Virgin Media Packet Loss = :o(

[moka]

Hi all, im new here!

First post, major problem!

I am with Virgin Media and have there Cable Internet XL 20mb package which i thought would do me perfect! I do not download much but play FPS games online alot :)

I am getting major packet loss on IRC, Ventrilio, Teamspeak, Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 2007, sometimes upto 40%-45%! I keep being kicked from game servers in Call of Duty 4 for 'loosing key packets' and the lagometer i have up shows up to 7 vertical red lines in one square at a time!

Im a computing student and have a good technical understanding of networking inparticular but cannot seem to understand why the packet loss % is so high!

I have ensured the obvious things such as
-torrent/p2p programs = off (99% of time are)
-virus/spyware = clean
-no other programs hogging the bandwidth
-router settings correct (tried resetting, restarting etc)
-different ethernet cables from the modem to the router
-different ethernet cables from the router to my computer
-tried taking the 2 way splitter away (A=Modem B=TV) and left just A in

I rang up the 25p technical support line and spoke to someone in India who told me to try a tracert to my favourite game server (cod4 - jolt.co.uk) which i did and the results came back ok at the time which i was suprised with.

Today i did another tracert to the games server after a particularly bad day of packet loss and here are my results :)

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 100.150.0.1
2 99 ms 70 ms 56 ms 10.72.188.1
3 57 ms * 81 ms cosh-t2cam1-a-v115.inet.ntl.com [80.3.162.85]
4 79 ms 37 ms * cosh-t2core-a-ge-wan62.inet.ntl.com [195.182.174.109]

5 74 ms 77 ms * win-bb-a-so-720-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.188.249]

6 59 ms 77 ms 49 ms 212.43.162.194
7 71 ms 71 ms 52 ms tele-ic-2-as0-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.184.6]
8 * 53 ms 62 ms 212.250.14.42
9 55 ms 50 ms 57 ms g1-1-6.ar01.tn5.bb.pipex.net [62.72.140.142]
10 93 ms 55 ms 53 ms ge-0-0-0-3801.jolt-gw.cust.pipex.net [212.241.241.14]

11 49 ms 57 ms 66 ms 195.149.21.171


Here is a tracert to cableforum.co.uk

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 100.150.0.1
2 28 ms 9 ms 23 ms 10.72.188.1
3 31 ms 21 ms 11 ms cosh-t2cam1-a-v115.inet.ntl.com [80.3.162.85]
4 20 ms 20 ms 16 ms cosh-t2core-a-ge-wan62.inet.ntl.com [195.182.174
.109]
5 14 ms 21 ms 50 ms win-bb-a-so-730-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.175.93]

6 11 ms 36 ms 43 ms 212.43.162.194
7 * 28 ms 32 ms pop-bb-a-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.229]
8 38 ms 33 ms 52 ms amst-ic-1-as0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.175.6]
9 * 43 ms 49 ms gi9-37.mpd01.ams04.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.1
5.9]
10 46 ms 33 ms 65 ms vl3493.mpd01.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.2
.65]
11 27 ms 31 ms 53 ms te2-4.3490.ccr01.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com [130.1
17.3.105]
12 28 ms 37 ms 33 ms te4-1.mpd02.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.1.
118]
13 70 ms 202 ms 214 ms te4-1.mpd01.lon02.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.1.
202]
14 42 ms 32 ms 31 ms schlund_and_partner.demarc.cogentco.com [130.117
.240.170]
15 29 ms 33 ms 38 ms ge-2-1.bb-c.the.lon.gb.oneandone.net [212.227.12
0.25]
16 82 ms 53 ms 57 ms te-1-3.bb-c.bap.rhr.de.oneandone.net [212.227.12
0.49]
17 * 39 ms 39 ms te-1-1.gw-distp-a.bad.oneandone.net [212.227.116
.220]
18 46 ms 52 ms 71 ms ae-1.gw-prtr-r211-a.bad.oneandone.net [195.20.24
7.44]
19 55 ms 58 ms 75 ms server3.cableforum.co.uk [87.106.129.133]

Could anyone give me any recommendations other then calling the technical support line again and wasting more money on a worthless chat.

Thanks alot in advance

[boroboi]

Isn't packet loss caused on the ISP's side of things (as far as im aware)? Theres nothing you personally can do about it.

[jcuk]

I reckoned it would be ISP side too.

How long have you had the service / what modem model do you have (i.e. ntl 200/250/255 and such)

Also your speedtests offpeak and at peak times, as with downloading files, i know you may not do much of this but when you do download, how are the speeds?

[moka]

Hey, thanks for speedy reply.

Speeds are awful, 20mb??? more like 512kb at peak and prob 4mb at 5am :P

As im not a massive downloader that does not bother me any where near as much as the packet loss.

The model of my modem is... (just go have a look)
ntl:250

The packet loss has only been happening the last 5 weeks as far as IM aware but my housemate was reporting major packet loss months ago.

Really getting on my t*ts as we both use it for 90% gaming.

Anything i can do at all? I need someone to point me in the right direction to stop me browsing the net trying silly little things like lowering the MTU etcetc which does nothing at all :)

I would LOVE to cancel virgins contract (but cant for another 7 months) because to be honest im so dissapointed with them, 20mb bb sounded great... but it ended there. :dunce:

---------- Post added at 16:56 ---------- Previous post was at 16:52 ----------

jcuk i see your a virgin media employee?

could you tell me if there is any maintenance taking place in the portsmouth area (southsea) PO5?

[deed02392]

Hmm, while I get full speed very often with my 20Mb Virgin BB, I too get lots of lag, but to be honest I mostly put this down to the fact I'm on wireless. If I could be bothered to get a big long Ethernet cable I'd check to see if I don't get lag when wired, but to be honest, wireless sounds like a far more likely explanation. You're not on wireless, are you?

[AmAtoL]

You will most likely get a few replies saying that others do get packet loss, myself included. 9 times out of 10 tracerts and stuff don't highlight anything that can be done at user level, mine's worse if my 2 kids are on the net at the same time as me but it can still be bad with just me on (gaming).
I'm on 20 meg and the concensus is that it should be able to cope with 3 people simultaneously, which it never does to be fair. Some days it's ok, others, the bullets just fly off into thin air, and it's damn annoying.
I read in another thread that I can't have 2 modems at my property, which was plan B for the summer hols :p

[deed02392]

Well at least your hardware keeps up with it, lucky so 'n' so!

[moka]

wireless = no, never... im still not convinced its reliable enough for my type of internet use (gaming). One day no doubt i will but in the mean time id rather have a long ugly cable going through my house then have an unreliable/unsecure internet connection (i kno it can in some cases be reliable and in some cases be secure) :).

So can i just clarify this thread and say that there is pretty much nothing i can do to rid this awful packet loss/atrocious download speed? I might aswell downgrade to 4mb or even 2mb as there the speeds im getting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate the fact theres nothing I can do! Why o WHY did i risk it and go with virgin...? i want to cry! :P

[boroboi]

All you can do im afraid is notify technical support. Send a copy of the tracert in a post in the support newsgroup. It has to be an error on their side. If its an error with the UBR then unless you downgrade and get switched to a different local UBR then the problem will remain, but theres a chance you could still be crocked onto the same one and still receive packet loss.

Im sure a few suggestive calls to VM about repairing the damn thing could help (Debatable) lol.

[Joxer]

If you are going to send a report to the newsgroups a good thing to send would be pings to your default gateway (not your router!). If you're getting packet loss there then the problem is between you and the ubr and the more it is reported the quicker it gets fixed.

[darkrage]

welcome to virgin media - packet loss is and always will be due to your contention in your area/ubr if you ping a server 1000 times you will see lag spikes on an ntl owned server between you and the game server you are pinging. customer services will fob you off saying its your router or your pc etc etc - sometimes during peak times you may also notice that a tier after the vm network in holland is sending you via usa and back - this u cant stop due to routing during peak times and vm cant help with this. well vm cant help with sod all tbh if you can get a decent contention on an adsl line id go with that unfortunately for me im too far away from the dsl exchange to use be:broadband so im stuck with pl and high contention.

just fyi - if vm can not supply you with upto service speeds there is a get out of this contract clause if you look closely at the t & c's - i done it but had to return due to dsl being soo bad im better off with this peice of crap.

anyway if you need help with the get out of jail clause let me know.

[Hybrid Alien]

I take it your playing COD 4 on the PC?

[Nedkelly]

Have you ever had the modem changed ? did they change the power supply as this can cause problems .:)

[erazer]

Hi I have the same problem!!!!
for 10 weeks now!!!! had 4 tec ppl out line tested all ok

i 2 play cod 4 and on 20 meg !! uptill 10 weeks ago it was fine!!
I even taken my pc to my friends house and tryed it on his Virgin bb
still have this problem!! then i tried it on my other friends line who is with BT
no problem.

i think it a total virgin network issue!! but they just blame router,pc,virus,
its not

looking for a new bb ISP

[Jesty]

I hate the fact theres nothing I can do! Why o WHY did i risk it and go with virgin...? i want to cry! :P

Because, like so many people, you got reeled in by the flashy, expensive advertisements. The money from which probably would have been better spent upgrading their network. ;)

[GrahamP]

Hey

I have exactly the same problems. I'm now convinced its to do with

Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received -

Next time you start getting connection problems. Run CMD. Ping www.ntlworld.com You'll start to get intermittent connection problems and you'll lose about 75-100% of your packets.

In your browser, open

http://192.168.100.1/

Username & password = root

I bet you that in your event log it will tell you that the Unicast Maintenance Ranging has been trying to upgrade the software on your modem, and failing!

When this happens your modem will restart which is why you'll probably find that the connection restores itself shortly afterwards?!?

The call centre had no solution but i'm hoping the engineer i called will!