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View Full Version : Newbie here! Virgin 50mb...fluctuating wireless speed


Matt_S
29-09-2009, 09:32
Hi,

I had my 50mb broadband installed on Saturday. I was getting 50.5 down and 1.6 up when wired in but couldnt get my Intel 5300 wireless card to connect in 'n' mode. I did a bit of hunting around on the interweb and someone suggested changing a few of the router settings. I switched to channel 11 and AES and it solved my problem for a while.

I fired up my laptop yesterday and did a speed test and it showed 7mb. I retried straight away and it went up to around 30mb. I did about 5 tests in a row and each time the result was different. I had speeds of 7, 30, 27 and about 15...all within seconds of each other.

Its definitely a wireless problem as I get consistent speeds of 50.5mb when wired in.

I am currently at work so wont be able to supply any technical information for another few hours if thats what is required.

Also I know very little about these types of thing so you'll have to go easy on me with the lingo etc :)

Thanks in advance

webcrawler2050
29-09-2009, 14:26
Hi,

I had my 50mb broadband installed on Saturday. I was getting 50.5 down and 1.6 up when wired in but couldnt get my Intel 5300 wireless card to connect in 'n' mode. I did a bit of hunting around on the interweb and someone suggested changing a few of the router settings. I switched to channel 11 and AES and it solved my problem for a while.

I fired up my laptop yesterday and did a speed test and it showed 7mb. I retried straight away and it went up to around 30mb. I did about 5 tests in a row and each time the result was different. I had speeds of 7, 30, 27 and about 15...all within seconds of each other.

Its definitely a wireless problem as I get consistent speeds of 50.5mb when wired in.

I am currently at work so wont be able to supply any technical information for another few hours if thats what is required.

Also I know very little about these types of thing so you'll have to go easy on me with the lingo etc :)

Thanks in advance

What router do you have and wifi card / usb dongel?

Matt_S
29-09-2009, 14:41
Thanks for the reply.

Ive got the Dlink 615 router and an Intel 5300 wifi card in my laptop. The engineer didnt leave the 'free' dongle but I wasnt intending to use it anyway because of my Intel one.

Matt_S
29-09-2009, 17:16
Ignore me saying that its only a wireless issue.

Just plugged my ethernet cable back in and getting exactly the same problem. Massively fluctuating speeds.

Its ranging from 4mb to 40mb within seconds! Seems like its quite a common problem.

kannanni
29-09-2009, 18:32
Ignore me saying that its only a wireless issue.

Just plugged my ethernet cable back in and getting exactly the same problem. Massively fluctuating speeds.

Its ranging from 4mb to 40mb within seconds! Seems like its quite a common problem.

have you tried speed test's without any antivirus or security suites installed ?

gobbledigook
30-09-2009, 12:58
if its happening with cable and wireless then you need to post your modem levels etc to see if they are correct see here (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/26006-cable-modem-signal-levels.html) and someone will let you know, if they are wrong you can call the dedicated 50Mb team after 8am on 0800 052 0431

with regards to your wireless card, it is only a DRAFT N product check here (http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/adapters/5000/) which means it doesn't support full N capabilities, you should have kept the free dongle!

check out the wiki page here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_N) and read the section "status" about a firmware update to correct manufacturers who jumped the gun on the N protocols :)

Matt_S
30-09-2009, 14:27
Thanks very much for the reply.

It wasnt so much that I didnt keep the free dongle...the installer didnt even leave one! I will get onto Virgin and get them to send one out to me.

I will post my modem info on that thread you suggested. Thanks again.

Matt_S
30-09-2009, 17:31
Here are my modem stats. If there is anything else anyone needs just let me know!

Item Status Comments
Acquired Downstream Channel 299.001343 MHz Primary Downstream Locked
Ranged Upstream Channel 37.500000 MHz Success
Provisioning State OK Operational
Ethernet Link Status Up 100 Mbps/Full duplex

DS-1 DS-2 DS-3 DS-4
Frequency 299000000 307000000 315000000 323000000
Lock Status
(QAM Lock/FEC Sync/MPEG Lock) Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y
Channel Id 21 22 23 24
Modulation 256QAM 256QAM 256QAM 256QAM
Symbol Rate
(Msym/sec) 6.952 6.952 6.952 6.952
Interleave Depth I=12
J=17 I=12
J=17 I=12
J=17 I=12
J=17
Power Level
(dBmV) 12.89 13.43 13.41 13.23
RxMER
(dB) 36.84 37.09 37.36 37.36
Correctable
Codewords 130 37 41 14
Uncorrectable
Codewords 292 264 281 281

US-1 US-2 US-3 US-4
Channel Type 1.0 N/A N/A N/A
Channel ID 2 N/A N/A N/A
Frequency
(Hz) 37500000 N/A N/A N/A
Ranging Status Success N/A N/A N/A
Modulation 16QAM N/A N/A N/A
Symbol Rate
(KSym/sec) 2560 N/A N/A N/A
Mini-Slot Size 2 N/A N/A N/A
Power Level
(dBmV) 34.75 N/A N/A N/A
T1 Timeouts 0
T2 Timeouts 0 0 0 0
T3 Timeouts 1 0 0 0
T4 Timeouts 0 0 0 0

US-1

Req
Init Maint
Per Maint
Short Data
Long Data

(1)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Modulation Type QPSK QPSK QPSK 16QAM 16QAM
Differential Encoding OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF
Preamble Length 64 128 128 144 160
Preamble Value Offset 140 6 6 216 216
FEC Error Correction (T) 0 5 5 5 10
FEC Codeword Information Bytes (k) 16 34 34 78 235
Maximum Burst Size 2 0 0 8 0
Guard Time Size 8 48 48 8 8
Last Codeword Length FIX FIX FIX SHORT SHORT
Scrambler on/off ON ON ON ON ON

General Configuration
Network Access : Allowed
Maximum Number of CPEs : 1
Baseline Privacy : Enabled
DOCSIS Mode : DOCSIS 3.0
Config File :
Primary Downstream Service Flow
SFID : 9354
Max Traffic Rate : 53000000 bps
Max Traffic Burst : 10000 bytes
Min Traffic Rate : 0 bps
Primary Upstream Service Flow
SFID : 9353
Max Traffic Rate : 1750000 bps
Max Traffic Burst : 3044 bytes
Min Traffic Rate : 0 bps
Max Concatenated Burst : 0 bytes
Scheduling Type : Best Effort

And heres the event log incase your interested...

First Time Last Time Priority Description
Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Sat Sep 26 12:26:33 2009 Sat Sep 26 12:26:33 2009 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Sat Sep 26 12:26:33 2009 Sat Sep 26 12:26:33 2009 Notice (6) SW Download INIT - Via Config file
Sat Sep 26 12:27:20 2009 Sat Sep 26 12:27:20 2009 Notice (6) SW download Successful - Via Config file
Sat Sep 26 12:28:22 2009 Sun Sep 27 15:00:05 2009 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Mon Sep 28 21:50:01 2009 Mon Sep 28 21:50:30 2009 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=:50;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Mon Sep 28 21:50:32 2009 Mon Sep 28 21:50:32 2009 Critical (3) Ranging Request Retries exausted;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Mon Sep 28 21:50:32 2009 Mon Sep 28 21:50:32 2009 Critical (3) Unicast Maintenance Ranging attempted - No response - Retries exhausted;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Mon Sep 28 21:50:45 2009 Tue Sep 29 21:37:10 2009 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Wed Sep 30 02:24:09 2009 Wed Sep 30 02:24:09 2009 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=:11;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

Peter_
30-09-2009, 20:14
Downstream
Power Level
(dBmV) 12.89 13.43 13.41 13.23 They are way to high and you need an engineer to adjust them.


Upstream
Power Level
(dBmV) 34.75 Borderline for Upstream



You need a engineer out to adjust your power levels as the Downstream should be as near to 0.00 dBmv as possible and your Upstream is borderline.

Call the 50Mb Support Team on 0800 052 0431

Matt_S
30-09-2009, 22:21
Thanks very much for your help!

Will get onto the Support Team tomorrow....do you think that will solve my problems? I hope so!

Peter_
30-09-2009, 22:24
Thanks very much for your help!

Will get onto the Support Team tomorrow....do you think that will solve my problems? I hope so!
It needs to be done and call after 0800 and you will get a UK agent who is on the 50Mb team.

Matt_S
01-10-2009, 09:20
Engineer coming out tomorrow.

Will let you know how I get on!

Feenix
01-10-2009, 11:01
Sorry to jump in on this one, but I thought that the upstream for 50meg modems has the same parameters as the standard modems.

Peter_
01-10-2009, 20:30
Sorry to jump in on this one, but I thought that the upstream for 50meg modems has the same parameters as the standard modems.
With regards to what, it also depends which platform they are on and also what QAM.

Matt_S
05-10-2009, 09:24
Engineer came on Friday fitted an attenuator to sort out my power levels. Everything was fine for a few hours but then Friday evening browsing became very slow etc. I ran a speed test and I was getting 1mb down and around 90kb up!!!!

Now my connection is back to fluctuating randomly and its very frustrating. Ive been with VM for years, had it installed in 3 properties ive lived in and this is the first time ive ever had any problems what so ever.

I thought I would add (after reading plenty of horror stories regarding VW engineers/installers) that the engineer who visited me was incredibly polite and helpful. He gave me his mobile number to call him direct if i experienced any more problems.

Will give him a call later to let him know whats currently going on.

Does anybody think that dropping down to 20mb would improve my connection? All i want is a stable broadband speed!!!!!!

Ignitionnet
05-10-2009, 10:14
Sorry to jump in on this one, but I thought that the upstream for 50meg modems has the same parameters as the standard modems.

Not quite, on a DOCSIS 3 network modems are able to transmit 3dBmV higher power than a non-DOCSIS 3 network, so from that point of view the limits are more generous.

At what point low becomes too low depends entirely on the specifics of the local area, can't generalise.

Matt_S
05-10-2009, 12:40
Just phoned the engineer directly and again he was very helpful. He is coming tomorrow afternoon to replace ALL cabling. If that doesnt help then he said he will have to escalate it further.

If this doesnt solve it I am strongly considering downgrading to 20mb to save all the hassle (hopefully).

sanja
05-10-2009, 12:41
Have you tried taking it off channel 11 and leaving it to auto...

Matt_S
05-10-2009, 12:54
Thanks for replying.

Since the problems started I have now realised that it is not just a wireless issue...it happens when Im wired in too (I did actually put that in a previous post).

I have actually taken it off channel 11 now anyway.

bomber_g
05-10-2009, 13:38
Hi there, if you post the MAC address of your cable modem Ill let you know if their is anything specifically you can ask the tech to do

thinking about it don't post you MAC, post you IP, it's probably not the best idea to post your MAC on here =) sorry

dilli-theclaw
05-10-2009, 13:40
Do NOT post the MAC address of your modem in public.

bomber_g
05-10-2009, 13:47
lol, sorry didn't mean to cause such a stir, I'm a tech and can investigate any problems with you connection. but i need details for it, IP is probably best as they are changeable

dilli-theclaw
05-10-2009, 13:54
lol, sorry didn't mean to cause such a stir, I'm a tech and can investigate any problems with you connection. but i need details for it, IP is probably best as they are changeableNot a problem, we (CF) don't as a rule allow / encourage members to post their MAC address is all ;) :tu:

bomber_g
05-10-2009, 13:59
=D can people PM me on this site? I'd quite like to help people work out wether they have genuine faults or not - I have better access then most to cable modems, and can investigate problems, but obviously need info to look into it =/

As i said IP's a probably best, as you can change the MAC of routers and things to pick up new IP's

just for info aswell, NTL are spending a lot more time and money on clamping down on cloned services, so if you have one BEWARE it WILL stop working shortly

mwahahahahahahahahaaaa