Intermittent problem with wifi

[AndyP2609]

I've had intermittent problems with wired/wireless connection to the router for a couple of weeks now.  Occasionally the connection drops out for half an hour or so (on 23/05/2022 it was for over 3 hours).  

I know there are rules about quality of service and when you can get refunds but working on what should be a reliable wired system providing 500Mb/s should be straightforward and consistent.  I sometimes have to work from home and that is via wired too, so it should also be reliable.  

I currently pay over £100 a month for what should be a decent quality of service, but at the moment I am just not getting that.  I have rebooted the hub several times but nothing seems to work for a continued period of time.  Intermittent broadband failures, occasional TV outages.  

And the VirginMedia help is absolutely USELESS.  There is NO way to get an engineer to come and look at the setup if the system is currently working.  And (because I live in a mobile blackspot) there's no easy way of requesting one when it's not, as I DON'T HAVE ACCESS!  And phoning is also a waste of time, as they never actually seem to be able to help.

Seriously considering moving on from VirginMedia despite the broadband/O2 boost etc via Volt, as 500Mb/s is only good if it actually works.

[AndyP2609]

Typo in the message - should have read 22/05, not 23/05

[jbrennand]

Lets see the connection data - can you do this....
_________________________________________

In your browser’s URL box type in http://192.168.0.1 (or http://192.168.100.1 - if in modem mode) (DONT click these links) - and hit return. On the first page up dont login (unless you have the Hub4/5 - when you do login) just click on the “router status” icon/text at bottom-middle (Hub3/4) or top/right (SH’s) of the Login page and then Navigate to these “pages” and just copy/paste the normal “Formatted Text” (not images) 3 FULL sets of data onto here – 2 tables from the Downstream, 2 from the Upstream, & the Network Logs page. Don't worry too much about the formatting it can be easily read & DON’T include personal data or MAC addresses - blank them out - if you copy/paste the data, the board software will do this for you (you may need to click the "submit" button again. If character limits are “exceeded” - just do two posts

If you haven’t already, set up a free, secure and “offlsite” - “Broadband Quality Monitor” to continually monitor the state of your connection and record any true network dropouts , latency issues, packet drops, etc - it will thus allow you to differentiate between those and simple wifi dropouts. It does it 24/7/365 and it keeps a visual record of any/all of your network disconnections, useful data to have to match to the Network logs (in your Hub settings) and also in discussions with VM - note it will take a few hours to start seeing a sensible picture - post up the “link” to the “share live graph”. Click the lower link (Share Live Graph) then click generate. Copy the text in the Direct Link box, beware, there may be more text than you can see. On here click the Link icon (2 links chain to the left of the camera icon) In the URL box paste the link you copied and then click OK

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

[AndyP2609]

Downstream:

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	658250000	-2.5	38	256 qam	36
2	458250000	-0.7	40	256 qam	13
3	466250000	-0.7	40	256 qam	14
4	474250000	-0.7	40	256 qam	15
5	482250000	-0.9	40	256 qam	16
6	490250000	-1	38	256 qam	17
7	498250000	-1.2	40	256 qam	18
8	506250000	-1.2	40	256 qam	19
9	514250000	-1.5	40	256 qam	20
10	522250000	-2	40	256 qam	21
11	530250000	-2	40	256 qam	22
12	538250000	-3	38	256 qam	23
13	546250000	-2.7	38	256 qam	24
14	554250000	-3	38	256 qam	25
15	562250000	-3	38	256 qam	26
16	570250000	-3.5	40	256 qam	27
17	578250000	-3.5	38	256 qam	28
18	586250000	-3.2	38	256 qam	29
19	594250000	-3.2	40	256 qam	30
20	602250000	-3.5	38	256 qam	31
21	610250000	-4	38	256 qam	32
22	618250000	-3.2	38	256 qam	33
23	626250000	-4	38	256 qam	34
24	634250000	-2.9	38	256 qam	35

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	429	411
2	Locked	40.3	721	7027
3	Locked	40.3	106	496
4	Locked	40.3	218	586
5	Locked	40.9	260	573
6	Locked	38.9	99	686
7	Locked	40.9	74	4416
8	Locked	40.3	84	997
9	Locked	40.3	86	4371
10	Locked	40.3	86	4425
11	Locked	40.3	99	4474
12	Locked	38.9	186	4542
13	Locked	38.9	165	4468
14	Locked	38.9	2040	4911
15	Locked	38.9	2211	5110
16	Locked	40.3	2234	5213
17	Locked	38.6	2070	5171
18	Locked	38.9	1904	5150
19	Locked	40.3	1866	5108
20	Locked	38.9	1959	5029
21	Locked	38.9	2172	5149
22	Locked	38.9	1926	4859
23	Locked	38.9	2331	4664
24	Locked	38.6	4756	4846

Upstream: 

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	60300000	46.8	5120	64 qam	1
2	53700000	46.3	5120	64 qam	2
3	39400000	46	5120	64 qam	4
4	46200000	45.8	5120	64 qam	3

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	ATDMA	0	0	108	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	184	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	335	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	189	0

[AndyP2609]

Network Log

Time	Priority	Description
03/06/2022 15:11:54	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 11:03:19	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 11:02:55	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 11:02:55	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:56:30	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:56:6	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:56:6	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:50:54	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:50:40	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:50:40	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:49:23	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:49:18	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:49:18	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:49:16	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:48:59	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:48:59	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:43:52	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:43:28	critical	Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 10:43:28	critical	Ranging Request Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/06/2022 07:49:51	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY;CMTS-MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

[jbrennand]

Post the link to the BQM as soon as. Logs look odd - but I am no expert on them.

Power levels are all OK - errors may be a concern or just "historical accumulation" - so can you do this.
_____________________________

Switch the Hub off and unplug it from the mains supply for five minutes. Whilst it's off, do a quick check that all of your coax and ethernet cable connections are in nice and "finger" tight - at the Hub and wall box and also at any connectors etc. Ensure there are no “unterminated cable loose ends. Disconnect all the connections and reconnect to be sure. Also check that the internal wiring is ok with no kinking or chaffing, check that all looks good with the outside cabling and wall box (no “staples, etc.,) piercing the cables. Then switch the Hub back on and leave ~5 minutes

When all done, check back in the settings and ensure that the RS error counts and T3 errors have all reset to 0. Then check every hour or so to see if they start reappearing - they shouldn't. If they do (particularly the postRS and T3 ones) you have a problem (noise) that only a Tech visit will sort.

[AndyP2609]

[AndyP2609]

These figures cover the last 2-3 days since I last rebooted/reset the hub.  I've fought long and hard about getting an engineer out to look at this but it's like trying to get blood out of a stone.

Actually raised a complaint today as this has gone on for FAR too long.

Thanks for your help so far...

[jbrennand]

Your image is rejected as it contains your ip address. You need to blank it out or better - post a link to "Share live Graph" and that autostrips it out.

That said, first few hours look fine with no evidence of disconnects. You said that wired connections were affected. So what equipment exactly, do you have connected to the Hub on ethernet cables?

[AndyP2609]

Yes, connected via ethernet cable to hub.