Packet Loss - Teams Audio Dropping

[faze82]

Hi, I am experiencing intermittent packet loss which is causing connectivity issues and the audio on my Teams calls to drop. This is affecting my ability to work from home. This is happening on multiple devices and only on my Virgin Media connection.

Is there anything I can do or does this need to be resolved by Virgin Media?

I've tried the usual... reboot router, use wired connection, test using mobile phone connection (no issues)

BQM Graph: 

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/fcc67bab99a27431ac6c0b8208ba34b044...

Thanks 

[jbrennand]

BQM looks poor.  What devices do you have connected to your Hub on ethernet cables ?

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. When its light, 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, Post up your Hub/network connection details and someone will check to see if there is a problem there.  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. No need to log in - just click on the “Router Status” icon/text at bottom-middle (Hub3/4/5) or top/right (SH’s) - of the Login page.
Then… Navigate to these “data 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 pages. 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

[faze82]

Hi John,

Thanks for your detailed response. I checked and re-seated all the connections and all look good. I'm still getting the issue and still seeing latency spikes and dropped packets on the BQM. I still have a Super Hub 2. I do have devices connected to the hub via ethernet cables (mesh wifi, tv, etc.) 

Downstream  DS-1 DS-2 DS-3 DS-4 DS-5 DS-6 DS-7 DS-8

Frequency (Hz)	258750000	266750000	274750000	282750000	290750000	298750000	306750000	314750000
Lock Status(QAM Lock/FEC Sync/MPEG Lock)	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked
Channel ID	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
Modulation	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM	256QAM
Symbol Rate (Msym/sec)	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000	6.952000
Interleave Depth	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17	I=12 J=17
Power Level (dBmV)	2.50	3.84	4.21	4.08	4.05	4.18	4.38	4.68
RxMER (dB)	34.63	35.42	35.42	34.35	34.08	35.42	35.60	35.78
Pre RS Errors	5328081	375827	341182	5241796	4208046	4938736	2623963	988093
Post RS Errors	99276	15229	17239	576147	182399	57698	58165	45088

[faze82]

Upstream  US-1 US-2 US-3 US-4

Channel Type	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
Channel ID	4	2	1	9
Frequency (Hz)	30100000	43100000	49600000	23600000
Ranging Status	Success	Success	Success	Success
Modulation	64QAM	64QAM	64QAM	16QAM
Symbol Rate (Sym/sec)	5120000	5120000	5120000	5120000
Mini-Slot Size	2	2	2	2
Power Level (dBmV)	45.75	45.50	45.75	46.00
T1 Timeouts	0	0	0	0
T2 Timeouts	0	0	0	0
T3 Timeouts	6	0	0	2
T4 Timeouts	0	0	0	0

[faze82]

Network Log

First Time	Last Time	Priority	Error Number	Description
23/05/2024 09:26:17 GMT	23/05/2024 09:26:17 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
23/05/2024 09:26:07 GMT	23/05/2024 09:26:07 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
22/05/2024 18:40:16 GMT	22/05/2024 18:40:16 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
22/05/2024 18:18:08 GMT	22/05/2024 18:18:08 GMT	Warning (5)	84020200	Lost MDD Timeout
22/05/2024 18:18:02 GMT	22/05/2024 18:18:02 GMT	Warning (5)	84020200	Lost MDD Timeout
22/05/2024 18:17:56 GMT	22/05/2024 18:17:56 GMT	Warning (5)	84020200	Lost MDD Timeout
22/05/2024 15:05:34 GMT	22/05/2024 15:05:34 GMT	Error (4)	68010300	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option
22/05/2024 07:10:24 GMT	22/05/2024 07:10:24 GMT	Critical (3)	84000500	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync
22/05/2024 04:17:24 GMT	22/05/2024 04:17:24 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
22/05/2024 01:35:50 GMT	22/05/2024 01:35:50 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
21/05/2024 15:06:42 GMT	21/05/2024 15:06:42 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
21/05/2024 15:06:30 GMT	21/05/2024 15:06:30 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
21/05/2024 15:06:20 GMT	21/05/2024 15:06:20 GMT	Warning (5)	66050300	Auth Fail - Web login failed.
21/05/2024 14:49:31 GMT	21/05/2024 14:49:31 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
21/05/2024 14:49:21 GMT	21/05/2024 14:49:21 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
21/05/2024 14:33:05 GMT	21/05/2024 14:33:05 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
21/05/2024 14:32:55 GMT	21/05/2024 14:32:55 GMT	Warning (5)	66050300	Auth Fail - Web login failed.
21/05/2024 13:13:12 GMT	21/05/2024 13:13:12 GMT	Critical (3)	82000200	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
21/05/2024 11:00:37 GMT	21/05/2024 11:00:37 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.
21/05/2024 11:00:26 GMT	21/05/2024 11:00:26 GMT	Warning (5)	66050310	Auth Success - Web login successful.

[RT123]

The SH2 is really outdated in itself - I’m surprised you haven’t been contacted about this already.

I’m not familiar with the stats from the SH2 (they are a little different to the newer hubs) 

However:

There’s a lot of PostRS errors (which support the fact that you are experiencing packet loss)  - when was the router last restarted? If if’s been a while, might be worth restarting to confirm that they are still rising. Either way, repost in a few hours to confirm they are rising.

One of the other issues I’ve identified is that one of the upstream channels has a modulation of 16QAM (should be 64) 

[faze82]

Thanks RT123

I restarted the Hub on the 21st:

Session Time   2day 16h:57m:44s

They are still rising:

Post RS Errors

102293

15655

17773

578402

183937

58433

58685

45837

[RT123]

Thanks for confirming that.

Given the PostRS errors are still rising, an engineer is needed - you can either wait for a few days (although I’ve seen some responses take longer)  for the forum team to respond or contact the team over on Facebook or X (which in my experience is quicker)

X page: https://twitter.com/virginmedia

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/virginmedia/?locale=en_GB

[jbrennand]

Yes they shouldnt be that high even on an SH2.  /I have asked VM to come here and look at your connection - but whilst waiting see this old post of mine - but might be worth exploring too

________________

There is another possibility, there have been several threads on here recently where similar BQM latency/packet loss problems were eventually pinned down to a dodgy piece of connected kit affecting the connection . Bad connectors on ethernet cables, NAS Drives and faulty network switches being high on the list of culprits.
What I advised was... if you run the BQM for 24h to get a picture of the issues (you have done this) - and then unplug all the ethernet cable connections from the Hub and just let it run - overnight is best - then in the morning look at the BQM and see if it has cleaned up. If it has - plug the devices back in one at a time for an hour or two until the problem reappears and that should indicate where to look for what is causing the issues - Start by changing to new good quality ethernet cables, minimum of Cat6a spec.
Examples.

See message 21 in the first thread, 13 in the second and 5 in the third and 5 in the 4th

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Internet-connection-dropping/td-p/4781287/p...
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Intermittent-Connection/td-p/5069984/page/2
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Issues-in-GU22-area/m-p/5400109#M307543
https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/BB250-Connection-dropping-frequently/m-p/54...

[John_GS]

Hi @faze82 

Thanks for posting and welcome to the community. Sorry to hear of the issues with the broadband. You'll need an engineer visit so I'll send you a PM now to book this in.

Best wishes.