Packet loss on modem only

[Davnell]

Good day all!

Having recently moved into a new property I have found myself setting up a mesh system in order to get adequate wireless coverage throughout, in order to do this I set my SuperHup 3.0 into modem only mode and configured the Netgear Orbi and we were good to go!

After a week or so I noticed frame drop whilst streaming and found that I was getting around 10% packet loss on the connection, it had been fine up until then (yesterday). I made a few calls to the customer support team and after a few "magic signals" which did nothing, I was advised to try a pinhole reset on the hub. Despite my doubts, this actually seemed to fix the problem, however as soon as I go back to modem mode it starts dropping again.

I have removed the Orbi from the setup and wired my desktop directly to the hub, I then switched to router mode and all is well, back to modem mode with just my PC connected and we have packet loss again.

Anyone have any idea what might be doing it, other than a VM fault of some kind? The latest advice from VM Customer Support is it is "a short term connectivity issue" which will be resolved "within 24h or more", but I am not holding my breath since that means absolutely nothing, so thought I would post here as well.

Cheers

[Davnell]

I may have stupidly marked this as solved when I meant to add Kudos... can someone re-open it please?

[edit] fixed it! [/edit]

[David_Bn]

Good Afternoon @Davnell, and thanks for your post on our Community Forums.

I understand you've been able to speak to our team in relation to this issue.

We currently are experiencing latency issues with customers in your area and this may be the cause of this issue.

There is a ticket currently open for this - with the estimated fix date on 20/10, and once this has been closed, we will hopefully see an improvement in your services.

Kindest regards,

David_Bn

[-tony-]

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@David_Bn wrote:

Good Afternoon @Davnell, and thanks for your post on our Community Forums.

I understand you've been able to speak to our team in relation to this issue.

We currently are experiencing latency issues with customers in your area and this may be the cause of this issue.

There is a ticket currently open for this - with the estimated fix date on 20/10, and once this has been closed, we will hopefully see an improvement in your services.

Kindest regards,

David_Bn

---

with respect David - whilst that is obviously a known issue it goes nowhere to explain what the OP is seeing - a known latency issue would look no different if the hub was/is in modem or router mode and the bqm would be the same in either mode - if it does perhaps you could explain the technical reason -

[legacy1]

Maybe VM have many routers for given subnets to the hubs? unlikely.

The IP you get in router mode will be different in modem mode with a router or by PC that really is the only change as Docsis channels are the same the only other thing is ping to the hub in router mode and ping over ethernet to device in modem mode so the ethernet cable or port on the hub could be the problem?

Go back to modem mode and change the MAC on your PC setup another BQM see what happens run a high speed ping to 194.168.4.100 with 

 Free IP Tools - Download (softonic.com)

host 194.168.4.100 

Pkts 1000

delay 1 ms

timeout 1

You should get no loss 

[-tony-]

have just flagged the thread to VM asking them to think about sending a new hub - it may cure the problem it may not but i cannot see how an area latency fault can affect one hub mode but not the other

so their input and decision needed

[Davnell]

Thanks Tony.

I have a lot on over this week so will be limited as to what troubleshooting I can carry out, but to be honest I don't know what else I can do.

If I get a chance I will switch back to modem mode with my PC as the only connection again, just to re-test, but I expect there will be no change. Another option is to put the Orbi into AP mode and just use them with the VM router, would be a shame to have to resort to that but at least it would be stable.

[Jodi_S]

Hi Davnell

Thanks for posting on our community forums. Sorry to hear that you're currently experiencing issues with our hub and frequent dropouts.

As our valued members @legacy1 and @-tony- have already given some amazing advice already, I would suggest we get a technicians visit arranged to see if we can swap the hub and do full checks on other issues whilst were there.

So, I can get this arranged for you, I will pop you over a private message to take some details from you.

Please click on the purple envelope to accept the chat.

Kind regards Jodi. 

[Andrew-G]

Reading through this, I understand that you get packet loss with the Orbi and with just the PC in modem mode - is that correct?

Are you using the same ethernet cable for both, and if so have you tried swapping it?  If you're using different cables, are they both Cat 5, 5e or 6 and do they both pass near PSUs or speakers, subwoofers or amplifiers? 

[Davnell]

Hi all, sorry for the long absence! It's been a busy week and I have just been sitting on router mode since we know that worked just fine 😄

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@Andrew-G wrote:

Reading through this, I understand that you get packet loss with the Orbi and with just the PC in modem mode - is that correct?

Are you using the same ethernet cable for both, and if so have you tried swapping it?  If you're using different cables, are they both Cat 5, 5e or 6 and do they both pass near PSUs or speakers, subwoofers or amplifiers? 

---

To answer your questions - It is the same cable as when it works just fine on modem mode, I just take it out of my switch and move it to the Orbi, or my computer. Not passing near anything different to when it works fine either.

That being said, after a weeks break things are looking more hopeful on modem mode! Looks like it could have been "A short term connectivity problem" after all. I have had an MTR running for a little while and it has not shown any drops, so I have moved back to the Orbi again and see how we get on.

Thanks for all of the feedback on this topic, I'm a little sad that we might never really know what it was, unless someone at VM can fill in the blanks ofc. I will post again if it plays up later, but it's looking promising.

[Davnell]

Spoke too soon, it's back with a vengeance! 

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/87a29fbd29a3dfdaee8fa16c2e8c6643253a4acf-26-10-2021