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New Customer - Worst Decision Ever. Avoid at all costs!

Andreea_m
Joining in

So, we finally decided to give in and sign a contract with "the best broadband" in the UK. 

The operator persuaded us to choose Virgin because "the advertised speed is what you get, not unlike other companies which do not have their broadband infrastructure and constant speed.

Picked the 1 Gig package (Hub 4) 1 Month later & 4th Engineer "on its way"  -> 200 Mbps Download / 10 Mbps Upload.

Every time an engineer comes, they tell us to wait for a network technician because they can't solve it, but they'll take care of everything, although nothing happens if we do not call back every time.

24 hours ago we called them again and we were told that a ticket was raised with the "manager" or something because our problem was not taken care of as it should've been.  "They will contact you in maximum 24 Hours" they say. Of course, there goes 24 hours and nothing happens, again.

So, we're stuck with an almost £70 pcm contract for a 200Mb Download / 10 Mb Upload. Even though we're working from home and depend 101% on high-speed broadband, no one cares.
I would advise everyone not to make the same mistake we did, check the forum before you sign, I wish I did. 

The problem they say we have: bad snr, noise or something, Even though the technician said we have a strong signal when he installed the new socket. 
Conclusion: Virgin is extremely helpful until you sign a contract, but God Forbid you encounter any issues, NO ONE CARES!

20 REPLIES 20

-tony-
Alessandro Volta

you have every right to gripe at that but some questions if you want help

how are you testing the speed wired or wifi

and

log into hub3 or hub4 - 192.168.0.1 [or 192.168.100.1 if in modem mode] - DON'T SIGN IN, click - click router status [centre of screen] - and post the downstream and upstream figures - to see those press on the grey buttons/boxes labelled - upstream - downstream - configuration


____________________

Tony.
Sacked VIP

Both Wi-fi/Cable gives me the same speed.
When checking speed on www.samknows.com/realspeed/
I get:
Speed to Virgin Media Hub 4 -> 1043 Mbps, Speed to computer -> 209

3.0 Downstream channels
Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBm) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID
5 170750000 -4.299999 33.486542 QAM256 5
1 138750000 -6.900002 30.823864 QAM256 1
2 146750000 -5.700001 31.915308 QAM256 2
3 154750000 -4.700001 33.062504 QAM256 3
4 162750000 -3.900002 33.486542 QAM256 4
6 178750000 -5.000000 33.376591 QAM256 6
7 186750000 -5.299999 33.376591 QAM256 7
8 194750000 -4.900002 33.376591 QAM256 8
9 202750000 -4.599998 33.834164 QAM256 9
10 210750000 -4.099998 34.345688 QAM256 10
11 218750000 -2.799999 30.884605 QAM256 11
12 226750000 -1.700001 31.136440 QAM256 12
13 234750000 -1.200001 36.386890 QAM256 13
14 242750000 -0.900002 36.386890 QAM256 14
15 250750000 -0.799999 36.609653 QAM256 15
16 258750000 -1.299999 36.386890 QAM256 16
17 266750000 -1.700001 36.609653 QAM256 17
18 274750000 -1.500000 36.609653 QAM256 18
19 282750000 -0.799999 36.609653 QAM256 19
20 290750000 -0.400002 37.355988 QAM256 20
21 298750000 -0.299999 37.636276 QAM256 21
22 306750000 0.000000 37.636276 QAM256 22
23 314750000 0.700001 38.605377 QAM256 23
24 322750000 0.599998 37.636276 QAM256 24
25 330750000 0.000000 37.636276 QAM256 25
26 338750000 -0.799999 37.636276 QAM256 26
27 346750000 -0.500000 37.636276 QAM256 27
28 354750000 -0.400002 37.355988 QAM256 28
29 362750000 -0.599998 37.636276 QAM256 29
30 370750000 -0.099998 37.636276 QAM256 30
31 378750000 0.799999 38.605377 QAM256 31

 

3.0 Downstream channels
Channel Lock Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors
5 Locked 33.486542 2040 0
1 Locked 30.823864 506185 20
2 Locked 31.915308 82162 3
3 Locked 33.062504 8472 0
4 Locked 33.486542 1851 0
6 Locked 33.376591 3120 0
7 Locked 33.376591 3352 0
8 Locked 33.376591 1172 0
9 Locked 33.834164 612 0
10 Locked 34.345688 193 0
11 Locked 30.884605 570640 0
12 Locked 31.136440 400052 0
13 Locked 36.386890 57 0
14 Locked 36.386890 48 0
15 Locked 36.609653 49 0
16 Locked 36.386890 41 0
17 Locked 36.609653 42 0
18 Locked 36.609653 51 0
19 Locked 36.609653 19 0
20 Locked 37.355988 0 0
21 Locked 37.636276 0 0
22 Locked 37.636276 31 0
23 Locked 38.605377 51 1
24 Locked 37.636276 48 0
25 Locked 37.636276 38 0
26 Locked 37.636276 13 0
27 Locked 37.636276 0 0
28 Locked 37.355988 0 0
29 Locked 37.636276 12 0
30 Locked 37.636276 0 0
31 Locked 38.605377 0 0

 

 

3.1 Downstream channels
Channel Channel Width (MHz) FFT Type Number of Active Subcarriers Modulation (Active Profile) First Active Subcarrier (Hz)
33 94 4K 1840 QAM4096 424


3.1 Downstream channels
Channel ID Lock Status RxMER Data (dB) PLC Power (dBm) Corrected (Active Profile) Uncorrectable (Active Profile)
33 Locked 41 1.5 43394815 1

 

 


3.0 Upstream channels
Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBm) Symbol Rate  Modulation Channel ID
1 39400000 59.020599 ksym 5120 /sec 16QAM 4
2 60300000 59.020599 ksym 5120 /sec 64QAM 1
3 53700000 59.020599 ksym 5120 /sec 64QAM 2
4 46200000 59.020599 ksym 5120 /sec 64QAM 3


3.0 Upstream channels
Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts
1 US_TYPE_STDMA 0 0 2 0
2 US_TYPE_STDMA 0 0 5412 0
3 US_TYPE_STDMA 0 0 10105 0
4 US_TYPE_STDMA 0 0 10938 0

Your Downstream levels should be between -6/+10 so some frequencies are too low.  Your downstream SNR should be above 34 and some of yours are below.  Upstream levels are also too low as should be between 33/51 and your at 59.  I would check all connections, make sure there is no dialect wrapped around any of the stingers.  One of the forum team should be around soon and should be able to book you a tech visit.

I work for VMO2 but all opinions are my own and are based on my own experiences

Well that all looks horrible.

Yup, upload power level is way too high

Downstream power is too low.

SNR is poor.

If we can see that I have no idea why the engineers couldn't.

The power levels should be an easy fix at least.

Upstream is the opposite to the downstream, Downstream +10 is higher than -6.  Upstream levels though 51 is lower than 33.  So in this case both US and DS are low.  The thing that worries me is the signal difference between the high and low frequency.  Its hinting towards either a drop cable or network issue.  A network issue would explain why the tech didn't notice it as it may have been ok when he was there

I work for VMO2 but all opinions are my own and are based on my own experiences


@Richw1982 wrote:

Upstream is the opposite to the downstream, Downstream +10 is higher than -6.  Upstream levels though 51 is lower than 33.  So in this case both US and DS are low.


 Nope +51 is a higher power than +33 regardless of if it is downstream or upstream. What you might be thinking of is that an impairment in the cable (ie a crack causing a higher impedance) will cause the downstream power to drop but make the upstream power rise as the hub tries to compensate. Remember the hub only knows what power it is receiving (downstream) and what it s transmitting (upstream). It has no idea of what the power levels actually being sent by or received from the CMTS are.

Zak_M
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Good evening @Andreea_m 

 

Welcome to the forums and thank you for taking the time to post. 

 

I am sorry to hear that you have had some issues with your services.

 

I have taken a look over things and it dose seem as though there could be an SNR issue in the area.  I have emailed the AFM (area field manager) to ask for them to follow this situation up. 

 

Kind regards,

Zak_M

BumbleVMTech
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

No 51 is lower power than 33.  The return path is opposite to downstream.  Hence if you have levels at upstream 33  and downstream levels 12db and you want to decrease to 39 then you would add a 6 dB Wideband attenuator which would bring your DS levels down to 6 and upstream levels to 39.  Same as if a customer is on DS 0db and US 45 dB  if they are raised up 1 in the cabinet it will up the signal by 4db so levels will then be around +4 and 41db


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