Virgin Media Community

[CursedLemon]

Hello, since the 9th I have been experiencing a large slowdown of my download speed; from 380Mb down to around 90Mb as well as significant bufferbloat while the upload is relatively unchanged. I checked my Hub settings and found several errors documented - 

11/09/2019 17:44:49	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
11/09/2019 20:32:18	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
13/09/2019 15:26:8	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
13/09/2019 17:08:47	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/09/2019 10:49:5	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
14/09/2019 15:29:33	notice	Unit has been restored to factory defaults from a software issued command;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
15/09/2019 14:09:52	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
16/09/2019 04:37:13	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
16/09/2019 12:49:42	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
17/09/2019 06:17:6	critical	No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
17/09/2019 10:24:11	Warning!	RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=*************;CMTS-MAC=************;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	402750000	6.6	40	256 qam	25
2	170750000	6.3	40	256 qam	5
3	178750000	6	40	256 qam	6
4	186750000	5.8	38	256 qam	7
5	194750000	5.6	38	256 qam	8
6	202750000	5.6	40	256 qam	9
7	210750000	5.8	38	256 qam	10
8	218750000	5.6	38	256 qam	11
9	226750000	5.5	38	256 qam	12
10	234750000	5	40	256 qam	13
11	242750000	4.5	38	256 qam	14
12	250750000	5	38	256 qam	15
13	258750000	6	40	256 qam	16
14	266750000	6.6	40	256 qam	17
15	274750000	6.9	40	256 qam	18
16	282750000	6.8	40	256 qam	19
17	290750000	6.4	38	256 qam	20
18	298750000	6.4	38	256 qam	21
19	306750000	6.5	40	256 qam	22
20	314750000	7	40	256 qam	23
21	322750000	7.5	40	256 qam	24
22	410750000	7.1	40	256 qam	26
23	418750000	7	40	256 qam	27
24	426750000	7	40	256 qam	28

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	40.3	271	9
2	Locked	40.3	548	484
3	Locked	40.3	450	452
4	Locked	38.9	456	547
5	Locked	38.9	583	903
6	Locked	40.3	458	993
7	Locked	38.6	1044	1107
8	Locked	38.6	767	3592
9	Locked	38.9	123435	3555
10	Locked	40.3	525	1772
11	Locked	38.6	431	1424
12	Locked	38.9	366	49
13	Locked	40.3	195	0
14	Locked	40.3	208	29
15	Locked	40.3	361	110
16	Locked	40.3	421	454
17	Locked	38.9	443	2189
18	Locked	38.9	409	588
19	Locked	40.3	356	255
20	Locked	40.3	337	198
21	Locked	40.3	311	163
22	Locked	40.3	116	0
23	Locked	40.3	54	0
24	Locked	40.3	52	0

Can anyone shed light on the errors or is it an issue with Virgin in the area? 

[Cortina]

Yep, same here only generally worse. Status pages are all over the place (mostly denying any issue) but an agent finally told me there’s an ongoing issue that has a fix ETA of a weeks time.. 🤬

[Cyirak]

So interestingly i have the similar issue. as posted here;

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Less-than-1-4-speed-at-peek-times-for-around-2-weeks-area...

It would be interesting to know the first part of your postcode...

I've got a engineer coming out today so will be interesting to see if they find anything. I'll let you know what they find.

[CursedLemon]

I'm in Beckenham BR3, speeds are still very slow and not just at peak times - at all times of the day. I've been told the same thing Cortina has, that their is a Virgin issue in the area and it will be fixed 'in the next week'. I will be expecting at least a partial refund for the month if this is not fixed by October 1st.

[random_person]

Area 20 RH2 and seeing issues too. Since mid afternoon on the 21st (of September) really slow speeds (10mbps rather than 150mbps). This is tested via a direct ethernet connection.

[CursedLemon]

Anyone still experiencing slowdown? I've just been told on the chat that the issue in the area was fixed a week ago yet I'm still in the same situation, 80-90Mb download instead of 380Mb with normal upload. Factory reset the hub again and still the same with the only abnormal sign being the constant line errors showing in the log. Virgin are so poorly set up to deal with issues like these that it quickly becomes heavily frustrating. 

[jbrennand]

VM "Areas" are not geographic - they are legacy billing areas (don't ask !!) - you are in Beckenham which I believe is in the smoke - I am in Area 20 and in south Manchester ! So You are probably experiencing a more local (or personal) fault not affecting 1000's of users.
Try calling the Service Status number 0800 561 0061 which usually tells you of local issues, down to postcode level (that might even not yet be listed on the Service Status web page) that may give you more info. If nothing shows there call it in again and see what they say when they test your connection (and if possible get a fault reference number).

However a download of ~90mbps is suspicious - as it is what you would expect of a device with a 10/100 NIC card - or one limited to that by the driver. So what device are you using exactly and what network card does it have. Are you using Cat5e/6 cable to connect - if not - do so - if you are - try a new Cat6 cable. If you are using wifi only - is the device actually capable of the higher speeds and on the 5GHz band (if you have them separate)?
For example, my Macbook Air and iPhone7 both get 220mbps on my Vivid200 wifi connection (and on Cat6 cable) - but only when I put them onto the 5GHz network. Sat in the same spot if I then flick them over to the 2.4GHz network, they always max out at 70-80mbps - it's just the limitations of the technology!

[CursedLemon]

Thanks for the reply, I didn't know that about the areas. I have the same setup I've had for the past 15 months, only ethernet cat 6, modem mode with an R7000 and in the past 3 weeks I've troubleshooted with >5 factory resets of the Hub 3, countless reboots, hub only mode, switching the cables, testing over wifi, changing any settings I can on the hub page and so on. Basically any variable has been swapped out and the result never changes from 80-90Mb download. I was receiving 380Mb on this exact setup for over a year up until a few weeks ago when nothing changed, I just woke up one day, it was slow and I gave it a week hoping it would sort it self out. This combined with the new errors on the network settings page leads me to believe there's an issue on my line or in the area but Virgin claim otherwise. 

Unsure what to do right now as the thought of continuing a dialogue with the 'technical support' chat guys make me want to switch ISP's. 

[jbrennand]

Things can change some pc's (Dells) can auto activate QoS software (Smartbytes) that limit speeds, Windoze10 updates have been problematic, some browsers can be a problem, antivirus/malware packages can do this - some examples here.

Antivirus

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/362mbps-package-doesn-t-get-past-high-100-s-limited/td-p/...

Dell speed problem

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Download-speeds/td-p/3894056

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/slow-speeds-in-area-20/m-p/4044245#M212401

Browsers speed problem

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Slow-broadband/td-p/3960227

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Etherent-speed-slow/m-p/3912102#M202773

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Speed-Check-Only-get-maximum-80-instead-of-100/td-p/39522...

LAN App problems

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Slow-speed/td-p/3896582
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=292364.0

Windows & v10 1903

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Dropped-connections-even-after-Hub-replaced...

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Achieve-Full-Speed-In-Safe-Mode-Only/td-p/3...

Network Card driver set to 10/100

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/slow-speeds/td-p/4026917/page/2

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Vivid-350-just-installed-but-relatively-low-speed-connect...

So to rule that lot out you need to do this - I know you may have done a lot of this already but...

Make sure your device has a gigabit network card (not a 10/100 one or “limited to that) and has the up to date drivers. Use a new Cat6 ethernet cable (old ones do "fail" and Cat6 is best) to connect it directly to the Hub - which you have put into modem mode (to ensure only your device is connected). Check speeds like that first.
If they are still low - then, boot up your device into "safe mode with networking" (to disable any software on it that could be limiting speeds). Run the tests at speedtest.net (try on x2 VM servers) on 2 different browsers one of which is a fresh download of one you haven’t previously used (e.g. Firefox, Opera, Safari etc.

Try that and report back what you get.