Intermittent outages and hub restarts, even after a factory reset

[varimathras]

Hi all. For several weeks, I've been experiencing internet dropouts, it happens a few times a day and lasts a few minutes. I'd appreciate some help or guidance. 

During the outage, I've tried to check service status and there's nothing, no known outages in the area, and by the time I run a test the service comes back. 

Of course this is very difficult as I'm working from home and keep getting dropped during calls. 

The Superhub 3 is in modem mode (with an RT-AX86U router). 
The hub has two attenuators connected, a 6 db and a 3 db.  

I am not 100% sure but I think the hub 'flat' light starts flashing, and then after a few minutes it reboots.  I'm able to access the Hub admin console for a while during the outage and then it becomes inaccessible for a brief period during the reboot, then it comes back. 

I have performed a factory reset on the Superhub 3 using the pinhole on the back for 60 seconds, but I still get dropouts a few times a day.

Here's some of the information from advanced settings.  I've included network logs from both during an outage as well as afterwards. 

Status

Item Status Comments

Acquired Downstream Channel (Hz)	419000000	Locked
Ranged Upstream Channel (Hz)	39400000	Locked
Provisioning State	Online

Downstream

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	163000000	-3.5	38	256 qam	4
2	139000000	-3.5	38	256 qam	1
3	147000000	-3.7	38	256 qam	2
4	155000000	-3.5	38	256 qam	3
5	171000000	-3	38	256 qam	5
6	179000000	-3	38	256 qam	6
7	187000000	-2.9	38	256 qam	7
8	195000000	-3.5	38	256 qam	8
9	203000000	-3.4	40	256 qam	9
10	211000000	-3.4	38	256 qam	10
11	219000000	-3.5	40	256 qam	11
12	227000000	-3.7	40	256 qam	12
13	235000000	-3.7	40	256 qam	13
14	243000000	-3.5	40	256 qam	14
15	251000000	-3.2	40	256 qam	15
16	259000000	-3	40	256 qam	16
17	267000000	-2.9	40	256 qam	17
18	275000000	-3	40	256 qam	18
19	283000000	-2.5	40	256 qam	19
20	291000000	-2.5	40	256 qam	20
21	299000000	-1.9	40	256 qam	21
22	307000000	-1.7	40	256 qam	22
23	315000000	-1.5	40	256 qam	23
24	323000000	-1.7	40	256 qam	24

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	40.3	1943	0
2	Locked	40.3	116196	0
3	Locked	40.9	271825	0
4	Locked	40.3	257940	0
5	Locked	40.9	247098	0
6	Locked	40.9	236665	0
7	Locked	40.3	238977	0
8	Locked	40.3	226905	0
9	Locked	40.3	215954	0
10	Locked	40.3	206014	0
11	Locked	40.3	189354	0
12	Locked	40.3	186487	0
13	Locked	40.9	175046	0
14	Locked	40.3	166003	0
15	Locked	40.9	152247	0
16	Locked	40.3	146875	0
17	Locked	40.3	139234	0
18	Locked	40.3	128701	0
19	Locked	40.3	130521	0
20	Locked	40.3	118686	0
21	Locked	40.9	119103	0
22	Locked	40.3	103440	0
23	Locked	40.3	95940	0
24	Locked	40.3	97404	0

(more to follow)

[varimathras]

A few hours later:

Downstream bonded channels

ChannelFrequency (Hz)Power (dBmV)SNR (dB)ModulationChannel ID

1	419000000	5.8	40	256 qam	36
2	267000000	5.5	40	256 qam	17
3	275000000	5.6	40	256 qam	18
4	283000000	6	40	256 qam	19
5	291000000	6.1	40	256 qam	20
6	299000000	6.8	40	256 qam	21
7	307000000	7	40	256 qam	22
8	315000000	7	40	256 qam	23
9	323000000	7	40	256 qam	24
10	331000000	6.9	40	256 qam	25
11	339000000	6.9	40	256 qam	26
12	347000000	6.8	40	256 qam	27
13	355000000	6.5	40	256 qam	28
14	363000000	6	40	256 qam	29
15	371000000	6	40	256 qam	30
16	379000000	6	40	256 qam	31
17	387000000	5.8	40	256 qam	32
18	395000000	5.5	40	256 qam	33
19	403000000	5.5	40	256 qam	34
20	411000000	5.6	40	256 qam	35
21	427000000	5.6	40	256 qam	37
22	435000000	5.6	40	256 qam	38
23	443000000	5.8	40	256 qam	39
24	451000000	6	40	256 qam	40

 

[varimathras]

Downstream bonded channels

ChannelLocked StatusRxMER (dB)Pre RS ErrorsPost RS Errors

1	Locked	40.3	15668	0
2	Locked	40.9	23222	0
3	Locked	40.3	21931	0
4	Locked	40.9	21197	0
5	Locked	40.9	20146	0
6	Locked	40.9	20559	0
7	Locked	40.9	19517	0
8	Locked	40.9	18314	0
9	Locked	40.9	17552	0
10	Locked	40.9	16262	0
11	Locked	40.9	16025	0
12	Locked	40.3	15023	0
13	Locked	40.3	14104	0
14	Locked	40.9	12915	0
15	Locked	40.3	12653	0
16	Locked	40.3	12053	0
17	Locked	40.9	10932	0
18	Locked	40.3	11261	0
19	Locked	40.9	10253	0
20	Locked	40.9	10284	0
21	Locked	40.9	8847	0
22	Locked	40.3	8317	0
23	Locked	40.3	8341	0
24	Locked	40.9	7606	0

[varimathras]

So should I put the attenuators back?

I've also set up a ThinkBroadband quality monitor as I've seen advised in other threads. 
Here's the graph
Can someone tell me if this looks 'normal'?
At this moment I can see clumps of packet loss and it's seemingly getting worse.

Here's a graph from October 29th which was a particularly bad day.

[Alex_RM]

Hi varimathras,

Thanks for posting and sorry to hear you've had some issues with your connection.

I've been able to locate your account using your forum information and can see that you're currently affected by an area SNR issue, the current fix time for this is 8th November.

Whilst this is ongoing your services may be intermittent/ slow. 

If you're still experiencing an issue after this date please let us know.

Alex_Rm

[Alex_RM]

Hi varimathras,

Thanks for posting and sorry to see you're still experiencing some issues with the connection.

I've had a look and can see you're currently affected by an area SNR outage. Whilst this is ongoing you may find  your services are intermittent.

The fix date for this is 8th November, if you're still having an issue with the connection after this date, please let us know.

Alex_Rm

[varimathras]

Alright thanks for that Alex_RM, I will wait and then message again. Yes the problem is still happening few times a day and it's quite hard to work like this.

I did manage to get an engineer visit on Nov 2nd.  He said something along the lines of what you said, legacy1, about the 'tap' levels changing (not a familiar set of jargon for me so I've probably got some words mixed up).  He said it was good that the attenuators were removed, the levels looked better compared to before.

He also changed the isolator (I think that's the word he used? it was a rectangular metal thing which the coaxial cable connects to) and did something similar on the outside of the house and also said that he did some rewiring at the cabinet. 

So I suppose at least this eliminates any problems that could have been as far as my own home is concerned, isn't it.  The problem shouldn't be my Hub3, it shouldn't be my cables. 

The problem must actually be the "SNR" as you said.  I don't know enough about SNR to understand why it happens in bursts between islands of calm! 

[Sofia_B]

Thanks for getting back to us @varimathras. 

I'm glad to hear you've had an engineer out to come take a look at things for you. 

I've just checked your account and I can see the SNR outage is still ongoing, and the estimated fix time still stands at 08/11/21 at 10:05am. 

Please let us know how the service performs once this has been resolved 🙂 

Thanks, 

[varimathras]

At the risk of jinxing myself and suddenly having the problem return on me with a renewed exponential vengeance.

It's now November 10th.  The past few days the connection has been stable. No problems, no dropouts at all.  So it's just as you said there was an SNR issue in the area. Work calls have been good too, no degraded quality. 

Thanks all of you for commenting/replying, it was useful for me (and reassuring too).  I'm glad that I posted here. 

Hey VM team, as a wishlist item, it would be nice if these 'hidden' problems could be reported as well. 

[Akua_A]

Thank you for the update @varimathras.

I am glad to hear the service has improved since. We truly do appreciate your feedback and will pass this on to the relevant team for improvement. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any further help.

Thanks,