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Packet loss and ping spikes in online gaming

Chris84
On our wavelength

Hello

We rejoined Virgin a few months ago on the 200mb package and initially had to be connected to next door due to a damaged cable to the street.

We were fully connected a month or so ago but since then we have still continued to see regular packet loss, rubber banding and very high pink spikes in online gaming via PS5 (wired). 

We have restarted the hub 3 several times and done the 60 second pinhole reset twice recently (2nd time as I couldn't regain access to the router settings page) and it hasn't made any difference.

I set up a broadband quality monitor yesterday night which is currently running, hopefully this is the right link:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/863a7141dff2613039b2820604115d1293c79e96-07-08-2021

In addition we have had a lot of issues with our wireless, mostly to the virgin 360 box downstairs. It regularly struggles to load the saved page, making it difficult to watch recordings. Streaming is also pretty much a no go. 

The diagnostics page always shows it as having low speed and it usually connects with around 60-80% signal but also sometimes fails to connect at all. 

Wireless on our mobile devices also seems to go down every so often for short periods but my phone, a Galaxy s20 FE 5G, still normally tests between 150-200 Mbps on speedtest.net even when stood next to the 360 box that is struggling to connect.

I have also just re-scanned the living room where the 360 box is with the WiFi blackspot scan on the Virgin Media Connect app, with my phone directly next to the 360 box and it said the signal was "great".

Sorry for the long post, if anyone can offer any help with these issues we would be very grateful.

Thank you. 

38 REPLIES 38

Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

If your BQM has that shape persistently, then the most probable cause is over-utilisation (network congestion) caused by VM selling more contracts than the local network has capacity to support.  In addition the BQM looks to me somewhat "noisy", which can often be improved a bit, but fixing the noise WON'T solve the congestion or improve the impact on your internet.  Further, the poor wifi performance is a feature of VM hubs, for which the only reliable solution is to place the hub in modem mode and spend around a hundred quid or more on a wifi mesh system; That will magically cure wireless problems, but again it won't alter the network congestion problem.  Read this to see how VM respond to over-utilisation, and take note of the customer BQMs that are posted.   A further search shows that the same or similar over-utilisation faults existed in that postcode through 2015, 2017 and 2018.  And this shows that the unfortunate residents of that area are not alone.

Nothing you can do to improve matters. In some areas VM do indeed undertake work to rejig the local networks to balance loads and eliminate over-utilisation, and they spend millions each year improving capacity problems. But sometimes/often that's either not possible, or judged uneconomic if there's a need to spend money on more equipment.  And sadly VM won't ever admit the truth, so even where there is a fault reference and a "fix date", but there's no way of knowing if that date is actually backed by an actual plan of action and programme of works. Quite often it seems not, and as the fix date approaches it is simply moved a month or two ahead.  Note that the staff here can only see a fault reference and the current fix date, we don't believe they have any visibility of whether there's an intention to fix the problem, so don't be too harsh on them, this is a company failing that rests with senior management.  Your options:

1) Sit it out, and hope that VM do carry out improvement works. There's little or nothing you can do to force VM to upgrade the network, nor to be honest about the outlook.  A very, very few customers have pushed VM into fixing over-utilisation that appearances suggest the company otherwise would not have, but that still takes the better part of a year, needs to become a near-obsession for the customer, and has significant costs to the customer in terms of ongoing stress.   

2) Get yourself a new ISP. If you're in a fixed term contract you'll probably have to use the VM complaints process (and almost certainly escalate for arbitration at CISAS ) to be released from contract without penalty. If you need to do this, the grounds of your complaint is the poor performance, and your request fro release from contract without penalty is twofold: First the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that requires any consumer service to be provided with "reasonable skill and care", and second, the Ofcom Fairness Commitments, that states "Customers’ services work as promised, reliably over time. If things go wrong providers give a prompt response to fix problems and take appropriate action to help their customers, which may include providing compensation where relevant. If providers can’t fix problems with core services they have promised to deliver within a reasonable period, customers can walk away from their contract with no penalty."

The ball is now in VM's court.  If they can identify a fault on your line, fix it and remove all of that peak time latency, then you get the outcome you want, and my prognostications of doom will be proven worthless.  I'm sure you'd be happy with that, and so would I.  If on the other hand there's mention of an over-utilisation fault, chances are nothing will be done, any promises of fix dates will pass without change, and you need to review your options with other ISPs.

Chris84
On our wavelength
Spoiler
 

Wow thank you for the big reply, hopefully that isn't the case and it's just a fault somewhere. 

I accidentally marked this post as answered! Is there any way to undo that? 

I can't work out how to remove those spoiler tags either. 

Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

Don't worry about either - the "solved" tag is automatically applied if you mark any answer as helpful, regardless of whether it is solved or not.  That won't stop forum staff taking a look, although it might take a day or two.  Regarding the "spoiler", again, not important.

If you're worried about it you can revoke the helpful marker on my post - can't recall how, but try looking under the "post options" dropdown for my post.

Chris84
On our wavelength

Ah yes, I have worked it out now, thanks 🙂 

Laurie_C
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Hi Chris84,

 

Thanks for getting in touch, and a very warm welcome to the Community Forum (virg.in/VMforums). I am sorry that you're having some issues with your broadband connection.

 

I've been able to locate your account using your Forum Details, and I can see that there are some issues showing on your account. I'm going to book an engineer appointment for you so that we can look into this further. I'll just need to confirm a few details via Private Message. Please look out for a purple envelope in the top right corner of your screen.

 

Kind regards,

Laurie

Laurie_C
Forum Team

Chris84
On our wavelength

Thank you for your reply Laurie, I will send those details across to you tonight after work. 

Laurie_C
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Hi Chris,

 

I'm still waiting on a response, but it looks like there's a pending cable re-pull on your account, so hopefully we can push this forward, and start getting things resolved. I'll get back in touch as soon as I have an update for you. Thanks for your patience!

 

Kind regards,

Laurie

Laurie_C
Forum Team

Chris84
On our wavelength

Hello Laurie

Thank you for the update and for continuing to chase this up for me, I appreciate it 🙂

Kind Regards

Chris 

You're welcome Chris84, as soon as Laurie has an update on this he'll let you know.

 

Rob