Intermittent Service

[BENGR33N]

Good Morning All,

Hoping I can find some help which I have thus far failed to do from VM Customer Services over the phone.  

Last Friday my internet went down for around 6-7h for "planned maintenance" I have been told by a number of sources within VM that this was to upgrade the lines in preparation for Gigabit connections to be available to all in my are by the end of the year.  Since last Friday I have had regular drop outs (typically 16:30-18:00), slow speeds, high ping etc.  I have had an engineer come to the property who re-wired the house side of my connection and found no problem (there was no issue at the time the connection was running as expected at 220mb), however just a few hours after he left the line went dead again, VM CS claim there is no problem outside "temporary line problems" and advise resetting the router.

On the advise of someone at VM who called me I have installed a broadband quality monitor in an attempt to prove that I am actually having issues.  As you can see this morning (Fri 1st) there was considerable packet loss and high latency on the network for around an hour before it cleared, VM CS claim to see no issue and tell me to call when there is an issue (which I've been doing for around a week to no success).

Can anyone identify where/what may be going wrong with the connection?  I have successfully used VM for around 4.5 years with no issues, until last Fridays down time and line upgrade.  

For clarity, I am running an my Hub 3 in Modem mode (have been since June 2021) with an Asus RT-AC86U providing the routing. 

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	226750000	-3.2	34	256 qam	12
2	218750000	-2.7	38	256 qam	11
3	234750000	-3.5	38	256 qam	13
4	242750000	-3.4	38	256 qam	14
5	250750000	-4	38	256 qam	15
6	258750000	-3.2	38	256 qam	16
7	266750000	-4	37	256 qam	17
8	274750000	-3.2	38	256 qam	18
9	282750000	-3.5	37	256 qam	19
10	290750000	-4	37	256 qam	20
11	298750000	-3.2	37	256 qam	21
12	306750000	-3.5	37	256 qam	22
13	314750000	-3.7	37	256 qam	23
14	322750000	-3.5	37	256 qam	24
15	330750000	-3.7	37	256 qam	25
16	338750000	-4	37	256 qam	26
17	346750000	-3.4	37	256 qam	27
18	354750000	-4	37	256 qam	28
19	362750000	-4	37	256 qam	29
20	370750000	-3.2	37	256 qam	30
21	378750000	-4.9	37	256 qam	31
22	386750000	-3.5	37	256 qam	32
23	394750000	-3.7	36	256 qam	33
24	402750000	-4.2	37	256 qam	34

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	34.4	682164	94180
2	Locked	38.6	138252	227
3	Locked	38.6	59607	7359
4	Locked	38.9	3465	187
5	Locked	38.6	573	306
6	Locked	38.6	583	157
7	Locked	37.6	1050	398
8	Locked	38.6	675	265
9	Locked	37.6	379	144
10	Locked	37.6	527	0
11	Locked	37.6	549	1
12	Locked	37.6	533	0
13	Locked	37.6	446	7
14	Locked	37.6	428	42
15	Locked	37.6	401	0
16	Locked	37.3	256	0
17	Locked	37.6	426	14
18	Locked	37.3	460	324
19	Locked	37.3	504	93
20	Locked	37.6	134	0
21	Locked	37.3	332	78
22	Locked	37.3	1820	16894
23	Locked	36.6	432	2106
24	Locked	37.3	215	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	46200000	41	5120	64 qam	2
2	39399961	41.3	5120	64 qam	3
3	53700000	42.3	5120	64 qam	1
4	32599985	41	5120	64 qam	4

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

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

[jbrennand]

Yes thats a bad looking BQM. Stats are a bit worrying too - particularly the PostRS errors - often indicates noise ingress - to double check - 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 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 any 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 ones) you have a problem (noise) that only a Tech visit will sort.

[BENGR33N]

Hey,  Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it.   I actually turned the router off for more than 5mins at around 2PM and ensured that everything was reset back to 0 as I read to do this on another post on this forum.  As you can see on the BQM graph it becomes somewhat cleaner from that point, however I am now noticing that the high latency spikes are creeping back in again.

I had a VM engineer out on Wednesday who changed the cabling that come in from outside, along with all the cabling internally from the wall to the Hub and Tivo box.  I have confirmed that everything is tight and there is nothing unterminated anywhere.

BQM

Below is the downstream and upstream data again, which look like some errors are starting to build up again.  Is this error likely to be on my side or a core network problem?

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	226750000	-3.7	33	256 qam	12
2	218750000	-3.2	38	256 qam	11
3	234750000	-4	37	256 qam	13
4	242750000	-4	38	256 qam	14
5	250750000	-4.5	38	256 qam	15
6	258750000	-3.9	37	256 qam	16
7	266750000	-4.5	37	256 qam	17
8	274750000	-3.7	38	256 qam	18
9	282750000	-4	37	256 qam	19
10	290750000	-4.7	37	256 qam	20
11	298750000	-4	37	256 qam	21
12	306750000	-4.2	37	256 qam	22
13	314750000	-4.4	37	256 qam	23
14	322750000	-4	37	256 qam	24
15	330750000	-4.2	37	256 qam	25
16	338750000	-4.7	37	256 qam	26
17	346750000	-4	37	256 qam	27
18	354750000	-4.7	37	256 qam	28
19	362750000	-4.5	37	256 qam	29
20	370750000	-3.9	38	256 qam	30
21	378750000	-5.5	37	256 qam	31
22	386750000	-4.2	37	256 qam	32
23	394750000	-4.2	36	256 qam	33
24	402750000	-4.9	38	256 qam	34

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	33.9	81677	11845
2	Locked	38.6	64	0
3	Locked	37.6	94	9
4	Locked	38.6	105	3
5	Locked	38.6	45	35
6	Locked	37.6	59	11
7	Locked	37.3	71	13
8	Locked	38.6	96	8
9	Locked	37.6	71	1
10	Locked	37.6	49	0
11	Locked	37.3	104	0
12	Locked	37.6	67	0
13	Locked	37.6	35	0
14	Locked	37.6	143	24
15	Locked	37.6	19	0
16	Locked	37.3	22	0
17	Locked	37.6	50	5
18	Locked	37.6	60	6
19	Locked	37.6	32	0
20	Locked	38.6	51	0
21	Locked	37.3	47	0
22	Locked	37.6	28	0
23	Locked	36.3	137	0
24	Locked	38.6	27	0

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	46200000	41.8	5120	64 qam	2
2	53700000	43	5120	64 qam	1
3	39400000	42	5120	64 qam	3
4	32600000	41.8	5120	64 qam	4

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	0	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	0	0

[jbrennand]

Thats bad - I will flag for VM to come here to comment

[BENGR33N]

Thanks, much appreciated.

[Molly_G]

Hey @BENGR33N,

Welcome to the forums and many thanks for your post. I'm very sorry to see the issues you've been having.

I've been able to locate your account using your forums details to run some further checks but can see you've already managed to speak with an agent in the meantime who has booked a visit in for you.

Glad this has already been arranged and I do hope this is resolved swiftly. Please do feel free to drop back if you require any assistance following the appointment and we'll be happy to help further.

Kind regards,

[BENGR33N]

Hi,

Yes I have now booked an engineer to come out, however I also had an engineer out on Wednesday who didn't fix the issue either and never mentioned checking the wider line (other than internal wiring in my house).  So again I am somewhat sceptical as to whether the issue will be resolved.

Thanks,

Ben

[John_GS]

I do understand your skepticism, Ben. 

Do let us know how the visit goes.

Best,

[jbrennand]

When the Tech says its fixed - before they leave check back in the Hub settings and see whether there are RS errors accumulating in channel 1 - there shouldnt be - and see whether the RxMER has increased to above 34 - it should have. If it hasnt it needs fy=urther investigation to identify where the noise is getting in. N.B. - that may not be in your property as an example - my bad cabling was causing noise" on my neighbours connection.

[BENGR33N]

Thanks I will double check these when the engineer is here.  The internet has been frankly dreadful today, by far the worst day I've had since the supposed line upgrade. My BQM 

To add insult to injury, I then received an email from the complaints resolutions team saying they've spoken to me today (haven't spoken to anyone today from VM) and that the complaint is now resolved. 

Starting to become somewhat vexed by it al now and getting ready to look for an alternate supplier.