Upload Speeds regularly unstable and less than 10% of normal since January

[tortle]

Hi,

Posting here because at this stage we don't know what else to do 😞

We've been with Virgin for about 12 years now and have never had any issues until the start of this year. We're on the M350 package and every day or two (usually in the evenings but not always) our upload speed goes from about 36Mbps up to an unstable 0-3. When this happens it can be like this for hours at a time. I stream to Twitch and this has taken down 15 streams of mine this year, not great.

It effects every device, over wired or wireless at the same time, whether all the PCs are on, or just one. So it doesn't seem to be an issue with our computers (which have been the same for a few years now anyway).

We've run countless samknows speed tests and the upload stream on the router side is also effected, which seems to indicate the issue is on the street maybe? We've followed support advice to do things like pin reset the router, etc. but none of that has helped.

We've had technicians out twice. The first time they fitted and attenuator and said someone would look at the outside cables the next day. They did that, but sadly the issues continued.
Then yesterday they replaced our router to see if that would help. Sadly, the problem happened again last night with the new router, only a few hours after it had been installed!

This has been going on for 6 weeks now and we really don't know what else to do. From looking at these forums and twitter it seems there are a lot of folks having the same upload issue.

With the new router I'll need to wait for it to happen again to check the logs and data pages to see if the upstream channels have an issue (they look fine now, all showing as 64). Sadly I don't have the logs from the old router and they've taken it away.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Client62]

Share the results of the Samknows Realspeed tests that show there is a problem with the performance at the Hub.

[tortle]

Hi, 

Sure. Here are a few from over the last couple of weeks. Hope they are sufficient:

I didn't know about SamKnows initially so hadn't been using that since the beginning.
The Ookla speed tests on Virgins page did at least partially demonstrate the same issue, we didn't know at that point if it was device or router side.

[Client62]

Good for the VM Team to be able to see the range of speed test with serious Upstream issues.

Are there known local faults if you call 0800 561 0061   ( automated service )

From Check router status >>> Upstream

What do the Upstream Bonded Channels show ?

Copy & Paste the text to show the information.

[tortle]

Ah. We've never called the number but we did visit the check services page:
https://www.virginmedia.com/support/help/check-services/address-identification/identify

Which either didn't see a fault or failed to load entirely.

We did talk to a customer service agent via the chat interface on mobile during one of the incidents and she couldn't see an issue.
She asked us to take a photo of SamKnows and this is what it showed:


Next time we'll call the number.

We didn't know about the Upstream Bonded Channels pages until reading the forums here today so next time the issue happens I will grab a screenshot.

At the moment, upload and download speeds are fine. All the upstream channels show 64 qam, no timeouts, etc.
Wish I'd known to check this last night when it fell over...

Upstream bonded channels

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

1	36599979	45.8	5120	64 qam	11
2	23599986	44.3	5120	64 qam	13
3	30099996	45.8	5120	64 qam	12
4	43099981	45.8	5120	64 qam	10
5	49599998	45.8	5120	64 qam	9

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
5	ATDMA	0	0	0	0

Thanks for the help so far!

[Client62]

Call 0800 561 0061 - local fault are just what you need to hear about. 

The Post Code checker frequently shows no issue.

[tortle]

Ah ok, cheers. Number says no local issues currently but we'll call that next time it happens.

[tortle]

Ok, so it's happening again as I type this. Upload bouncing about erratically between 0 and about 4mbps.

Called the number, no local faults in our area.

Checked the Upstream Bonded Channels, a couple of them are down to 32 qam and 1 seems to drop to 16 qam every so often:

Upstream bonded channels
Channel	Frequency (Hz)	Power (dBmV)	Symbol Rate (ksps)	Modulation	Channel ID
1	36599979	45.8	5120	64 qam	11
2	23600000	45.5	5120	16 qam	13
3	30100000	45.8	5120	64 qam	12
4	43099981	45.8	5120	64 qam	10
5	49599998	45.8	5120	64 qam	9
Upstream bonded channels
Channel	Channel Type	T1 Timeouts	T2 Timeouts	T3 Timeouts	T4 Timeouts
1	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
5	ATDMA	0	0	0	0

Upstream bonded channels
Channel	Frequency (Hz)	Power (dBmV)	Symbol Rate (ksps)	Modulation	Channel ID
1	36599979	45.8	5120	64 qam	11
2	23600000	44.3	5120	32 qam	13
3	30100000	45.8	5120	32 qam	12
4	43099981	45.8	5120	64 qam	10
5	49599998	45.8	5120	64 qam	9
Upstream bonded channels
Channel	Channel Type	T1 Timeouts	T2 Timeouts	T3 Timeouts	T4 Timeouts
1	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
5	ATDMA	0	0	0	0

Upstream bonded channels
Channel	Frequency (Hz)	Power (dBmV)	Symbol Rate (ksps)	Modulation	Channel ID
1	36599979	45.8	5120	64 qam	11
2	23600000	44.3	5120	32 qam	13
3	30100000	45.8	5120	64 qam	12
4	43099981	45.8	5120	64 qam	10
5	49599998	45.8	5120	64 qam	9
Upstream bonded channels
Channel	Channel Type	T1 Timeouts	T2 Timeouts	T3 Timeouts	T4 Timeouts
1	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
5	ATDMA	0	0	0	0

Took some screenshots of SamKnows as well as the Upload Bonded Channels.
There certainly seems to be a correlation between channels dropping to 16 and 32 qam and the upload on the router side falling away:

Hope these help demonstrate the problem!

[tortle]

Sadly it's happening again tonight. That's 3 nights in a row. Another stream ruined. Totally unusable 😞

Same problem again it seems, QAM drops on the upstream channels due to noise ingress.

We were on to the network faults team earlier today, who were able to see the issue from last night and assured us it would be fixed by tomorrow so who knows....

Upstream bonded channels

Channel	Frequency (Hz)	Power (dBmV)	Symbol Rate (ksps)	Modulation	Channel ID
1	36599979	45.8	5120	64 qam	11
2	23600000	45.5	5120	16 qam	13
3	30100000	45.8	5120	32 qam	12
4	43099981	45.8	5120	64 qam	10
5	49599998	45.8	5120	64 qam	9

Upstream bonded channels

Channel	Channel Type	T1 Timeouts	T2 Timeouts	T3 Timeouts	T4 Timeouts
1	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
5	ATDMA	0	0	0	0

[tortle]

Same problem again tonight. 4 nights in a row now. Looks like it's gonna be 4 hours or so of this every night 😞

Same channels dropping down as usual, with same the effect on upload speeds:

Upstream bonded channels

Channel	Frequency (Hz)	Power (dBmV)	Symbol Rate (ksps)	Modulation	Channel ID
1	36599979	45.8	5120	64 qam	11
2	23600000	45.5	5120	16 qam	13
3	30100000	45.8	5120	64 qam	12
4	43099981	45.8	5120	64 qam	10
5	49599998	45.8	5120	64 qam	9

Upstream bonded channels

Channel	Channel Type	T1 Timeouts	T2 Timeouts	T3 Timeouts	T4 Timeouts
1	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
5	ATDMA	0	0	0	0