Virgin 360 service level drops at peak times

[SteveAldous]

We recently upgraded from TiVo to 360 with an internet speed boost from 125 to 250. Since then, whenever we are watching on catch up - usually iPlayer or Netflix/Prime in the evenings, the playback/streaming stalls several times during a show - often requiring us to come out and then back in to what we were watching. This never occurred prior to the "upgrade" and does not occur during the day. I have disconnected and re-booted the 360 and the hub several times and replaced the ethernet cable to the 360 with no improvement.

Any suggestions for what else I can try or does Virgin now drop service levels at peak times?

Thanks 

[Adduxi]

Okay, the PreRS errors on some of the Downstream look high.  This could be historical, so reboot the Hub and keep an eye on those.  They shouldn't rise quickly.

Also the QAM on all the Upstreams should be 64, so there is an issue on the 32 QAM one.

If you wait here a day or two a VM Mod will pick this up

[SteveAldous]

Thanks for your input - although the date means nothing to me I will reboot the hub and see if any VM Mods step in cheers

[SteveAldous]

After a reboot, the Downstream pre RS Errors rose after a couple of days and I am still getting 16 qam on 2 channels. Do I need to raise this somewhere (eg flag for a moderator) or does it get picked up automatically? Thanks 

[Kath_F]

Hi SteveAldous, 

Thanks for taking the time to post about your issues in the Community. ⭐

We're sorry to hear you are having issues with your connection which is affecting your TV service aswell. 

Taking a look at things this end I can see there is a long term performance issue which will need to be addressed. We won't be able to fix this remotely so I would like to arrange for an engineer to come to take a look at this for you. I just need to confirm the address to ensure we are booking the visit on the correct account. 

I have sent you a private message regarding this. Just click on the little plum envelope at the top right-hand side of the page to access your inbox.

Thanks,

[Kath_F]

Hi SteveAldous, 

Thanks for coming back to via private message to confirm your information. 

I have booked you in for the next available appointment. To view this please sign in to My Virgin Media here: My VM. Once you log in scroll down to Orders & appointments then click on View your orders. Please note it can take up to 24 hours to show but you should also receive a text message with the details. You can also view this in the My VM app. If you have any issues with accessing your account or unable to see your visit, please do let us know and we’ll pop you a message to pass data protection and confirm the appointment details.

Just to confirm, there will be no charge for this visit unless:

➡ The technician diagnoses the faults as not being caused by our network/equipment 

➡ The technician discovers that the fault or problem relates to your equipment

➡ The technician discovers that the fault or problem relates to any system that we are not responsible for

➡ The technician will confirm during their visit if any of these instances apply, and if so, a £25 charge will be applied to your account.

Please ensure there is someone over the age of 18 present at the time of the visit. If you need to change or cancel your appointment you can do this online or via the MyVM app by 4pm the day before the appointment. If you do miss an agreed appointment for any reason, a £25 missed appointment charge will be applied to your account on the day of the appointment.

We will continue to monitor your services and if we can see that the fault has cleared and the visit is no longer required we will cancel the appointment and let you know by text and email

Lets us know how the appointment goes. 

Take care.

[SteveAldous]

Quick update

The original buffering issue has not occurred for 48 hours now.

The upstream modulation is currently 5 channels at 64qam (earlier today 2 were at 32qam)

The downstream pre RS errors look like this  -- 24 hours after re-boot (see below). Does this still warrant an engineer call-out? Thanks

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

1	Locked	33.8	180641	353
2	Locked	32.3	14417078	1034
3	Locked	32.3	11669981	2077
4	Locked	33.3	1842356	589
5	Locked	33.4	677566	441
6	Locked	33.4	511833	411
7	Locked	33.8	384451	394
8	Locked	33	1353366	387
9	Locked	33.8	262825	363
10	Locked	33.9	219922	334
11	Locked	33.8	207748	309
12	Locked	33	888881	309
13	Locked	33.3	348841	302
14	Locked	33.3	594518	264
15	Locked	33	1370535	264
16	Locked	32.3	4561806	243
17	Locked	32.9	1114843	228
18	Locked	33.4	247972	252
19	Locked	33.4	179184	243
20	Locked	33.4	255113	239
21	Locked	33	955597	218
22	Locked	33.8	91090	215
23	Locked	34.3	29854	215
24	Locked	34.4	29307	239

[Adduxi · Accepted solution]

That's a poor set of stats.  The power range should be 34 to 51, so your are bottoming out.  As for the PostRS errors, they should, on a good circuit, remain at zero.  A technician will be required to sort that out.

In the meantime, check all the connections are "finger" tight as loose connections can cause noise ingress.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @SteveAldous thanks for your reply here.

Given Kath has arranged the technician for you, we'd advise keeping this in place as it is better to be safe just in case!
If you do have any further issues after the tech appointment, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Many thanks

[SteveAldous]

Thank you

Thismorning the Pre RS errors looked grim but I have just refreshed the router status diagnostic (without a Hub re-boot) and they look fine now. I just didn't want the engineers charging me for a wasted call out!