Another upload speed tale of woe - I've given up hope it will fix itself!

[Simborne]

Let's start with the praise first.

I've been a Virgin Media customer (broadband m500 and phone) in Area 20 for 3+ years having moved from BT's FTTC service. I have a Ubiquiti Unifi home setup with the superhub 3 in modem mode. During the majority of this time the service has been excellent, regularly beating the advertised average speeds of 516Mbps down and 36Mbps up from speed tests. The latency reported was also surprisingly good at around 8 -13ms on a wired connection. So, all good.

However, during the last 3-4 months I've noticed a significant drop in performance during peak hours (9am to 10pm). Specifically in the upload performance which has degraded in both outright speed, down to below 6-10Mbps, and often in lost packets. While the download speed remained fairly close to expected levels.

I note from many posts on this forum I am not alone. I've followed all the suggestions given to other customers in the posts (modem reset, checking cables, etc...) including setting up a BQM to see if this was something I could diagnose and resolve. I also recognised that we are in unprecedented times and maybe this was just "network congestion" and the contention on upload bandwidth across the network was a problem being looked at. I just needed to be patient.

But things have got worse and yesterday I reset my router again due to very bad performance, I recall lots of T3 RCS Partial Service errors in the log. 

If I look at the Cable Modem stats below, especially the upstream modulation down to 16qam, they don't look good to my untrained eye. But maybe someone on this forum can tell me more and hopefully this can lead to a process to resolve this long running problem.

Cheers Simon

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	330750000	1.4	40	256 qam	25
2	266750000	0.5	38	256 qam	17
3	274750000	0.5	40	256 qam	18
4	282750000	0.5	40	256 qam	19
5	290750000	0.7	38	256 qam	20
6	298750000	1	38	256 qam	21
7	306750000	1.2	40	256 qam	22
8	314750000	1.4	40	256 qam	23
9	322750000	1.5	40	256 qam	24
10	370750000	1.5	40	256 qam	26
11	378750000	1.5	38	256 qam	27
12	386750000	1.2	40	256 qam	28
13	394750000	1.2	40	256 qam	29
14	402750000	1.5	40	256 qam	30
15	410750000	1.5	38	256 qam	31
16	418750000	1.4	40	256 qam	32
17	426750000	1.5	40	256 qam	33
18	434750000	1.5	40	256 qam	34
19	442750000	1	40	256 qam	35
20	450750000	0.4	40	256 qam	36
21	458750000	0.7	38	256 qam	37
22	466750000	0.5	38	256 qam	38
23	474750000	0.7	40	256 qam	39
24	482750000	0.9	40	256 qam	40

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	40.3	2219	130
2	Locked	38.9	3190	623
3	Locked	40.3	1094	411
4	Locked	40.9	692	4149
5	Locked	38.9	1181	185
6	Locked	38.9	1192	192
7	Locked	40.3	1142	309
8	Locked	40.3	1114	150
9	Locked	40.3	1069	141
10	Locked	40.3	1492	142
11	Locked	38.9	1007	134
12	Locked	40.3	956	130
13	Locked	40.3	1024	140
14	Locked	40.3	1077	141
15	Locked	38.9	1021	107
16	Locked	40.3	998	106
17	Locked	40.3	1038	128
18	Locked	40.3	1448	381
19	Locked	40.3	1546	4770
20	Locked	40.3	1660	1334
21	Locked	38.9	1065	111
22	Locked	38.9	970	134
23	Locked	40.3	929	69
24	Locked	40.3	902	60

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	60300000	42.5	5120	16 qam	1
2	46200000	45	5120	16 qam	3
3	39399946	44.8	5120	32 qam	4
4	53700000	44.3	5120	16 qam	2

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

Link to BQM

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/80b21106de60fac49c142e60d75fdc8aaa... 

[Simborne]

Thank you Molly_G.I guess I wait to see, if anything, improves after the next date.

Cheers

Simon

[Travis_M]

Be sure to keep us updated @Simborne 🙂

Regards

[Simborne]

Andrew-G thank you for post and sadly you sum up the reality of the situation well. 

As I said before, the service until recently had been very good and stable and having had issues with other suppliers I know from bitter experience the grass isn't always greener. So, I guess I give them another chance and reflect then on my options.

Cheers

Simon

[Simborne]

Well Travis_M the 30th June and been and gone and despite rebooting the router "in hope" over the weekend sadly my upload speed problems remain. Download is good, but the upload speed remains 1/3 of the advertised M500's 36Mbps at around 9-11Mbps.

As a number of people have reported the "fix" dates seem to be a very open interpretation of the word "fix". Dare I ask if there is a new date and dare I ask if this time anything will actually happen to resolve the problem? My patience is starting to be severely tested. 

See stats today, still showing issues with upload QAM Modulation and couple of T3 timeouts since the last reboot. 

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	138750000	0.7	38	256 qam	1
2	146750000	0.5	40	256 qam	2
3	154750000	0.7	40	256 qam	3
4	162750000	1	40	256 qam	4
5	170750000	1	40	256 qam	5
6	178750000	0.9	40	256 qam	6
7	186750000	1	40	256 qam	7
8	194750000	0.9	40	256 qam	8
9	202750000	1	40	256 qam	9
10	210750000	1.2	40	256 qam	10
11	218750000	1.2	40	256 qam	11
12	226750000	1	40	256 qam	12
13	234750000	0.7	40	256 qam	13
14	242750000	0.7	40	256 qam	14
15	250750000	0.7	40	256 qam	15
16	258750000	0.9	40	256 qam	16
17	266750000	1	40	256 qam	17
18	274750000	1	40	256 qam	18
19	282750000	1	40	256 qam	19
20	290750000	1.2	40	256 qam	20
21	298750000	1.5	40	256 qam	21
22	306750000	2	40	256 qam	22
23	314750000	2	40	256 qam	23
24	322750000	2	40	256 qam	24

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	38.9	49	0
2	Locked	40.3	48	0
3	Locked	40.3	44	0
4	Locked	40.9	51	0
5	Locked	40.3	44	0
6	Locked	40.3	59	0
7	Locked	40.3	50	0
8	Locked	40.3	35	0
9	Locked	40.3	31	0
10	Locked	40.3	30	0
11	Locked	40.3	26	0
12	Locked	40.3	22	0
13	Locked	40.9	42	0
14	Locked	40.9	64	0
15	Locked	40.3	56	0
16	Locked	40.3	49	0
17	Locked	40.3	59	0
18	Locked	40.3	44	0
19	Locked	40.3	54	0
20	Locked	40.9	43	0
21	Locked	40.3	70	0
22	Locked	40.3	62	0
23	Locked	40.3	48	0
24	Locked	40.9	54	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	46200000	44.5	5120	32 qam	3
2	39400099	44.5	5120	32 qam	4
3	32599971	43.8	5120	64 qam	5
4	25800000	42.8	5120	32 qam	6

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	1	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	1	0

[lotharmat]

Yup - U/S still messing about at 32QAM for 3 of the channels!

[Lee_R]

Hi @Simborne thanks for coming back to us.

i am really sorry your upload issues have not improved, I can confirm the estimated fix date has been extended sorry.  It is currently 14th July 2021 at 10:00am.

Regards

Lee_R

[Simborne]

Hi Lee_R 

Well once again the date for so called "fix" has passed and once again NOTHING has changed. In fact upload performance has deteriorated further and ALL upstream channels are 16 qam now, see stats below.

This has been a problem since the beginning of the year and I'm no longer prepared to just get fobbed off with meaningless "estimated fix date" statements. Can you please advice how I escalate this to a level/department where someone at Virgin will actually do something.

See current stats

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	330750000	1	40	256 qam	25
2	266750000	0	40	256 qam	17
3	274750000	0	40	256 qam	18
4	282750000	0	40	256 qam	19
5	290750000	0.2	40	256 qam	20
6	298750000	0.5	40	256 qam	21
7	306750000	0.9	40	256 qam	22
8	314750000	1	40	256 qam	23
9	322750000	1	40	256 qam	24
10	370750000	1	40	256 qam	26
11	378750000	1	40	256 qam	27
12	386750000	0.7	40	256 qam	28
13	394750000	0.7	40	256 qam	29
14	402750000	0.9	40	256 qam	30
15	410750000	0.9	40	256 qam	31
16	418750000	0.4	40	256 qam	32
17	426750000	-0.5	40	256 qam	33
18	434750000	0.5	40	256 qam	34
19	442750000	0.5	40	256 qam	35
20	450750000	0	40	256 qam	36
21	458750000	0	40	256 qam	37
22	466750000	0	40	256 qam	38
23	474750000	0.2	40	256 qam	39
24	482750000	0.4	40	256 qam	40

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	40.3	38	0
2	Locked	40.9	81	0
3	Locked	40.9	81	0
4	Locked	40.3	59	0
5	Locked	40.3	61	0
6	Locked	40.3	74	0
7	Locked	40.3	75	0
8	Locked	40.9	63	0
9	Locked	40.3	54	0
10	Locked	40.3	32	0
11	Locked	40.3	50	0
12	Locked	40.9	39	0
13	Locked	40.9	43	0
14	Locked	40.9	69	0
15	Locked	40.3	71	0
16	Locked	40.3	47	0
17	Locked	40.3	138	0
18	Locked	40.9	41	0
19	Locked	40.9	42	0
20	Locked	40.3	37	0
21	Locked	40.3	40	0
22	Locked	40.3	52	0
23	Locked	40.3	44	0
24	Locked	40.3	55	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	46199896	45.5	5120	16 qam	3
2	39400009	45.5	5120	16 qam	4
3	25800239	43.5	5120	16 qam	6
4	32600140	44.5	5120	16 qam	5

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

[Zak_M]

Good morning @Simborne 

Thank you for taking the time to come back to us. 

These dates are only given as estimates and can sometimes be delayed as it has on this occasion, the new estimated time of fix is 13th of september. 

Kind regards,

Zak_M

[Simborne]

Sorry Zak_M you seemed to have missed the point EVERY estimated date has been delayed while my service gets worse.

So I suggest not only does Virgin Media need to fix its network, so that the service I pay for is the service I get, but it also needs a new estimation tool. The estimates shared by your colleagues, and I fully expect the date you've shared too, are 100% useless and are only serving to make me more dissatisfied with Virgin Media. You may as well press a "generate random future date" button and post it into your reply as there seems little more to it than that.

If you are unable to give any infomation beyond "Sorry, here's another date", then can you let me know how I can make a formal complaint? 

[jpeg1]

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/contact-us/complaints/broadband-tv-phone