now booked the engineers visit for you. I have sent you a private message with the time and date.

If you need to re-schedule or cancel you can do so here.

If you need any further help please come back to us through this channel, and keep us posted with how the visit goes.

Kind regards Jodi. 

[JenseRony]

Hi there,

I'm re-opening this ticket as I'm back from a break to a very unstable internet. Connection seems to drops every 30 seconds and unreliable. This is despite the intervention of an engineer a few months ago.

Some data from the router:

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	331000000	4.5	38	256 qam	25
2	203000000	4.8	38	256 qam	9
3	211000000	4.5	38	256 qam	10
4	219000000	4.4	38	256 qam	11
5	227000000	4	38	256 qam	12
6	235000000	3.7	38	256 qam	13
7	243000000	3.7	38	256 qam	14
8	251000000	3.5	38	256 qam	15
9	259000000	3.7	38	256 qam	16
10	267000000	3.5	38	256 qam	17
11	275000000	3.5	38	256 qam	18
12	283000000	3.9	38	256 qam	19
13	291000000	3.9	38	256 qam	20
14	299000000	4.3	38	256 qam	21
15	307000000	4.8	38	256 qam	22
16	315000000	4.5	38	256 qam	23
17	323000000	4.8	38	256 qam	24
18	339000000	4.3	38	256 qam	26
19	347000000	4.3	38	256 qam	27
20	355000000	3.9	38	256 qam	28
21	363000000	3.7	38	256 qam	29
22	371000000	3.5	38	256 qam	30
23	379000000	3.2	38	256 qam	31
24	387000000	3.2	38	256 qam	32

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	5	0
2	Locked	38.6	7	0
3	Locked	38.9	5	0
4	Locked	38.6	6	0
5	Locked	38.6	5	0
6	Locked	38.6	5	0
7	Locked	38.6	5	0
8	Locked	38.9	0	0
9	Locked	38.9	5	0
10	Locked	38.6	3	0
11	Locked	38.9	3	0
12	Locked	38.6	4	0
13	Locked	38.6	4	0
14	Locked	38.9	5	0
15	Locked	38.6	6	0
16	Locked	38.9	0	0
17	Locked	38.6	4	0
18	Locked	38.6	0	0
19	Locked	38.9	5	0
20	Locked	38.6	5	0
21	Locked	38.9	4	0
22	Locked	38.6	6	0
23	Locked	38.9	6	0
24	Locked	38.9	0	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	60300000	43.8	5120	64 qam	1
2	46200000	43	5120	64 qam	3
3	39400000	43	5120	64 qam	4
4	53700000	43.5	5120	64 qam	2

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

Thanks for the support

[JenseRony]

Including broadband monitoring

[Tom_F]

Hi JenseRony, very sorry to hear issues have cropped up again. I understand that last time the engineer was booked there was an issue with SNR and the downstream power levels, it looks like there may be an issue on the upstream now - although the levels are within spec, with natural fluctuations that can be expected this may be cause of the issues you've been experiencing. 

We'll need to arrange a follow-up visit for you so this can be looked at again, please get back to me via PM and we'll be able to get that sorted.

Tom