Stats check please.

[Lemaru]

Hi,

I have an engineer attending on Monday to hopefully sort my overheating omnibox issues (I have another post about this). In the other thread it was mentioned by one of the VM team that my levels weren't right. 

I remember when the installation engineer attended that he mentioned my levels and said that if I ever made contact they would be flagged as out of spec, but they are in fact fine due to it being fibre to the premises. Since then apart from my overheating RFoG node issues, I have never had any issues with my connection or speed that I have noticed. 

As the engineer is attending anyway, I was wondering if anyone can check my BQM and router stats to confirm if there is anything out of the ordinary I should get them to check whilst they are here. Though as I haven't really had any issues other than the heat related outages, there hopefully isn't anything of major concern. I have spotted there are a load of Post RS errors, which I am pretty sure weren't showing before, so suspect they may be related to the overheating outages through this week (I hope anyway) as I haven't experienced any other issues. 

Much appreciated

My BQM - Virgin Media M350 FTTP 

Cable Modem StatusItem Status Comments

Acquired Downstream Channel (Hz)	659000000	Locked
Ranged Upstream Channel (Hz)	53699983	Locked
Provisioning State	Online

[Lemaru]

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	659000000	6.5	38	256 qam	32
2	475000000	5.9	38	256 qam	9
3	483000000	6	38	256 qam	10
4	491000000	6	38	256 qam	11
5	499000000	6	38	256 qam	12
6	507000000	6	38	256 qam	13
7	515000000	6.1	38	256 qam	14
8	523000000	6.1	38	256 qam	15
9	531000000	6	38	256 qam	16
10	539000000	6.1	38	256 qam	17
11	547000000	6.1	38	256 qam	18
12	555000000	6.5	38	256 qam	19
13	563000000	6.5	38	256 qam	20
14	571000000	6.5	38	256 qam	21
15	579000000	6.5	38	256 qam	22
16	587000000	6.5	38	256 qam	23
17	595000000	6.5	38	256 qam	24
18	603000000	6.5	38	256 qam	25
19	611000000	6.3	38	256 qam	26
20	619000000	6.1	38	256 qam	27
21	627000000	6.5	38	256 qam	28
22	635000000	6.5	38	256 qam	29
23	643000000	6.5	38	256 qam	30
24	651000000	6.5	38	256 qam	31

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	6820	6885
2	Locked	38.9	3087	4899
3	Locked	38.6	6223	9750
4	Locked	38.9	5235	8082
5	Locked	38.9	5581	6823
6	Locked	38.6	3383	4816
7	Locked	38.9	3162	6127
8	Locked	38.9	4199	4555
9	Locked	38.9	5657	7119
10	Locked	38.9	2966	5688
11	Locked	38.9	2627	6636
12	Locked	38.6	5179	7246
13	Locked	38.9	5112	8660
14	Locked	38.9	5715	7221
15	Locked	38.9	3130	6125
16	Locked	38.9	5825	7330
17	Locked	38.6	3303	8276
18	Locked	38.9	5084	13037
19	Locked	38.9	5866	8286
20	Locked	38.9	3420	6426
21	Locked	38.6	6513	7494
22	Locked	38.6	4723	9045
23	Locked	38.9	3284	6745
24	Locked	38.9	2447	7736

[Lemaru]

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	53699983	32	5120	64 qam	10
2	39400000	30.5	5120	64 qam	12
3	46200014	31.5	5120	64 qam	11
4	60300024	32.5	5120	64 qam	9

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

Network Log

Time Priority Description

24/07/2021 08:52:59	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
23/07/2021 11:02:25	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
23/07/2021 11:02:10	Warning!	Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
23/07/2021 11:02:4	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
23/07/2021 11:02:3	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
23/07/2021 11:02:3	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 18:33:19	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
01/01/1970 00:00:19	Warning!	ToD request sent - No Response received;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
01/01/1970 00:00:13	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
01/01/1970 00:00:13	critical	Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:52:48	Warning!	ToD request sent - No Response received;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:51:32	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:51:31	critical	Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:50:50	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:50:50	critical	Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:50:14	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:50:14	critical	Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:49:37	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:49:37	critical	Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
22/07/2021 14:49:1	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

[Richw1982]

Hi, yes your levels are fine, you should have a 4 way power passing splitter in the omni with the ONU and a 2 way splitter in side.  Forward levels slightly higher than expected as at the ONU you should have +12 then 4 way splitter looses 7db and 2 way splitter looses 4db so around 1db at CPE - but still within -6/+10 so all good.  Upstream levels should be 27-45 in fibre areas so again are within range.  At ONU these are around 25 minus 7db for 4 way splitter and 4db for 2 way splitter gives you 36db at CPE (Upstream is the opposite to downstream when calculating)

[Andrew-G]

Hopefully the field tech can resolve the causes of the diabolical network log stuffed with timeouts and channel loss reports, and a downstream that looks to have far too many uncorrectable errors.

[Richw1982]

The errors are probably being caused by the ONU over heating.  But checking other customers off the same cab would determine whether there is an area issue or localised to one customer 

[Lemaru]

Excellent, thanks for checking. 

Before the weather warmed up and it started dying through the overheating, I remember seeing some Pre RS errors, but not to many Post RS ones (if any) so assume it's related. 

The network log always had the off ranging response and T3 timeout in it from what I remember too, but never noticed any issue in general use

[Lemaru]

The overheating occurs when the sun is directly on the omnibox from around 12-4pm so that kinda ties up with some or the timeouts and such I guess (if the time of the log is GMT and not BST so an hour out)

[Andrew-G]

Pre-RS errors don't affect connection speed or quality, they're more an information item.  The odd T3 error is normal on cable, perhaps one every two or three days, more than that and it can be a problem.

Tape some kitchen foil over the Omnibox, see if that resolves the problem. I don't suggest that as a permanent fix, but it's cheap, very quick & easy and will confirm (if we see more sun) whether that's the actual problem.  If that works, then a more permanent fix is to try painting the Omnibox white, Dulux Weathershield Exterior Gloss oil based is the stuff to use, doesn't need an undercoat despite what the tin says, just lightly sand the surface, wipe off dust, and put two coats on, ideally with the cover off or open to avoid paint "gluing" the box shut. If you can completely remove the Omnibox cover, or mask around it in-situ very thoroughly  then a can of Plastikote white (or even silver) spray paint would be another option - a touch less durable, but no oil-based brushes to clean.  Or, if you're in the slightest DIY inclined, and the Omnibox doesn't front onto a public pavement you could knock up a little "bird box" style cover that keeps the Omnibox in the shade but still ventilated.  

You can hope that VM will come up with a solution - sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.  I've seen company responses that say "not our problem, weather's an exceptional circumstance", and others "let us get somebody out to sort this for you".  @Richw1982 will know what's possible, although bear in mind VM probably won't be to keen to set a precedent for moving or shielding all south facing Omniboxes, since there must be around half a million like that.

[Lemaru]

Thanks for the tips on the paint. I was looking at solar reflective stuff for roofing and glass, but can't find it in small amounts, so it's pretty expensive. 

An engineer is due back tomorrow so will see what they say. If it wasn't for the fact it's beside my driveway so all tarmac in front it it, and right by the gate (that is used everyday), I would just of planted some shrubs or something in front of it. But where it is, I can't even put a big plant pot as it will cause an obstruction.