Virgin Media In Tamworth, Slow Speeds, Over Subscribed

[todge2k]

Ive been a reader of these boards for quite some time now but have signed up so i can post to see if anyone can give some advice on the problems i have.

ive been a virgin media customer for many years i joined way back when ntl first came on the scene. i have the 20MB package but for the past few months the internet speeds have been terrible. even before the most recent issues i have never recieved 20M at anytime. the maximum i get is about 14MB on a good day.

but for the last few months at peaks times my connection drops to below 1MB and even browsing the web is near on impossible. as i write this now i am getting less than 1MB speeds.

in my opinion i believe the area is over subscribed and simply carnt handle it. a few weekends ago we lost complete connection for over 24 hours.

ive spoken to many tech support people, most of which are helpful and one actually even said to me that there is a problem in the area and it has been an ongoing problem but shud be fixed by the start of january as works commenced at the beggining of december.

im not going thru a router i am directly connected to the modem, which is also the latest little black model which i got sent as i was told the one i had cudnt handle the faster speeds.

basically all i want to know is if anyone can shed soem light on the subject as its getting to the point where if this doesnt improve in the next few weeks i will be changing provider. i wudnt mind not getting 20MB at all, even if it held maybe 14MB i would be happy. But recently its so unstable and slow, peak times especially, i may aswell be using dial up. im a gamer and i cant even stay connected to servers when its like this. during the day its not so bad but my MS is still 120+

thanks for reading and hopefuly some help :)
Tom

ive done a little edit a tacked on some info for u to look at :)

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 3
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM64
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5056.941 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 4.1 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 36.9 dB

Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 41000000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 1280 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 48.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 4

also getting this in my event log quite a bit

Fri Jan 02 18:57:39 2009 Fri Jan 02 18:57:39 2009 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...

and finally

Pinging bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Reply from 212.58.224.138: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=118
Reply from 212.58.224.138: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=118
Reply from 212.58.224.138: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=118

Ping statistics for 212.58.224.138:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 28ms, Maximum = 72ms, Average = 44ms

also

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * 12 ms 10.254.88.1
2 11 ms 12 ms 11 ms brhm-t2cam1-a-v110.network.virginmedia.net [213.
106.228.45]
3 41 ms 11 ms 29 ms brhm-t3core-1a-ge-115-0.network.virginmedia.net
[195.182.180.209]
4 10 ms 10 ms 21 ms bir-bb-a-so-020-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.1
05.174.1]
5 10 ms 12 ms * nth-bb-b-so-220-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.25
3.185.85]
6 * * 77 ms tele-ic-1-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.
184.2]
7 50 ms * 13 ms pos6-1.rt0.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.237]
8 46 ms 70 ms 53 ms 212.58.238.153
9 32 ms * * virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]
10 16 ms 34 ms 13 ms virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]

Trace complete.

[Axegrinder]

Hmm, it could be a low SNR on the UBR, as your power levels are fine.

[todge2k]

sorry for asking but what does low SNR on the UBR actually mean :D i have rough idea

also i tried to get on to newsgroups to ask about the State of my UBR but am having a little trouble, if anyone knows or could care to ask it would be greatly aprreciated

<Mod Edit (Matt D) - Full host name removed>

[Ignitionnet]

I would run with SNR issues too, your local network is total crap. 64QAM on the downstream and 1.6MHz QPSK upstream are rubbish and very rare on the VM network now, reserved for the crappiest of crappy areas.

[Tezcatlipoca]

todge2k, it's best not to post information such as your full hostname - I've edited it out for you :)

[todge2k]

I would run with SNR issues too, your local network is total crap. 64QAM on the downstream and 1.6MHz QPSK upstream are rubbish and very rare on the VM network now, reserved for the crappiest of crappy areas.

thanks for the reply, so can i do anything or just wait and see if it improves? abviously im not gonna wait forever so if its something they just cant be bothered to get round to fixing ill look elsewhere as at the moment the service is shocking.

[Noggo]

also i tried to get on to newsgroups to ask about the State of my UBR but am having a little trouble.

Setting up trouble or trouble posting a message?
Outlook express setup can be found here (all the below links are at the bottom of the first link):
http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/newsgroups/setting-up-outlook-express-exntl.php

Subscribing to newsgroups and the newsgroup you to subscribe to is:
virginmedia.support.broadband.cable
http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/newsgroups/setting-up-outlook-express-exntl-2.php

Reading posts:
http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/newsgroups/using-outlook-express.php#reading

How to post messages:
http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/newsgroups/using-outlook-express.php#posting

Laters,

Noggo

[Rik]

also getting this in my event log quite a bit

Fri Jan 02 18:57:39 2009 Fri Jan 02 18:57:39 2009 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...


I wouldnt worry about that message in the log, I have had that many many times and my connection has always been fine.

Hope you get the issue resolved tho soon :)

[todge2k]

cheers guys, i will have another go at setting up newsgroups later today, thanks for the information :) funny thing is i ran 2 speed test this morning first one went to 19.5MB second went to 15.8MB both pretty good for how it has been. will see how it is later today/tonight at peak times. its usually when it all goes tits up lol

[todge2k]

well its at the usual peak time where the internet turns into turtle pace but im still getting almost 13MB which is quite good in comparison to recent speeds at the same time. maybe they have actually sorted out the problems now.

[takisawa]

Hi.
I'm in Lichfield, & my 10mb Virgin Media Broadband is nothing short of laughable. When it works its reasonably fast, (2 - 3 mbs). But I must emphasis the "when it works" statement though. Because for 10mins in every 15 it just sits there waiting to load a page, & that's any page on any site (Cached sites excepted). Its so frustrating. Re-starting will free it up for a few mins, but then it stalls again. It does this at any time of the day, although surfing the net in the early hours of the morning is usually better.

Calls to Tech Support return the usual, "oh they are doing workings in your area", "these will be completed shortingly, & you must be waiting 1 month for it to take the effect".

So basically I've given up hope of it ever working correctly.

I'm trawling for the best ADSL deal & junking VM.
Waste of time. Been a customer right from the start, in fact I was one of the first to get cable broadband when it came to Burntwood.

[Stabhappy]

takisawa - post this error on the newsgroups and I'm almost certain they'll have it solved for you in next to no time. Sounds like power level problems, care to post them?