Unstable broadband (wifi disconnections, packet losses, etc)

[RoyKato]

Good afternoon,
I hope anyone will be able to help me as I'm quite desperate.

It has been around 3/4 months my Virgin Broadband is highly unstable: the devices that have mainly been affected are WiFi, but now I started encountering issues with my PC too, that is connected via ethernet.
Disconnections were sporadic at first (especially with work laptop, then with mobile phones), until yesterday where I started experiencing huge lags while Gaming/Streaming.|

Upon further checks, I've also noticed some packet losses (tested with a couple of games and also with a ping from the Virgin Hub 3), log below:
PING 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1): 64 data bytes
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=0 ttl=57 time=30.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=1 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=2 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=3 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=4 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=5 ttl=57 time=20.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=6 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=7 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=8 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=9 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=10 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=11 ttl=57 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=12 ttl=57 time=5390.000 ms
72 bytes from 1.1.1.1: seq=13 ttl=57 time=5940.000 ms
--- 1.1.1.1 ping statistics ---
20 packets transmitted, 14 packets received, 30% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 10.000/820.000/5940.000 ms

I've also several error messages from my router (that I'm not able to understand properly):

04/10/2022 15:31:25	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
04/10/2022 08:49:15	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
04/10/2022 08:49:15	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
04/10/2022 08:49:13	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
01/01/1970 00:01:39	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 10:10:54	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:50:31	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:40:41	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:38:42	Warning!	Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:38:37	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:38:36	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:38:36	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:36:54	Warning!	Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:36:50	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:36:49	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 08:36:49	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
03/10/2022 04:11:9	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
02/10/2022 18:32:7	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
30/09/2022 03:24:37	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
28/09/2022 06:44:53	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

I have raised this several times with the Support, but all I'm being asked is to reboot the device, which is something I did million times (hard and soft reboots) - no issues encountered in the area too.

Does anyone know if there's something else I can do? 

Thanks all..cheers!

[RoyKato]

Sorry for back to back posting, here's the network status:|

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	1573	5559
2	Locked	38.6	1773	4813
3	Locked	38.9	1553	5784
4	Locked	38.9	2176	3634
5	Locked	38.9	2139	1696
6	Locked	38.9	656	12
7	Locked	38.9	136	33
8	Locked	40.3	81	46
9	Locked	38.9	116	3
10	Locked	38.6	57	1
11	Locked	38.9	37	0
12	Locked	38.6	28	0
13	Locked	38.9	34	23
14	Locked	38.6	2292	1032
15	Locked	38.6	2260	942
16	Locked	38.9	2280	2096
17	Locked	38.9	1964	2771
18	Locked	38.9	1129	574
19	Locked	38.6	320	0
20	Locked	38.6	851	21
21	Locked	38.6	157	0
22	Locked	38.9	6	0
23	Locked	38.6	101	0
24	Locked	38.9	18	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	49600057	36.3	5120	64 qam	1
2	43100000	36	5120	64 qam	2
3	30100000	35.3	5120	64 qam	4
4	36600000	35.8	5120	64 qam	3
5	23600000	36	5120	16 qam	5

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

The Post RS Errors seem a lot...and doesnt' look right I guess?

[Zoie_P]

Hi RoyKato, 

Thank you for your post and welcome to our forums, I have checked our systems and all looks fine, I checked SamKnows, and can't see any recent drops, can you let me know how your servuce ahs been sicne your post?
Zoie

[RoyKato]

Hello Zoie,

Thank you for getting back to me. I had a chat session with the Support team, who cleared a "congestion" that was encountered after I stated that reboots won't help.

I'm not sure if anything has been really done or not, however I did experience a slight improvement and packet losses did not occur anymore.

However, Can you please advise why I'm getting so many Post errors? I'm not sure if that's connected, however the overall connection seems worsened (in terms of stability) in the past three months and I anyway have to reboot the device at least once every 3-4 days (something that I never had to do since I have got Virgin broadband in 2018).

Thank you 

[Carley_S]

Hi @RoyKato

Your post errors data will remain until a reboot to clear the information. Can you try rebooting and giving a few hours for the information to collect and post your hub log again so we can see how fast the Post Errors accumulate? 

[RoyKato]

Hi Carley,

Please find below the new report:

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	109	17
2	Locked	38.6	112	21
3	Locked	38.6	102	18
4	Locked	38.9	101	2
5	Locked	38.9	105	2
6	Locked	38.6	81	0
7	Locked	38.9	77	16
8	Locked	38.9	77	21
9	Locked	38.9	81	8
10	Locked	38.9	59	0
11	Locked	38.6	28	0
12	Locked	38.9	29	0
13	Locked	38.9	52	0
14	Locked	38.6	32	0
15	Locked	38.9	20	0
16	Locked	38.9	24	0
17	Locked	38.9	21	0
18	Locked	38.9	9	0
19	Locked	38.6	12	0
20	Locked	38.9	9	0
21	Locked	38.6	6	0
22	Locked	38.6	6	0
23	Locked	38.9	7	0
24	Locked	38.9	6	0

Looks way better than before.. Whatever has been done from the chat support, seems to have worked. 

I will raise a further query if the issue reoccur (fingers crossed it won't) - thanks! 

[jbrennand]

Keep an eye on the PostRS errors - they should be zero. Its looking like you have interference/noise in two frequencies ranges. Someone else might know what uses those other frequency ranges and lets see the Down channels power levels

[RoyKato]

Hi John,

Thank you for your instructions - is there a way someone around here can check this information around the channel noises?

I hope I don't have to chat again.. It took me 30 minutes to get through their scripted answers... 

[jbrennand]

Whilst waiting you could do some googling - make a note of the frequency ranges and see what normally operates in there.