Slow speeds, Disconnecting Wifi and Loss of Service

[HeadingtonBard]

Hi

For several months now, I have been experiencing slow speeds, wifi disconnections and loss of service. It is most common in the morning for a few hours and especially at night. There is picture break up on TV with all channels. It seems pointless with the Landline not working either!

I have reset and switched off the hub, double-checked the cables and connections to the Hub and V6 box. This is happening quite often now several times a week.

On June 18th 2021 an engineer visited to check the equipment and cabling and couldn't find a problem. However, it was reported that there was possible corrosion in the communications box on the main road where we live. 

Thursday 12th June has been the worst with a loss of service for four hours.

So far, this year has been the worst for disconnections and nothing is stable anymore.

I haven't made any changes to anything.

Phoning support hasn't really helped to be honest, especially when the Hub has already been reset, switched off and the cables checked over and over again.

Many thanks.

[jbrennand]

Have you checked first for “known network faults”

As well as trying the “check service,” Area status webpage" (link at top right of this forum), also try the “free & automated” Service Status number - 0800 561 0061 - which usually gives the most up to date info. and tells you of more local issues down to postcode level

[HeadingtonBard]

I've tried all options, even through the VM app running 'Test Kit'. I don't think it's a hardware issue, but the drop-outs of service do seem to be common in the morning now and later in the evening.

It could well be a localised issue, I am not sure if VM support is investigating it fully, to be honest.

[jbrennand]

Do this so we spot any obvious issues
-------------------------------------------------

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) 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 of first page up and then copy/paste as “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

[David_Bn]

Thanks for your post @HeadingtonBard

Are you able to follow the request from @jbrennand for us, so we can gain a better picture of exactly what's happening on the connection?

Looking into the account, it appears that there are no outages currently and the hub appears to currently be within spec. 

Do you experience issues on Wi-Fi only or on a wired connection also?

Kindest regards,

David_Bn

[HeadingtonBard]

Thank you for your reply.

I haven't tried the @jbrennand method yet and was wary of doing this. I may have delved into obtaining information like this years ago with other Internet Providers but not this time.

There are no devices in our home that use a wired connection, they all use wireless.

The Mbps range from 10 to 100 on most days, but the last four days have been only 10. I check the speed with Speedtest.

Please see the info below...

Date Latency Download Upload ConnType ServerName
Aug/24/2021 15:56 15.327 17.96152 7.37628 Wifi Oxford
Aug/24/2021 15:40 18.541 17.18494 7.351656 Wifi Oxford
Aug/24/2021 7:22 16.287 96.98486 9.837704 Wifi Oxford
Aug/23/2021 10:32 16.166 16.48405 8.012184 Wifi Oxford
Aug/23/2021 8:22 16.402 15.2235 9.287248 Wifi Oxford
Aug/23/2021 7:14 17.201 12.6985 9.481936 Wifi Oxford
Aug/22/2021 18:07 17.461 17.05454 8.660944 Wifi Oxford
Aug/22/2021 14:25 17.591 16.44447 9.710464 Wifi Oxford
Aug/22/2021 13:28 16.263 15.75566 9.152296 Wifi Oxford
Aug/22/2021 9:34 17.448 16.83522 9.728816 Wifi Oxford
Aug/20/2021 17:01 17.216 10.93864 7.14604 Wifi Oxford
Aug/20/2021 15:06 16.905 11.26307 4.348976 Wifi Oxford
Aug/20/2021 12:13 16.615 8.03628 8.114688 Wifi Oxford
Aug/20/2021 10:20 16.818 8.360776 4.884088 Wifi Oxford
Aug/20/2021 9:42 17.073 10.22531 2.222216 Wifi Oxford
Aug/17/2021 8:22 17.594 69.33277 9.954824 Wifi Oxford
Aug/17/2021 8:12 18.497 91.07677 9.934344 Wifi Oxford
Aug/17/2021 7:48 16.717 68.36318 10.05002 Wifi Oxford
Aug/16/2021 9:37 18.515 84.82719 10.01502 Wifi Oxford
Aug/16/2021 7:58 16.782 87.42565 9.423184 Wifi Oxford
Aug/15/2021 10:58 22.253 10.07424 6.290168 Wifi Oxford
Aug/14/2021 20:01 18.58 9.046776 6.951224 Wifi Oxford
Aug/13/2021 9:35 16.42 33.71774 9.456776 Wifi Oxford
Aug/12/2021 7:15 16.626 84.1137 10.02403 Wifi Oxford
Aug/11/2021 7:31 20.059 13.05105 7.088224 Wifi Oxford
Aug/09/2021 12:00 16.713 110.5303 10.11012 Wifi Oxford
Aug/07/2021 10:41 17.636 107.7693 10.06007 Wifi Oxford
Aug/06/2021 16:50 17.514 113.1858 10.06014 Wifi Oxford
Aug/06/2021 8:48 16.193 109.6157 9.970168 Wifi Oxford
Aug/05/2021 19:33 18.682 12.24816 7.692984 Wifi Oxford
Aug/05/2021 19:29 16.927 12.36958 7.792256 Wifi Oxford
Aug/03/2021 18:20 18.205 112.3434 10.02502 Wifi Oxford

The usual signs of a problem are when there is a picture break-up on the TV or a drop in an internet connection. The most common time for this to happen is in the morning and sometimes in the evening. When it does happen, there is no, Broadband, Landline or TV. 

Like I have already mentioned, an engineer visited on Friday 18th June 2021 and there was nothing wrong with the VM kit. If I google and check out downdetector.co.uk there are similar problems where someone has lost connection to their services but there doesn't appear to be a problem in the area or any acknowledgement about a problem from VM.

Something isn't quite right. Perhaps it is an external factor from outside or the communication box where possible corrosion is at play, as mentioned by an engineer. Some of the older green boxes that were originally installed by NTL years ago, are still be used and are in an awful state around parts of Oxford.

I was encouraged to raise the experience I am having by MG from Virgin Media/Twitter.

This is all the information I have at the moment. Hopefully, I am not the only person with these common, if not random connectivity problems.

Thank you. 

[Zak_M]

Thank you for coming back to us @HeadingtonBard.

Do you have a BQM set up?  If so please could you provide us with a live link. 

If not you are able to set one up via Think Broadband  this will help monitor your connection over a period of time (24/48 hours)

We request a reading from a wired connection as there are so many factors that can contribute to WiFi interference that it would be impossible for us to guarantee this, a wired speed test would give a true reading of the speed.

Kind regards,

Zak_M