Virgin Media Community

[MTown20]

Hello, First time poster here!

I've recently upped my package to 350 from 100 because I was getting issues with devices not connecting and laggy/slow internet over wifi for my partners PC. Trying to do video calls was almost impossible if anyone else used the internet as it would freeze then all words come at once.. like it's some kinda of packet hold up! I called to cancel because I'd rather had broadband at 12Mbps with a stable connection than fast but intermittent speeds. I was told I was maxing out my bandwidth and should upgrade to a higher package... I mean I play games online and we watch Netflix etc. I also Stream my xbox to my PC but that uses LAN connection and not the internet.

So after the upgrade I bought an Archer C1200 gigabit router and put the virgin superhub 3 into modem mode because i'd consistently get lag spikes playing games. This could happen at any time not just during the day. I figured it's the hub not handling the traffic well. I also suspect the hub is intermittently faulty because the few times i've put it into modem mode sometimes I couldn't get WAN, sometimes I couldn't access it via 192.168.100.1 and had to hard reset.

I tried a few routers before the C1200 and all seem to give the same issue which is variation in ping. Using CMD I would ping 8.8.8.8 over a period of time and i'd get random spikes in latency from around 20ms to 100-400ms then back down and repeat then sometimes it's stable. I also have a broadband monitor (Yesterdays graph: https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/87de7dbc554d5c34a679d1f1dd6564e77b... ) ignore if its says 100Mbps i've not updated it.

I've also done speedtest over LAN and sometimes it's really good hitting what I expect, sometimes it drops lower than the minimum. Again this varies depending on the day (to be expected) but surely this shouldn't affect a simple video call?

Is this a case of just being in an oversubscribed area and my connection to the exchange is fighting others? It seems like downloading stuff is fine but applications that require low ping (gaming, video calls) seem to be affected. I can only get fibre on Virgin as no other provider provides fibre... Guess I'm the only street in Greater London than Openreach decided to skip!

I'll not post my routers upstream and downstream unless requested so I don't have a massive post at the start. Any help or confirmation of my worries would be appreciated!

[JitteryPinger]

Hi @MTown20

Could you complete this test (Using Wired LAN)  https://labs2.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/

Once the test is complete please click the blue results page button and share the link directly back here.

Also if some devices such as the one your trying to Video Call from are using WiFi can you also run the same test there.

Also please share router stats from the hub please.

[MTown20]

Hello Matt,

Thanks for your response! I can't check the laptop at the moment as it's in use but I've had lag issues on the wired connection too.

I did three of those tests one after another around 12.30

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1611424545899843755

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1612355923526824955

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1612355769834457455

These were done on a wired connection (shielded ethernet cable) to an Archer C1200 gigabit port connected to the superhub 3 with a Cat 6 flat ethernet cable (bought a Cat 6a "normal" cable in case that is the issue)

[MTown20]

Here are router stats:

Router Details:

Status:

Item Status Comments

Acquired Downstream Channel (Hz)	267000000	Locked
Ranged Upstream Channel (Hz)	60299996	Locked
Provisioning State	Online

Downstream:

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

1	267000000	0.2	37	256 qam	17
2	139000000	1.4	36	256 qam	1
3	147000000	1.4	37	256 qam	2
4	155000000	1.2	37	256 qam	3
5	163000000	1	37	256 qam	4
6	171000000	1	37	256 qam	5
7	179000000	0.9	36	256 qam	6
8	187000000	1.2	36	256 qam	7
9	195000000	1.2	37	256 qam	8
10	203000000	0.7	37	256 qam	9
11	211000000	0.5	37	256 qam	10
12	219000000	0.5	37	256 qam	11
13	227000000	0.2	37	256 qam	12
14	235000000	-0.4	37	256 qam	13
15	243000000	-1	37	256 qam	14
16	251000000	-0.5	37	256 qam	15
17	259000000	0	37	256 qam	16
18	275000000	0	37	256 qam	18
19	283000000	0.2	37	256 qam	19
20	291000000	1	37	256 qam	20
21	299000000	1	37	256 qam	21
22	307000000	0.7	37	256 qam	22
23	315000000	1.2	37	256 qam	23
24	323000000	1.5	37	256 qam	24

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	37.3	5	0
2	Locked	36.6	15	0
3	Locked	37.3	9	0
4	Locked	37.3	16	0
5	Locked	37.3	10	0
6	Locked	37.3	8	0
7	Locked	36.6	14	0
8	Locked	36.6	11	0
9	Locked	37.3	9	0
10	Locked	37.3	13	0
11	Locked	37.3	11	0
12	Locked	37.3	8	0
13	Locked	37.3	10	0
14	Locked	37.3	8	0
15	Locked	37.3	12	0
16	Locked	37.3	17	0
17	Locked	37.3	10	0
18	Locked	37.6	9	0
19	Locked	37.6	7	0
20	Locked	37.6	5	0
21	Locked	37.6	6	0
22	Locked	37.6	10	0
23	Locked	37.6	10	0
24	Locked	37.6	7	0

[MTown20]

Upstream:

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	60299996	45.3	5120	64 qam	1
2	39400034	45.3	5120	64 qam	4
3	46200000	45.3	5120	64 qam	3
4	53700000	44.8	5120	64 qam	2

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

Config:

General Configuration

Network access	Allowed
Maximum Number of CPEs	1
Baseline Privacy	Enabled
DOCSIS Mode	Docsis30
Config file	g87dsfd;kfoA,.iyewrkldJKD

Primary Downstream Service Flow

SFID	16736
Max Traffic Rate	402500089
Max Traffic Burst	42600
Min Traffic Rate	0

Primary Upstream Service Flow

SFID	16735
Max Traffic Rate	38500089
Max Traffic Burst	42600
Min Traffic Rate	0
Max Concatenated Burst	42600
Scheduling Type	BestEffort

Do you need the network log?

Thanks for you help!

[JitteryPinger · Accepted solution]

As thought your connection to Virgin's network is fine, the issues like many in the current circumstance (WFH and Home Schooling) is congestion related and unfortunately this isn't going to rectify itself until either more capacity and re-segmentation work takes place on Virgin's network or until people start returning to work and school.

The likelihood is going to be the latter, cable networks such as Virgin's are very limited on upstream bandwidth due to the technology in use.

[MTown20]

Hello Matt,

As I thought! Well that is a bit of a blow but I guess I'll just try and stick with it. Hopefully things improve as you say over time.

Thank you for your fast responses and help. Very much appreciate it.

[JitteryPinger]

No problem, come back if you need anymore help or advice.