Intermittent broadband issues, support not very helpful.

[CRNeo]

I work from home everyday now and game a lot too so I know my broadband well if that makes sense.... sometimes it can be a bit patchy and intermittent but today has been awful.

Checked online in the first instance and got a couple of messages on the website...

Looks like there’s still an issue with your connection
We’re looking into it. Check back here after 23 hours and if there’s still an issue we’ll help you book a technician.

Then I got

Sorry, we can’t run a test on your services right now
Please try again later.

Ringing through to support they said as I'm in modem mode and use another wifi system then they wouldn't support me?! Pretty sure there's nothing wrong with my wifi or devices, I've working in IT for over 20yrs at a high level and I know how to diagnose them plus everyone these days has a wifi system mesh or whatever now so that seems odd but I understand they need to rule out issues with 3rd party kit. But the suggestion was to reboot everything anyway and then monitor for up to 72hrs... 72hrs?! So I just have to wait for like 3 days to see if it continues to have issues?

Anyway... getting a lot of critical logs in the virgin hub... these looking ok anyone?

07/09/2022 14:32:35	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
07/09/2022 14:32:34	critical	Unicast Ranging Received Abort Response - initializing MAC;CM-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CMTS-MAC=**:**:**:**:**:**;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Down and Up Stats below....

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	291000000	-0.9	37	256 qam	20
2	139000000	-2	37	256 qam	1
3	147000000	-1.7	37	256 qam	2
4	155000000	-1.5	37	256 qam	3
5	163000000	-1.4	37	256 qam	4
6	171000000	-1.4	38	256 qam	5
7	179000000	-1.5	38	256 qam	6
8	187000000	-1.5	38	256 qam	7
9	195000000	-1.4	38	256 qam	8
10	203000000	-1.2	38	256 qam	9
11	211000000	-1.2	38	256 qam	10
12	219000000	-1	38	256 qam	11
13	227000000	-1.2	37	256 qam	12
14	235000000	-1.5	37	256 qam	13
15	243000000	-1.7	37	256 qam	14
16	251000000	-1.5	38	256 qam	15
17	259000000	-1.4	38	256 qam	16
18	267000000	-1.2	37	256 qam	17
19	275000000	-1.2	37	256 qam	18
20	283000000	-1	38	256 qam	19
21	299000000	-0.5	37	256 qam	21
22	307000000	-0.4	38	256 qam	22
23	315000000	-0.2	38	256 qam	23
24	323000000	0	37	256 qam	24

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	37.6	4	0
2	Locked	37.3	118794	0
3	Locked	37.6	159462	2
4	Locked	37.6	127489	0
5	Locked	37.6	66707	0
6	Locked	38.6	10740	0
7	Locked	38.6	56	0
8	Locked	38.6	22	0
9	Locked	38.6	17	0
10	Locked	38.6	5	0
11	Locked	38.6	5	0
12	Locked	38.9	4	0
13	Locked	37.6	6	0
14	Locked	37.6	8	0
15	Locked	37.6	7	0
16	Locked	38.6	6	0
17	Locked	38.6	7	0
18	Locked	37.6	9	0
19	Locked	37.6	5	0
20	Locked	38.6	8	0
21	Locked	37.6	6	0
22	Locked	38.6	5	0
23	Locked	38.6	7	0
24	Locked	37.6	8	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	46200000	45.3	5120	64 qam	11
2	39400000	44.3	5120	64 qam	12
3	53700000	45.8	5120	64 qam	10
4	60300000	45.8	5120	64 qam	9

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

[jbrennand]

Check for local issues on the “free & automated” Service Status number - 0800 561 0061 - which usually gives the most up to date info. and tells you of more local issues down to street cab/ postcode level.

Stats dont look too bad - but lets start from a clean sheet - can you do this....

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 and ethernet 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 T3 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.

Also.....

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

[CRNeo]

Cheers, yeah I've setup a think broadband monitor as my previous one had expired.

Will check everything out and post back how things are looking... no doubt will probably sort itself out (usually the way)

[Akua_A]

Hi @CRNeo,

Welcome back to our community forums and sorry to hear you have been having recent service issues. We can understand the inconvenience caused and want to best help. I have had a look into your service and everything seems to be in working order. In this case, please try the great advice given by @jbrennand and let us know if you need any further help.

Thanks,
 

[CRNeo]

Still seem to be getting intermittant issues where internet is flaky... the broadband monitor doesn't work as I'm in modem mode

I still think this is a virgin issue as if I reboot my hub then the issue will go away for a while but then seems to come back.... my wifi signal is strong (all wifi 6) and I do get issues with one cabled device also.

Should I be getting constant No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out errors in the hub logs? Because they occur every couple of mins.... like always.

[Kain_W]

Thanks for the responses CRNeo,

From checking our systems today it appears that your service is unfortunately affected by an area fault, the estimated fix time for this is the 7th October at 12:10.

Many apologies,