Latency Spikes

[craigmdennis]

I have been experiencing very high latency and not only that but spiking latency meaning that I can't use video conferencing services or online game.

I am on a Hub 4. I don't know if there is a debug output I can post.

I have been through all of the support recommendations (reboots, remote reboots, diagnostics on the router, diagnostics on the online portal) and all report "no known issues". 

I see a ton of people on this forum describe this same issue but have yet to find a resolution.

I have been advised by VM Twitter to post on this forum https://twitter.com/virginmedia/status/1449039305423392776?s=20

Below is my BQM for the past day. It's very much like this and worse for the past week.

Does anyone (at Virgin Media) know what you or I can try in order to resolve this?

[Andrew-G]

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@craigmdennis wrote:

Some people have suggested upgrading alleviates the issue slightly, but that seems ludicrous.
How is it that we pay £45+ a month and can't even use it for conferencing services? Surely there must be some QoS at the network level to prevent this?

Capitalism at it's finest. I do not have a choice.

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Absolutely DO NOT "UPGRADE" YOUR CONNECTION.  It will reward VM, leave you poorer, and it will not make any difference to the problems you have.  When you buy higher speeds, you don't actually get increased capacity made available, all that happens is that a limit value in your hubs configuration is set higher.  That won't help because the cause of over-utilisation (if that is what we see) is that there's too much data traffic for the CMTS kit that sits at the top of the local network, so at peak traffic times data packets can get randomly queued for 20-200 ms.  That might not affect measured speeds, but it is critically damaging for gaming, video and conf calling, and live streaming.  Imagine one of those many bits of the UK's dreadful road network, where a three lane 70 mph section of busy road goes down to two lanes and/or has to navigate a roundabout.  Doesn't matter if you increase the speed limit on the 70 section, or increase the three lanes to four, the problem remains that the capacity constraint of two lanes and a roundabout causes congestion when the road is busy.

I think you've might also have a problem with the amplifier at the cabinet - see how there's latency spikes between 1am and 6am?  That's not network traffic related, nor are the cyclical peaks sometimes visible in the blue average latency trace.  That's most probably a component going through heat or capacitve cycling.  Whether might (or not) have a bearing on the overall problem.  I'd ask the forum staff to take a look and refer to the AFM and/or Networks team.  I can't be certain, but if those cyclical issues can be tracked down and sorted it might make a difference.

[Jodi_S]

Hi craigmdennis,

Thanks for the update. We're disappointed to hear that your issues have returned, especially so soon after the engineer visited.

We have done a quick check remotely from our end and can't see any issues that would be causing your current issues.

All power levels are within specification, there are no SNR issues or area faults affecting you which is good news.

How have things been over the weekend?

Please let us know.

Kind regards Jodi. 

[Chris_W1]

Hi craigmdennis, thanks for the message. 

I am sorry to hear that you are having issues with the service. I have looked over the BQM and want to look into this further for you. I will send you a private message and please look out for the purple envelope.

^Chris. 

[risc19]

You should be aware that there are many BQM displaying low level packet loss at the moment.

Yours, mine and many others are showing almost identical problems. It's that small fringe at the top of the chart.

I believe there is a larger issue 

However your latency, thats a different issue.

[craigmdennis]

Update: It's getting much worse.

[Andrew-G]

Absent any signs of VM getting a grip, and with no viable Openreach option (you are 100% sure, you've spoken to somebody like Zen or AAISP about options?) then what about a 4G data only SIM in a mobile router?  Obviously depends on siting the router somewhere to get reasonable signal, and that might then mean needing to invest in a mesh wifi setup as well to serve the property, but you could trial performance potential before spending money by hot-spotting off a phone.

[John_GS]

Hi @craigmdennis

Thanks for coming back to us. My colleague did send you a PM on the 28th October, this wasn't sadly replied too. It needs an engineer visit due to some of the levels being out.

I'll send you a PM now to get some details and we can book this in.

Best,

[John_GS]

Hi @craigmdennis

Thanks for joining me on PM. Just to update the thread, the engineer visit has been booked in

This can be tracked in your online account

Best,

[craigmdennis]

Another engineer came and spent some time investigating and fixing some upstream bandwidth issues, and it has improved but not "fixed". Huge shoutout to the VM team on here who arranged that on the same day of my last post.

They suggested that the issue may be with the actual cable and arranged a replacement. 

The sub-contractors turned up today but the original engineer discovered a huge gas leak in the pit near the cabinet and the gas company are still fixing it (still dangerous). Hopefully the cable is the cause.

[Tom_F]

Thanks for keeping us updated on this Craig - glad to hear there seems to have been some progress. Fingers crossed the gas leak issue is resolved asap so the teams can get to work with the re-pull of your cable asap. Please continue to keep us posted, or let us know if there's anything else we can help with in the meantime.

Tom