Wifi Dropouts, ping spikes

[habeebq]

I am having issues with my Virgin Media Connection (M100 and Hub3).

During MS Team meetings, my connection drops out (wifi seems connected but internet is dropped).

During gaming sessions I frequently see my ping spiking for 10-30 seconds, making games unplayable.

It doesnt happen all the time, but it happens quite frequently in the day. I do some ping tests and I can see sometimes the ping goes to 800ms or higher. I've changed my coax cable thats made it slightly better, but still seeing issues.

Are there any tests, diagnostics or logs that I can look into?

For e.g. I tried to perform a ping from inside the SuperHub 3 and I get 20% packet loss:

PING www.google.com (142.250.178.4): 64 data bytes
72 bytes from 142.250.178.4: seq=0 ttl=58 time=70.000 ms
72 bytes from 142.250.178.4: seq=1 ttl=58 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 142.250.178.4: seq=2 ttl=58 time=10.000 ms
72 bytes from 142.250.178.4: seq=3 ttl=58 time=20.000 ms
--- www.google.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 20% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 10.000/27.500/70.000 ms

[jbrennand]

See this procedure to see the logs and visualise the quality of the connection
_______________________________________________________________

In your browser’s URL box type in http://192.168.0.1 (or http://192.168.100.1 - if in modem mode) (DONT click these links) - and hit return. On the first page up dont login (unless you have the Hub4/5 - when you do login) just click on the “router status” icon/text at bottom-middle (Hub3/4) or top/right (SH’s) of the Login page and then Navigate to these “pages” and just copy/paste the normal “Formatted Text” (not images) 3 FULL sets of data onto here – 2 tables 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. If character limits are “exceeded” - just do two posts

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”. Click the lower link (Share Live Graph) then click generate. Copy the text in the Direct Link box, beware, there may be more text than you can see. On here click the Link icon (2 links chain to the left of the camera icon) In the URL box paste the link you copied and then click OK

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

[habeebq]

Thanks John. I've set up thinkbroadband but I guess it will take a while for the data to appear.

In the meantime, the tables from my router status:

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	234750000	3.4	38	256 qam	13
2	138750000	4.6	38	256 qam	1
3	146750000	5.5	38	256 qam	2
4	154750000	5.4	38	256 qam	3
5	162750000	5.4	38	256 qam	4
6	170750000	5.3	38	256 qam	5
7	178750000	5	38	256 qam	6
8	186750000	4.9	38	256 qam	7
9	194750000	4.9	38	256 qam	8
10	202750000	4.6	38	256 qam	9
11	210750000	4.3	38	256 qam	10
12	218750000	4	38	256 qam	11
13	226750000	3.7	38	256 qam	12
14	242750000	3.2	38	256 qam	14
15	250750000	3	38	256 qam	15
16	258750000	3.2	38	256 qam	16
17	266750000	3.2	38	256 qam	17
18	274750000	2.7	38	256 qam	18
19	282750000	3.2	38	256 qam	19
20	290750000	2.5	38	256 qam	20
21	298750000	3	38	256 qam	21
22	306750000	3	38	256 qam	22
23	314750000	3	38	256 qam	23
24	322750000	3.2	38	256 qam	24

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	702	321
2	Locked	38.6	1851	612
3	Locked	38.6	1549	385
4	Locked	38.9	1285	360
5	Locked	38.9	737	636
6	Locked	38.9	548	508
7	Locked	38.9	491	374
8	Locked	38.9	574	403
9	Locked	38.9	644	236
10	Locked	38.9	612	372
11	Locked	38.6	667	529
12	Locked	38.9	711	486
13	Locked	38.9	695	366
14	Locked	38.6	637	280
15	Locked	38.9	550	276
16	Locked	38.9	455	248
17	Locked	38.6	453	173
18	Locked	38.6	540	231
19	Locked	38.9	375	383
20	Locked	38.9	515	397
21	Locked	38.6	407	397
22	Locked	38.9	443	362
23	Locked	38.9	465	242
24	Locked	38.9	448	257

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	25800000	43.5	5120	64 qam	6
2	39400013	45	5120	64 qam	4
3	46200025	45.5	5120	64 qam	3
4	32600136	44	5120	64 qam	5

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

[jbrennand]

Stats look ok - but to test whether there is an issue can you reset them as below.

Also you have missed out the Network Logs. BQM needs a 24 to get the full picture - but if you post the link to "share live graph" we can see it develop

Finally you didn't say, are your issues only evident on wifi connections or do you see them at the same times on devices connected on ethernet cables? If you don't know, can you check to help diagnose whether it is just a wifi issue or it could be network connection/Hub related?


________________________________________________

Switch the Hub off and unplug it from the mains supply for five minutes. Whilst it's off, do a quick check that all of your coax cable connections are in nice and "finger" tight - at the Hub and wall box and also at any connectors etc. Ensure there are no “unterminated cable loose ends. Disconnect all the connections and reconnect to be sure. Also check that the internal wiring is ok with no kinking or chaffing, check that all looks good with the outside cabling and wall box (no “staples, etc.,) piercing the cables.. Then switch the Hub back on and leave ~5 minutes

When all done, check back in the settings and ensure that the RS error counts and any T errors have all reset to 0. Then check every hour or so to see if they start reappearing - they shouldn't. If they do (particularly the postRS and T3 ones) you have a problem (noise) that only a Tech visit will sort.

[habeebq]

I had to cut out the Network Logs due to message length (and the effort to block the MAC address), here they are:

And the live graph: 

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/601ee149cde9394e7f07b6d2b240f7d811358d51

Network Log

Time Priority Description

19/03/2022 14:47:12	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
18/03/2022 15:03:23	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=xb;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
17/03/2022 11:28:38	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/03/2022 08:24:59	critical	Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/03/2022 08:20:59	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=xb;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/03/2022 08:18:57	Warning!	Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/03/2022 08:18:53	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/03/2022 08:18:53	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/03/2022 08:18:53	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
13/03/2022 17:04:10	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
13/03/2022 14:31:26	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
10/03/2022 23:44:20	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
10/03/2022 23:44:18	Warning!	LAN login FAILED : Incorrect Username / Password / ConnectionType;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
10/03/2022 23:43:4	notice	LAN login Success;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
10/03/2022 23:34:45	Warning!	LAN login FAILED : Incorrect Username / Password / ConnectionType;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
10/03/2022 23:32:59	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
10/03/2022 02:31:25	Error	DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
09/03/2022 19:49:15	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
09/03/2022 18:29:9	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
09/03/2022 18:29:9	critical	SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=x;CMTS-MAC=x4;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

[habeebq]

I forgot to say, all my devices are Wifi. Unfortunately the issue happens intermittently like once every few hours, so its not easy to sit next to the hub with an ethernet cable, since all my work setup is upstairs. But I agree, it would be easier to debug the issue that way.

[jbrennand]

Just get a 10/20/50 meter run of Cat5e cable and run it upstairs ... just trail it over carpet up stairs etc for the duration of the "testing" then roll it up and put it in your bits drawer. Or if it solves the issue find a way to run it permanently

[Kain_W]

Hi habeebq

Thanks for your post and welcome back to the community!

So sorry for any issues caused regarding this.

From checking our service I can't see any readings that would contribute to the following issue.

Are you able to run a hard wired speed test?

Thanks,

[habeebq]

Hi,

Unfortunately I am not able to run hardwired speed tests. Right now i.e. 22/03/2022 20:34 I am experiencing ping spikes:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/create/61144c667a3a88d052d4803328d...

[jbrennand]

Your BQM link goes to your account login.

Out of interest... why can you not do a wired test.