Terrible Hub 4 performance after firmware update

[NiknakSi]

I started noticing some issues on Teams calls this week and the ping trace from TPB had started looking pretty hopeless as well. Hoping it would solve itself I ignored it. Then I noticed the LED on the modem had turned green where it was once white. A quick search online and obviously that's the result of new firmware. The odd thing is my latency issue started exactly at the point the firmware was updated on the 15th (as noted in the Hub's log), and I have the pfSense quality logs to back that up too.

Today I realised something was still wrong when I had some awful speeds trying to download files. A few Speedtests confirmed around 30-40Mbps in each direction at best. I'm on Gig1 and almost always have a solid 1140/50Mbps as tested by Speedtest, just about any time of day. My tests so far have been in the evening which I know isn't ideal conditions, but even so - that isn't right.

I've rebooted the Hub and that's made no difference, and although the VM service status initially says "all ok chief", if I go into the test process it does then say there could be intermittent signal issues in my area. A check via the phone number says no issues. I'll also do some more tests tomorrow during off-peak hours to see if anything changes.

Just wondering if anyone else has had performance issues after the firmware update? At a glance there seem to be some other similar posts recently. Unless this is more likely a genuine local issue that just happened to coincide with the update 🤔

Signal levels below:

Spoiler

3.0 Downstream channels

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

2	419000000	2.000000	38.983261	QAM256	2
1	411000000	2.000000	38.605377	QAM256	1
3	427000000	2.000000	38.605377	QAM256	3
4	435000000	2.299999	38.983261	QAM256	4
5	443000000	2.299999	38.605377	QAM256	5
6	451000000	2.200001	38.605377	QAM256	6
7	459000000	1.700001	38.983261	QAM256	7
8	467000000	2.200001	38.983261	QAM256	8
9	475000000	2.799999	38.983261	QAM256	9
10	483000000	3.500000	38.605377	QAM256	10
11	491000000	2.799999	38.983261	QAM256	11
12	499000000	2.099998	38.605377	QAM256	12
13	507000000	1.599998	38.983261	QAM256	13
14	515000000	2.299999	38.983261	QAM256	14
15	523000000	3.500000	38.605377	QAM256	15
16	531000000	4.300003	38.983261	QAM256	16
17	539000000	4.000000	38.983261	QAM256	17
18	547000000	3.299999	38.605377	QAM256	18
19	555000000	3.200001	38.605377	QAM256	19
20	563000000	4.199997	38.983261	QAM256	20
21	571000000	5.099998	38.605377	QAM256	21
22	579000000	6.000000	38.983261	QAM256	22
23	587000000	5.699997	38.605377	QAM256	23
24	595000000	5.599998	38.605377	QAM256	24
25	603000000	5.199997	38.983261	QAM256	25
26	611000000	5.199997	38.983261	QAM256	26
27	619000000	5.500000	38.605377	QAM256	27
28	627000000	5.699997	38.983261	QAM256	28
29	635000000	5.699997	38.983261	QAM256	29
30	643000000	5.199997	38.983261	QAM256	30
31	651000000	5.099998	38.983261	QAM256	31

3.1 Downstream channels

Channel Channel Width (MHz) FFT Type Number of Active Subcarriers Modulation (Active Profile) First Active Subcarrier (Hz)

159

96

4K

1840

QAM4096

759

3.1 Downstream channels

Channel ID Lock Status RxMER Data (dB) PLC Power (dBmV) Correcteds (Active Profile) Uncorrectables (Active Profile)

159

Locked

40

4.8

37414461

0

3.0 Upstream channels

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

1	43100000	50.020599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	2
2	23600000	49.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	5
3	30100000	49.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	4
4	36600000	49.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	3
5	49600000	49.520599	5120 KSym/sec	64QAM	1

3.1 Upstream channels

Channel Channel Width (MHz) Power (dBmV) FFT Type Modulation

6

10.0

44.2

2K

QAM128

3.1 Upstream channels

Channel Channel Type Number of Active Subcarriers First Active Subcarrier (Hz) T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

6

OFDMA

200

53.9

0

0

[birdy888]

Same for me again. Green light in modem mode and 50/15mbps on 1 gig. I can't go through the reset process again [which worked for me the first time around] today as my wife is working from home so 20 minutes of me faffing around again is not an option.

I have an engineer coming next week to fix this lol. 

Router mode works at full speed but does not suit my needs

[birdy888]

I'm also in area 31 fwiw

[NiknakSi]

Interesting... I am also area 31!

[walderston]

I’m 15 so not an area thing

[avi68]

Is this issue only affecting users on the 1Gig package?

Ive got a hub 4 which updated last Wednesday @ 1:30am and mine seems to be working fine in modem mode. However, I am on the 125 package. 

Ive noticed a bit of an improvement in the latency but for me the speed seems the same. I wonder if anyone else on packages lower than 1Gig have the same issues.

[Timwilky]

Yes, lost my LAG connectivity, reset did not restore the old firmware. Either revert the dodgy firmware or supply all with hub 5

[birdy888]

Hopefully a Hub5 will fix it. 

Can the hub5 do link aggregation? I have a pfsense box running dual Ethernet [RR mode] to the hub to get more than the 1 gig normally available on the hub4. I know the hub 5 has a 2.5g connection but that means i need to replace the hardware in my router to match if I can't link two cables

[rs888]

My Hub4 has also updated but speeds seem fine so far in modem mode, well as much as they can be using a Hub4 with Gig1. Area 12 for those that are interested.

I have notice since the update that QAM128 is now being reported on the upstream D3.1 channel, maybe it has something to do with the rumoured upstream speed increase?

Anyway there is no way to block the update as it is controlled on the VM side of things as far as I am aware, it will always come back as long as VM push it.

This update also breaks bonding in modem mode if you were using that to get around the gigabit port limitations of the Hub4 with Gig1.

[birdy888]

---

This update also breaks bonding in modem mode if you were using that to get around the gigabit port limitations of the Hub4 with Gig1.

---

Well isn't that just fantastic. Now i'm hoping for my price rise email so I can leave if I need to.

I don't mind when things go wrong, I get it, but don't break things that I have spent time making work just for the lols. Took me ages to find the right parts, money and equipment to link up the two ports and then connect to my 10g stuff

[NiknakSi]

I'm using the bonding as well, it's worked very well for the last 17 months.

I'll be very disapointed if that feature is missing from this updated firmware. With no way to utilise the full speed of the connection there's not much point in me remaining a customer. And as luck would have it, my contract is up in a months time and Openreach have upgraded my street for FTTP, so I actually have options now!

What's the score here Virgin Media - is this something you're looking into? Will it be fixed? Will you swap out out Hub 4s with Hub 5s?