Connection issues with the HUB 5

[jsat]

Hello,

Recently received the HUB. I've been having connection issues with some dropout, mostly when gaming. After a problematic experience with the customer service who claimed everything was fine and working from the tests done at their end, ended up having an engineer visit.

Engineer said there was a clear problem with the upstream/downstream. He showed me the screen on his equipment and said that there were all these red dots that came up that needed to be removed. He said the signal was "too strong" and needed to be fixed. He wasn't able to fix it and said that he would escalate the issue with the "network guys," and that I would receive a call on the same day. I received no phone call.

Called up virgin media customer service again and was told that the problem would be fixed the next day (today). I called up again today for an update and received the same response as the first operator I spoke to initially before the engineer team which was that "everything looks fine." I explained how that's what the first operator i spoke to said and that the engineer says otherwise but to no avail. Asked for an engineer to visit, which they denied and said that if we send one out I would be charged. I'm not paying for a problem that shouldn't be there as part of the service, or should be fixed appropriately. Please can someone send out an engineer because the problem is not being detected remotely.

Below is a copy paste of my upstream/downstream from the router settings:

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	194000000	6.2	42	QAM 256	8
2	178000000	5.7	42	QAM 256	6
3	186000000	5.8	42	QAM 256	7
4	202000000	6	42	QAM 256	9
5	210000000	6.1	42	QAM 256	10
6	218000000	6	42	QAM 256	11
7	226000000	5.8	42	QAM 256	12
8	234000000	5.8	42	QAM 256	13
9	242000000	5.6	42	QAM 256	14
10	250000000	5.4	42	QAM 256	15
11	258000000	5.2	42	QAM 256	16
12	266000000	5.2	42	QAM 256	17
13	274000000	5.1	42	QAM 256	18
14	282000000	5	41	QAM 256	19
15	290000000	5	41	QAM 256	20
16	298000000	4.7	41	QAM 256	21
17	306000000	4.7	41	QAM 256	22
18	314000000	4.5	41	QAM 256	23
19	322000000	4.4	41	QAM 256	24
20	330000000	4	41	QAM 256	25
21	338000000	4.1	41	QAM 256	26
22	346000000	4.1	41	QAM 256	27
23	354000000	4	41	QAM 256	28
24	362000000	4.1	41	QAM 256	29
25	370000000	4.1	41	QAM 256	30
26	378000000	4.1	41	QAM 256	31
27	386000000	4	41	QAM 256	32
28	394000000	4.2	41	QAM 256	33
29	402000000	4.1	41	QAM 256	34
30	410000000	4	41	QAM 256	35
31	514000000	3.8	41	QAM 256	36

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	42	0	0
2	Locked	42	0	0
3	Locked	42	0	0
4	Locked	42	0	0
5	Locked	42	0	0
6	Locked	42	0	0
7	Locked	42	0	0
8	Locked	42	0	0
9	Locked	42	0	0
10	Locked	42	0	0
11	Locked	42	0	0
12	Locked	42	0	0
13	Locked	42	0	0
14	Locked	41	0	0
15	Locked	41	0	0
16	Locked	41	0	0
17	Locked	41	0	0
18	Locked	41	0	0
19	Locked	41	0	0
20	Locked	41	0	0
21	Locked	41	0	0
22	Locked	41	0	0
23	Locked	41	0	0
24	Locked	41	0	0
25	Locked	41	0	0
26	Locked	41	0	0
27	Locked	41	0	0
28	Locked	41	0	0
29	Locked	41	0	0
30	Locked	41	0	0
31	Locked	41	0	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

0	49600000	42.8	5120	QAM 64	9
1	43100000	42.5	5120	QAM 64	10
2	36600000	42.5	5120	QAM 64	11
3	30100000	42.5	5120	QAM 64	12
4	23600000	42.3	5120	QAM 64	13

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

[carl_pearce]

Stats look fine, all in spec.

Might be worth creating a BQM and posting the live link.

[jem101]

There is nothing at all wrong with those figures, they are absolutely spot on. Although I suspect the tech really did know there was nothing obviously wrong with the underlying connection but just wanted to get away quickly so made something up - basically you were fobbed off!

OK back to basics, gaming, on what, connected to the hub over an ethernet cable or WiFi - and if WiFi, then, really don't?

Hub 5, is this a new installation or an 'upgrade' from an older hub, if the latter did you have any similar issues with your previous hub?

[jsat]

- For everything including gaming, work, streaming etc I do on my pc and always use a wired ethernet connection from the router port direct to my pc.

- As for the tech, he didn't seem the type to fob someone off and was very much engaged with trying to fix the problem as he saw it. Doesn't make sense why he would escalate the issue if 1). there was no issue detected which he claimed there was and showed me what it was on his monitoring kit  2). he was trying to get out of there he could have used a number of simple excuses to do so. 

- It's an upgrade from the Superhub 4. Only really had an issue once with the HUB 4, but got it replaced and it was fine. 

[jsat]

I'll look into this BQM and get round to setting it up hopefully in the afternoon.

[jsat · Accepted solution]

I managed to fix the issue. The problem is that the router automatically sets the MTU size to 1937. I am not sure why it does this, but from a little bit of reading it is alleged that it's something regarding high network speeds, and this router can handle over 2gb - but this reason is not a confirmation as more research is needed. I set the MTU size from the router settings option back to 1500, which is the default for the Superhub 4 and everything is back to functioning as normal like when I used the Superhub 4.

The following is really important for gamers and really should be forwarded to others that are having issues when gaming using the HUB 5. Instructions to change the MTU size are detailed below:

1). If you like to play popular first person shooters like Call Of Duty Warzone, and you are finding a delay between what you are seeing on your screen compared to what you see on the "kill cam" of the enemy player, or you are getting poor hit registration only to be obliterated by the other player after a few shots - this will solve the issue. There may be a few inconsistencies due to lag compensation and other network factors such as the servers and ping, but it won't be horrendously bad which you may notice when you upgrade to the HUB 5. Meaning, that when u successfully change the MTU size to 1500, then whatever issues u find (granted everything else with the router and your connection are running as intended) are due to the game/your pc/the servers and not your internet connection.

2). To change the MTU size, log in to your router - click Advanced Settings - click MTU size - then change the MTU size to 1500. Now you may find that the router acknowledges that you changed it, but when u click a different option and come back to it, or logout and re-login it will have changed the MTU size back to the default setting. To get around this, change the MTU size to 1499, then either log out or click a different option in the router menu, then log back in or come back to the MTU size tab. If it says 1499 which is what you set it to (which it should), change the MTU size once again to 1500. Then log out and log back in and check the MTU size is still set to 1500 after you applied the changes. I usually log out and log back in a few times just to be extra sure that it has applied your changes. It should now be set at 1500 and not change to the default setting. Why the router makes this so tedious of a task to complete I have no idea, but doing it this way works.

3). Make sure you do not turn off your router. If you turn off your router and turn it on again, the MTU size will default back to the original/default size of 1937 - and you will have to follow the steps outlined above again to change the MTU size. Why it does this, again I have no idea. If you leave the router on it will stay at 1500. I do recommend every now and then just checking to see that the MTU size is still at 1500. This is a new router and given Virgin's track record of routers it is important to be weary of technical faults.

4). Enjoy 🙂