Regular Internet Drop Outs + Support Issues

[CertainMusings]

Hello,

For months now we've had intermittent internet, primarily via wifi but often affecting wired connections too. Some users in our shared house have constantly slow connections, but we've all dealt with regular drops in internet access, sometimes for long periods of time. This has been pretty painful, especially for those of us who've had online work and meetings in this time.

I've tried everything suggested on the Virgin Media website and more:

• Changed the wifi band settings to recommended values
• Checked for local area outages
• Reset the router many times
• Factory resets
• Reconnected devices
• Purchased wifi boosters.

At this point we'd like to get an engineer to come take a look, or perhaps for our router to be replaced. Unfortunately it's been extremely difficult to speak to anyone, since I'm usually linked back to the same set of instructions on the Virgin Media website, or just left on hold for hours on the chat without answer. Even on the phone just now, I was taken through the same instructions, then hung up on, with a text linking me back to the website once again.

The automated chat options also don't seem great for dealing with long term intermittent connecton issues. Once it leads me through instructions, it's clear it's assuming I'm simply having trouble connecting a device to our network, which is not the case.

When I have managed to speak to people on the chat in the Virgin Media app, I'm repeatedly either linked to someone who can't help, being in the wrong department, or never transferred. I managed to speak to one of the right people yesterday, who gave me the Wifi settings advice, but that hasn't worked. Today, I wanted to explain this to someone, but I'm instead connected to the same chatbot once again.

At this point, asking on here seems to be my final option, so it would be great to finally get some help.

Thanks,

Matthew

[jbrennand]

You havent said - what Hub you have. Lets look at 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) and hit return. On the first page up [there should be no need to login if you have done so before unless you have the New Hub4 when you do] click on the “router status” icon/text at bottom-middle or top/right of the first page up and then just copy/paste the normal “Formatted Text” (not images) 3 FULL sets of data onto here – 2 pages 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.

Also, in the meantime... 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” (as per instructions on the TB website) when it starts to develop.

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

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @CertainMusings

Thank you so much for your post and I am so sorry to hear you are facing these issues with your connection! 

A big thank you to @jbrennand and their advise, can I ask if you are able to follow these steps and post the information for us? 

Thanks again. 

[CertainMusings]

Hi both,

We have a Hub 3.0. I don't seem to be able to find the 'router status' link mentioned, but I think this is what you were asking for, taken from Advanced Settings/Network Status. I'm copying and pasting in, so hopefully the forum address filtering will work like you said:

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	203000000	3.9	40	256 qam	9
2	211000000	3.5	40	256 qam	10
3	219000000	3.5	40	256 qam	11
4	227000000	3	40	256 qam	12
5	235000000	2.7	40	256 qam	13
6	243000000	2.7	40	256 qam	14
7	251000000	3.2	40	256 qam	15
8	259000000	3.2	40	256 qam	16
9	267000000	3.4	40	256 qam	17
10	275000000	3.2	40	256 qam	18
11	283000000	3.4	40	256 qam	19
12	291000000	3.2	40	256 qam	20
13	299000000	3.5	40	256 qam	21
14	307000000	3.5	40	256 qam	22
15	315000000	3.5	40	256 qam	23
16	323000000	3.5	40	256 qam	24
17	331000000	3	40	256 qam	25
18	371000000	2.5	40	256 qam	26
19	379000000	3	40	256 qam	27
20	387000000	2.5	40	256 qam	28
21	395000000	2.7	40	256 qam	29
22	403000000	2.4	40	256 qam	30
23	411000000	2.5	40	256 qam	31
24	419000000	2.4	40	256 qam	32

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	40.3	54	0
2	Locked	40.9	68	0
3	Locked	40.3	57	0
4	Locked	40.3	80	0
5	Locked	40.9	55	0
6	Locked	40.9	82	0
7	Locked	40.9	41	0
8	Locked	40.9	164	0
9	Locked	40.3	46	0
10	Locked	40.3	48	0
11	Locked	40.3	67	0
12	Locked	40.3	52	0
13	Locked	40.9	49	0
14	Locked	40.9	50	0
15	Locked	40.3	63	0
16	Locked	40.9	78	8
17	Locked	40.3	165	0
18	Locked	40.9	54	0
19	Locked	40.3	38	0
20	Locked	40.3	57	0
21	Locked	40.9	62	0
22	Locked	40.3	173	0
23	Locked	40.9	60	0
24	Locked	40.9	62	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	39399985	46	5120	64 qam	4
2	46200000	46.5	5120	64 qam	3
3	25800000	44.8	5120	64 qam	6
4	32600127	45	5120	64 qam	5

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	ATDMA	0	0	2	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	3	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	2	0

[CertainMusings]

Network Log

Time Priority Description

27/09/2021 16:53:44	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
27/09/2021 15:08:10	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
25/09/2021 18:52:0	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
23/09/2021 06:53:53	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/09/2021 16:35:41	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/09/2021 04:02:33	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
21/09/2021 17:32:24	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
21/09/2021 09:59:38	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
20/09/2021 17:16:58	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
18/09/2021 09:51:25	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
15/09/2021 08:35:3	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
13/09/2021 23:04:2	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
11/09/2021 14:59:47	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
10/09/2021 11:04:1	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
06/09/2021 23:09:19	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
06/09/2021 23:04:1	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
05/09/2021 11:46:50	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
04/09/2021 07:13:8	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
31/08/2021 09:05:23	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
30/08/2021 01:54:52	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

I don't have a Broadband Quality Monitor yet. I'm setting one up now.

Matthew

[Zach_R]

Hi @CertainMusings,

Thank you for all that information. Have you been able to set up a BQM that you can share with us yet?

Thanks,
 

[CertainMusings]

I have yes, here it is below:

Matthew

[Beth_G]

Hi Matthew, 

Thanks for posting your BQM graph. It's looking perfectly normal to me, no packet loss to indicate any connection loss and no big latency spikes.

Do you know if you were affected by any connection drops during the periods plotted in the graph? If you have a link to your live graph, are you able to post this please?

Everything all looking fine on this end so it is certainly strange, especially if you're losing connection via wired devices.

Kind regards

Beth

[CertainMusings]

Hi Beth,

The graph should be live - I used the embed option. Clicking on it will take you to the live page.

I don't think we had any issues in between the time I made the monitor and posted it. However, I think we had a brief drop out a couple nights ago, including on my wired connection, yet there still seems to be no packet loss recorded.

In the past hour some of my housemates have also had extremely slow connections, to the point of having to continue a university video call using mobile data. Yet recent latency, as of posting this, seems ok?

Matthew

[Sofia_B]

Thanks for getting back to us @CertainMusings. 

I can see there have been a few spikes which don't look great, I've tried to run some tests on our end for you but I'm having some trouble reaching the Hub. 

Is this currently switched on? 

Thanks,