SNR issue, I guess.

[Icantcrabhere]

Hemel Hempstead(HP2)
Looks like the connection went down originally at around 12:30PM(ish) before coming back at just before 3PM.
Online fault checker is showing nothing wrong (currently).
Just posting so this can get potentially flagged up/noted.


Live Graph:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/1700d27c199ce3ea214d66ce063ff9f395507b3e

Todays snapshot:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/bd4c5b3ba711cd6c987a5b0314b71dd8761d746d-30-01-2023

Stats will be posted next:

as you can see: Only 1 upstream channel

upstream bonded channels

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

1

30100657

57

5120

32 qam

4

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1

ATDMA

0

0

4

0

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	563000000	-9	37	256 qam	20
2	539000000	-8.4	37	256 qam	17
3	547000000	-8.7	37	256 qam	18
4	555000000	-8.7	37	256 qam	19
5	571000000	-9.2	37	256 qam	21
6	579000000	-9.5	37	256 qam	22
7	587000000	-9.5	37	256 qam	23
8	595000000	-9.4	37	256 qam	24
9	603000000	-9.4	37	256 qam	25
10	611000000	-9.5	37	256 qam	26
11	619000000	-9.7	37	256 qam	27
12	627000000	-9.7	37	256 qam	28
13	635000000	-9.5	37	256 qam	29
14	643000000	-9.2	37	256 qam	30
15	651000000	-9	37	256 qam	31
16	659000000	-8.7	37	256 qam	32
17	667000000	-8.9	37	256 qam	33
18	675000000	-8.9	37	256 qam	34
19	683000000	-9	37	256 qam	35
20	691000000	-8.9	37	256 qam	36
21	699000000	-8.9	37	256 qam	37
22	707000000	-8.7	37	256 qam	38
23	715000000	-8.7	37	256 qam	39
24	723000000	-8.9	37	256 qam	40

Downstream bonded channels

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

1	Locked	37.3	11	0
2	Locked	37.6	9	0
3	Locked	37.6	16	0
4	Locked	37.6	10	0
5	Locked	37.3	19	0
6	Locked	37.3	25	0
7	Locked	37.3	21	0
8	Locked	37.6	18	0
9	Locked	37.6	23	0
10	Locked	37.6	26	0
11	Locked	37.6	29	0
12	Locked	37.6	34	0
13	Locked	37.3	40	0
14	Locked	37.3	41	0
15	Locked	37.6	22	0
16	Locked	37.3	21	0
17	Locked	37.3	20	0
18	Locked	37.3	20	0
19	Locked	37.3	21	0
20	Locked	37.6	21	0
21	Locked	37.6	15	0
22	Locked	37.6	15	0
23	Locked	37.6	17	0
24	Locked	37.6	11	0

Gonna have to remove the 6DB attenuator to bring powers back into range at some point when I have the chance, too.
Kind of lucky I'm only using this as a backup connection/for family members now.. lol

[legacy1]

---

@unisoft wrote:

---

If QAM isn't 64 on your upstream channels, it's wrong. Its being negotiated to a lesser level which means less bandwidth on each channel.

---

And this in turn means your spending more bandwidth time causing less bandwidth time the upstream could knock out like if water you have 5 upstream each 1L for QAM64 you can pour 3L within 1000ms no problem but if you drop to QAM16 say 500ml then you can only pour 2.5L within 1000ms

your BQM looks good now from 10:30am maybe VM unlock the modulation more so you don't stay at 64QAM or your connection got better

[IPFreely]

---

@legacy1 wrote:

---

@unisoft wrote:

---

If QAM isn't 64 on your upstream channels, it's wrong. Its being negotiated to a lesser level which means less bandwidth on each channel.

---

And this in turn means your spending more bandwidth time causing less bandwidth time the upstream could knock out like if water you have 5 upstream each 1L for QAM64 you can pour 3L within 1000ms no problem but if you drop to QAM16 say 500ml then you can only pour 2.5L within 1000ms

your BQM looks good now from 10:30am maybe VM unlock the modulation more so you don't stay at 64QAM or your connection got better

---

FYI: the modulation order / QAM changes on the upstream are automatic and are triggered by upstream SNR, alongside corrected and uncorrected FEC superframes counts at the CMTS.

See for example https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cable/cmts/config_guide/b_cmts_ds_us_features/b_cmts_ds_us_fea...

For how it was way back when. It's changed since. VM don't have some timing set. More likely the noise floor improved. 

[Megan_L]

Hi Icantcrabhere, 

Thanks for coming back to us with another link for your BMQ graph, although it's not perfect I have seen much worse connections than what is showing in your graph, so I am not too concerned at the moment. 

Could you describe exactly what is occurring over your WIFI/Wired connections when an issue arises please? 

I have checked on our side and I haven't been able to locate any issues at present. 

Thanks,

Megan_L

[Icantcrabhere]

Hi Megan,

To show as an example of what happens when it's bad:
This is from the 16th of this month:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/2676b89afb5437e8e3ddb7063e4325d1aa290875-16-02-2023

this is from the 17th:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/3d99c271e321163cb29be485856be1b7eb...

QAM dropping from 64 on the upstream is not normal.

So other than minimum latency being more jittery when the modulation is incorrect, packet loss also occurs.
Other than that? - I'd like a clean/working service that doesn't have major modulation issues (again: previous posts over the last few years documenting this)

I don't expect a perfect service, nor am I hoping for a perfect looking graph,
I'm wanting consistency and a bit more than what i've received the last few years.

Cheers for your help so far.

[legacy1]

Your live BQM shows fine how are the upstream modulations looking now?

[Icantcrabhere]

All in spec currently, other than the low frequency channel. (23600033) - all 64QAM other than this one (which is sitting at 32)
I realize that that channel is super sensitive to noise and some dips however.

Again,
I don't expect perfection, just a decent level of consistency.

Cheers!

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @Icantcrabhere 

Thank you for updating us and we are so sorry that the service has been inconsistent for you. Can I ask how things have been since your last post?

Thank you

[unisoft]

---

@Icantcrabhere wrote:

All in spec currently, other than the low frequency channel. (23600033) - all 64QAM other than this one (which is sitting at 32)
I realize that that channel is super sensitive to noise and some dips however.

Again,
I don't expect perfection, just a decent level of consistency.

Cheers!

---

Talk about banging your head against the wall. Anything less than QAM64 on the upstream is incorrect. People moved from QAM16 to QAM64 to allow for more bandwidth and less congestion allied to more bonded upstreams added. All upstreams should be on QAM64 (allowing for trial areas that may be higher).

You've hit the "we don't care about HFC anymore unless something detrimental to your connection, as we are going to fibre/XGS-PON". Basically, doing as little as they can get away with for existing HFC because it's money on legacy kit.... That's how I interpret VM's response initially.

[Icantcrabhere]

Hi @Ashleigh_C,

Upstream QAM is currently in spec,
for how long? I don't know - and i'm not sure how to further assure this doesn't keep happening.

@unisoft:
Yeah, as I've always said: I should be owed a bunch of money for the amount of painkillers I've to take with this ISP. - my head is well and truly dented 🙂

It really does feel like they've stopped caring, countless issues for years in regards to my upstream.
I'll tell the staff members here each time I post "Check my history" - it's truly wild, eh?

We've had a bunch of new VM cabinets fitted fairly close to me now: well, a street(ish) over being the closest.
so not sure when/what's going to happen.

Although I'm basically using this connection as a backup / family and friends, It's still truly grating

[Robert_P]

We can see you have spoken to the team since posting, we can also see the hub is in modem mode which limits the checks we can run. If you would like further assistance please let us know when the hub is out of modem mode so we can look.

Rob