Virgin Media Community

[JonReese]

Hi all,

I had my Virgin Media broadband activated just under a week ago (the previous owner had already had it installed, so it was just a case of setting my new router up). However we have been seeing constant issues with either the connection to the router itself dropping (i.e. the wifi) or the Internet connection to the router completely dropping too. I thought for the first couple of days it might be the engineers testing the line but as it has been 6 days now, I'm guessing there are other issues. I've checked online to see if there are any issues in my local area, and all seems well. I've even changed the network name and all the settings (upgraded the security to WPA2, etc), and have done a reset via the pin button on the back of the router a couple of times.

I will eventually buy and set up a mesh network to improve the overall signal and performance of the connection, but I'd like to ensure the connection is stable prior to doing that! It isn't an issue with signal as I have had connection problems in the same room as the router. I've noticed a lot of downstream errors in the network status section of the router page. I'll add all the stats now just in case anyone has an idea what the problem might be. Please note I reset the Hub 3.0 about 30 minutes ago, so I assume all the error stats were reset prior to that.

Cable Modem StatusItemStatusCommentsAcquired Downstream Channel (Hz)

330750000

Locked

Ranged Upstream Channel (Hz)

60300180

Locked

Provisioning State

Online

 

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	330750000	1.2	38	256 qam	25
2	202750000	-1	38	256 qam	9
3	210750000	-2.7	38	256 qam	10
4	218750000	-3.7	38	256 qam	11
5	226750000	-3.7	38	256 qam	12
6	234750000	-3.5	38	256 qam	13
7	242750000	-2.2	38	256 qam	14
8	250750000	-0.5	38	256 qam	15
9	258750000	0	38	256 qam	16
10	266750000	0	38	256 qam	17
11	274750000	-1.4	38	256 qam	18
12	282750000	-2.5	38	256 qam	19
13	290750000	-2.4	38	256 qam	20
14	298750000	-2	38	256 qam	21
15	306750000	-1	38	256 qam	22
16	314750000	0.5	38	256 qam	23
17	322750000	1.2	38	256 qam	24
18	338750000	0.4	38	256 qam	26
19	346750000	-0.7	38	256 qam	27
20	354750000	-1	38	256 qam	28
21	362750000	-0.7	38	256 qam	29
22	370750000	0	38	256 qam	30
23	378750000	1.4	40	256 qam	31
24	386750000	1.9	38	256 qam	32

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.6	1702	3021
2	Locked	38.9	1951	4229
3	Locked	38.9	2231	4037
4	Locked	38.6	2489	3398
5	Locked	38.6	2580	3427
6	Locked	38.6	3063	4064
7	Locked	38.9	5887	2833
8	Locked	38.9	2598	4001
9	Locked	38.9	2377	4485
10	Locked	38.9	2645	2577
11	Locked	38.9	2395	3658
12	Locked	38.6	2287	2079
13	Locked	38.6	2519	3021
14	Locked	38.6	2876	2061
15	Locked	38.6	2623	2287
16	Locked	38.9	2289	2733
17	Locked	38.6	1878	1281
18	Locked	38.9	1681	1136
19	Locked	38.9	1832	2328
20	Locked	38.9	1990	1440
21	Locked	38.6	2108	1565
22	Locked	38.9	2135	1667
23	Locked	40.3	2050	1557
24	Locked	38.9	1631	2320

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	60300180	44.3	5120	64 qam	1
2	53700425	54	5120	64 qam	2

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

I thought I'd come here prior to phoning customer service and potentially having an engineer booked if it is an issue that could be sorted without that!

Thank you in advance!

[JonReese]

Just to follow up from this. The number of errors in the downstream stats is huge now, less than an hour later!

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	11468	16537
2	Locked	38.9	12931	24978
3	Locked	38.6	13555	26252
4	Locked	38.9	14263	24925
5	Locked	38.9	14699	23124
6	Locked	38.9	15890	26171
7	Locked	38.9	18625	17690
8	Locked	38.6	14703	25639
9	Locked	38.9	13765	26000
10	Locked	40.3	14026	15197
11	Locked	38.9	12797	23038
12	Locked	38.6	12654	15380
13	Locked	38.9	13806	18777
14	Locked	38.6	15415	14784
15	Locked	38.9	14838	16923
16	Locked	38.9	13772	19710
17	Locked	38.9	12537	9677
18	Locked	40.3	11099	8326
19	Locked	40.3	11403	15802
20	Locked	38.9	12421	10865
21	Locked	38.9	13105	12538
22	Locked	40.3	13412	14276
23	Locked	38.9	13281	10862
24	Locked	38.9	12367	12865

I'm assuming this will need an engineer or something, but will be good for a confirmation either way!

[Adduxi]

Yes, you are missing two Upstream channels, (should be 4) and far too many PostRS errors. These ideally should remain at zero, as they indicate noise on the circuit.

A VM Technician will be need to fix this.   If you wait here a day or two a VM Mod will pick this up.

Going forward setup a BQM to easily monitor your circuit.   www.thinkbroadband.com/ping

[JonReese]

Thanks very much for that useful info. Annoyingly the question is now marked as solved because I suggested your answer was "helpful" so not sure if anyone will from Virgin Media will see it! I'll have to contact them myself I think as the connection is shocking.

[JonReese]

Can somebody from Virgin Media please pick this up? I've had horrendous issues this weekend with either no connection to the router itself or no Internet at all. This will need an engineer given that the issue is with the connection coming into my house. Thanks.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @JonReese, thanks for your post although I'm sorry to hear of your concerns raised.
I've ran diagnostics on our systems, and quite surprisingly (due to @Adduxi's comments) I've not actually found any problems at all - all upstream and downstream levels are in spec, so there's no congestion and also all power levels are within requirements too - everything is as it should be.

Are you able to perhaps set up a BQM as advised in this thread, upload the findings and we can take things from there?

Many thanks

[JonReese]

Hi Tom,

I've had horrendous issues over the weekend, and decided to do a 60 second pinhole reset first thing this morning before work. I've noticed that I now have 4 upstream channels when previously it was 2, but I'm still getting loads of downstream errors (as seen in this screenshot below).

That's since about 8.30am this morning. I can setup a quality monitor but given the errors, I didn't think this would be necessary to see that there is a problem here.

Thanks.

[JonReese]

Here is a link to my "live graph":

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/7b91c8270247bb4331f88fb2100d11a7d3...

Guess I'll have to wait a while for any noticeable packet loss!

[JonReese]

Looks like there were some huge issues overnight last night on my connection. And I've also had an on and off connection this morning.

[Andrew-G]

@Adduxi is correct - it's one skanky connection, and needs fixing by VM, there's nothing you can do if you've already undone and remade all coax connectors securely.  Downstream power levels are all over the place, with too wide a range; there's high post-RS (uncorrectable) error counts on all downstream channels, you're missing two upstream channels, one upstream channel is well out-of-spec at 54 dBmV showing high levels of upstream noise.  Latest data shows that post-RS errors are climbing, BQM is a stinker with interruptions and packet loss, meanwhile VM are saying "looks good from our side".  Doesn't look good to me.

Bear in mind you only have a few remaining days of your 14 day cooling off period, after that it's 18 months.