Came back to 50mb, wish I hadn't...

[garmcqui]

Well, I had 50mb for months, before it became unusable. So I switched back to the 10mb service, and back to my trusty Ambit modem. Speeds were great (albeit limited to 10mb) and 100x more usable than the 50mb service.

So, I was reliably informed by VM that the over utilisation issue on my local hub was fixed, so thought I'd upgrade and enjoy blisteringly fast downloads again.....Big mistake.

The jerkiness and constant buffering on steaming media is back to haunt me.

This is my thinkbroadband monitor from yesterday (10mb service):

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share-large/6901ff7ac49900a98944a175713379eb-05-01-2012.png

And this is mine so far today:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/01/53.png

Speedtest/Pingtest results:

http://www.pingtest.net/result/54604284.png https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/01/54.png

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
Over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 27 ms 29 ms 7 ms 10.245.148.1
3 110 ms 19 ms 11 ms brnt-core-1b-ae1-143.network.virginmedia.net [2
13.104.146.165]
4 55 ms 54 ms 33 ms brnt-bb-1b-as1-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.174.249]
5 33 ms 25 ms 12 ms brnt-bb-1a-ae0-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.174.225]
6 41 ms 15 ms 162 ms glfd-bb-1b-as1-0.network.virginmedia.net [212.43.163.105]
7 36 ms 161 ms 10 ms glfd-tmr-1-ae5-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.159.46]
8 17 ms 17 ms 39 ms tcl5-ic-1-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.185.78]
9 14 ms 10 ms 58 ms 212.58.239.249
10 103 ms 14 ms 29 ms 212.58.238.149
11 70 ms 84 ms 38 ms virtual-vip-231.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]

Trace complete.

Any ideas? The service is shocking! And they've obviously lied saying the over-utilisation issue was fixed.

What site is it I can look at the average pings for each UBR?

[kwikbreaks]

What site is it I can look at the average pings for each UBR?

http://ukinternetreport.co.uk/cmts/[COLOR="Silver"]

[garmcqui]

ok thanks...

However it shows none of the acton UBR's looking too bad, ping wise. When I check my UBR, it comes up as: "uBR: acto1-2-0, Location: Acton (acto)". Which one's mine then?

Just did another ping test: http://www.pingtest.net/result/54608450.png. Ridiculous.

[qasdfdsaq]

Power levels?

[garmcqui]

ok as far as I can see, I have a -15dB attenuator fitted:

Startup Procedure
Procedure Status Comment
Acquire Downstream Channel 298750000 Hz Locked
Connectivity State OK Operational
Boot State OK Operational
Configuration File OK
Security Enabled BPI+


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Downstream Channels
Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power SNR Docsis/EuroDocsis locked
Locked QAM256 74 55616000 Kbits/sec 298750000 Hz 2.0 dBmV 42.4 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 73 55616000 Kbits/sec 290750000 Hz 2.4 dBmV 42.6 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 77 55616000 Kbits/sec 306750000 Hz 2.0 dBmV 42.0 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 78 55616000 Kbits/sec 314750000 Hz 0.9 dBmV 41.9 dB Hybrid
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upstream Channels
Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power
Locked ATDMA 1 20480 Kbits/sec 45800000 Hz 43.0 dBmV
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Primary Downstream Service Flow
Downstream(0)
SFID 3898
Max Traffic Rate 53000000 bps
Max Traffic Burst 3044 bytes
Mix Traffic Rate 0 bps


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Primary Upstream Service Flow
Upstream(0)
SFID 3897
Max Traffic Rate 5140000 bps
Max Traffic Burst 8160 bytes
Mix Traffic Rate 0 bps
Max Concatenated Burst 8160 bytes
Scheduling Type Best Effort

[Jameseh]

Power levels?

They're over 9000...

[thenry]

Acton hasn't been upgraded to 100Mb yet, its scheduled for April 2012

http://shop.virginmedia.com/content/dam/allyours/pdf/100Mb%20rollout%2006%2001%2012.pdf

[garmcqui]

I'm confused... what's over 9000?

And whats the 100mb upgrade got to do with this? lol

[thenry]

I'm confused... what's over 9000?

ignore it

And whats the 100mb upgrade got to do with this? lol

not sure, ignition, qas, sirus etc. will know more so don't believe everything I say here. the 100Mb being available may ease the load but then again its capacity that needs sorting out :confused:

[garmcqui]

Ok thanks, but i can't put up with this service until April, if it's not improved in a few days again I'll be downgrading to the 10mb service again, it was perfect...

[thenry]

send a written complaint, email to the CEOs office

Neil.Berkett@virginmedia.co.uk

also just curious, when do your free upgrades kick in... http://www.virginmedia.com/doublespeed

[garmcqui]

Already done, he's already applied a couple of 50% compensation payments to my account to make up for the poor service, after i complined to the ombudsman. But didn't really say much about the problem highlighted.

[Chrysalis]

classic example that a lesser congested slower service is better than a highly congested faster service.

The problem now is if you downgrade they will probably keep you on docsis3.

[kwikbreaks]

The problem now is if you downgrade they will probably keep you on docsis3.
Yes that's what happened on mine with a VMNG300 and I imagine the Superhub may be the same - I think they must support DOCSIS 1/2 as they have a green light which indicates that although on 30 and above I imagine it's a fault condition.

Speed wise mine holds up well on 10Mbps - after all anybody paying for 100 and only getting 10 would probably just bin VM. Not sure what the ping and jitter would be like for gamers - my VOIP phone seems OK but I guess that's not a reliable pointer. Also my TBB monitor isn't anywhere near as bad as the gory example posted.

[benc1]

Where did you hear the over utilisation had been fixed?
I'm on the same uBR and take a look at this thread for updates: http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Fibre-optic-broadband-cable/Slow-speed-in-London-UB6/td-p/428571/page/10 (Latest fix date given February 8th)

[garmcqui]

Ok, here's my timeline of correspondence with VM:

30th October 2011 - I post on the VM community stating I'm sick of having slow speeds on my supposed 50mb service.

7th November 2011 - John_O replies: I have checked your connection and can see that you are affected by local upstream utilisation issue on your chassis (local router), which will be causing your speed to slow during busy periods. This issue is currently with our Planning team who will be publishing a fix date as soon as possible. The reference for this issue is F001761613. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may be causing you.

14th November 2011 - I spoke to VM customer services and they informed me the fix date for F001761613 was 23rd November.

20th November 2011 - I got fed up and downgraded to the 10mb service, and convinced VM to reactivate my old Ambit modem (so I'm not on the Docsis 3 network) and speeds were fine, ping was good and internet browsing and streaming were enjoyable again.

6th December 2011 - I post on the VM community asking for an update on fault F001761613.

14th December 2011 - John_Hag replies: I have just checked ticket F001761613. The underlying problem has been referred to our Design team but, as yet, we do not have an estimated completion date.

Additionally, there is a SNR problem which is exacerbating the underlying problem. The latest update was timed at 14:17 today which said that our engineers were still trying to identify the source of the interference on our network which is causing the low SNR. We apologise for the continuing inconvenience.

15th December 2011 - I query the conflicting information I've received.

20th December 2011 - Patrick_F replies: I apologise for the ongoing problems. Ticket reference F001833376 is still open for FEC errors and low SNR on the local network upstream you are connected to with an estimated fix of December 21st. Because of the nature of the fault, the levels of utilisation are naturally much lower as the connection in the area is currently unusable. I asked for an update to this utilisation ticket, under reference F001796853, so we also have an esitmated fix date for this. My fear is this will get pushed back with the current FEC and SNR problems. These problems only related to Acton UBR 11 Cable 3/1 and no other CMTS' are affected within these tickets.

24th December 2011 - I reply asking if these problems he's quoted me relate to the 50mb service or the 10mb service I'm on now (which I'm not experiencing problems with). He mentions "Acton UBR 11 Cable 3/1" and says no other CMTS' are affected.

30th December 2011 - Mark_Wilco replies: Hi, ticket F001761613 is showing as restored.

15th January 2012 - I upgrade to the 50mb service again, believing it's been fixed.

15th January 2012 - The problems begin again, and I post this thread.

---------- Post added at 12:14 ---------- Previous post was at 11:51 ----------

I've just done some digging and it seems that on 30th December Mark_Wilco wrote on my thread "Hi, ticket F001761613 is showing as restored."

But on another thread the same day he wrote:

"Ticket F001761613 has an estimated fix date of 18th January 2012 (this date is subject to change)"

I just don't know what to believe...

[benc1]

Just checked a couple other threads. One says:
Ticket F001761613 has an estimated fix date of 28th February 2012 (this date is subject to change)
Another says:
The UBR which handles your connection is currently suffering from very high utilisation, particularly at peak times. This has been raised to our network teams under reference F001761613 Work to resolve this issue is currently scheduled to take place on 29th February 2012 (although this may be subject to change).
Also, on the thread I linked before the OP made the complaint in April last year and the problem was fixed by the 13th of June under a different ticket. Now the problem has come back and we've been given a different ticket, so it seems there's two tickets for over utilisation on the same uBR (F001761613 and the new one)? If this is the case any clue why?
That new ticket (F001641228) has an estimated fix date of 8th February, different to the other ticket. This ticket was opened in July 2011 so it has now been 6 months with no fix (9 months, plus a fix that lasted 4 days according to the thread, if you count from the first complaint). There is also another ticket for a SNR problem which has a fix date of 14th March. I just want to be able to use my internet normally :(

[garmcqui]

Bit of an update... the connection seems a bit better.

Here's some tests I've just done:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/01/36.png http://www.pingtest.net/result/54980334.png

I'll post some more results later tonight.

And my thinkbroadband monitor seems to show some kind of improvement over what it was last week...

Current graph (ignore the red part at the left, I had my router set to deny ping requests:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share-large/44b3b2c849d8ec446c0569f76bf80c4b-20-01-2012.png

Monday's:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share-large/8e20f9218361664f258ed9046e1c6696-16-01-2012.png

However, what I don't understand is how my mate (connected to Acton) gets this for yesterday:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share-large/03f8993e09cc6685b0fa7f965ba2aa3a-20-01-2012.png

---------- Post added at 19:38 ---------- Previous post was at 18:11 ----------

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/01/37.png http://www.pingtest.net/result/54986262.png

Still not looking too bad @ 19.30

[garmcqui]

Nope, should've known it was too good to be true....

http://www.pingtest.net/result/54999905.png https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/01/35.png

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 * 83 ms 65 ms 10.245.148.1
2 15 ms * 96 ms brnt-core-1b-ae1-1431.network.virginmedia.net [213.104.146.165]
3 * 19 ms 224 ms brnt-bb-1b-as1-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.174.249]
4 67 ms 11 ms 44 ms brnt-bb-1a-ae0-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.174.225]
5 141 ms * 155 ms glfd-bb-1b-as1-0.network.virginmedia.net [212.43.163.105]
6 * 37 ms 60 ms glfd-tmr-1-ae5-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.159.46]
7 177 ms 20 ms 13 ms tcl5-ic-1-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.185.78]
8 119 ms 22 ms 104 ms 212.58.239.249
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 43 ms * 19 ms ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.46]
11 221 ms 22 ms * 132.185.254.142
12 108 ms 103 ms 122 ms virtual-vip-231.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
Trace complete.



Utter rubbish. Get it sorted VM, it won't even open google!

[Chrysalis]

happens on VM, good bursts happen and you get into the trap of thinking they have fixed something. Then the inevitable wake up call happens. :(

If it just seems better but no outage, no ip change, no channel changes, then they probably havent done anything and it is probably just less people on your channels been active at that given moment.

Get excited if your channels change and especially if your ip is forcefully changed.

[garmcqui]

Download Failed (1)

last night was awful...



And what's this in the SH event log around the same time:

[mod:image removed due to Modem MAC number in picture]

[benc1]

This is mine so far today:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share-large/6fe855dd6756b9b8abd2cde34c3b4f67-21-01-2012.png
Been like this for a long time and I can hardly do anything on the internet anymore. Even Youtube videos in 240p take ages to buffer

[garmcqui]

yours is even worse! Jesis!

[Kymmy]

Can I remind members not to post modem MAC numbers, image removed in post #21

[garmcqui]

Ok soz

[benc1]

What are your 4 downstream channel IDs?

[garmcqui]

Not at home at the min, will let you know later mate

[garmcqui]

Downstream Channels
Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power SNR Docsis/EuroDocsis locked
Locked QAM256 74 55616000 Kbits/sec 298750000 Hz 1.6 dBmV 42.2 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 73 55616000 Kbits/sec 290750000 Hz 2.0 dBmV 42.3 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 77 55616000 Kbits/sec 306750000 Hz 1.6 dBmV 42.1 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 78 55616000 Kbits/sec 314750000 Hz 0.8 dBmV 41.8 dB Hybrid
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown
Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



here's my latest thinkbroadband monitor:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share-large/94cdb7b34cb3bb03b45fe68b8c029062-21-01-2012.png

[benc1]

Downstream Channels
Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power SNR Docsis/EuroDocsis locked
Locked QAM256 2 55616000 Kbits/sec 298750000 Hz 13.5 dBmV 41.4 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 1 55616000 Kbits/sec 290750000 Hz 14.0 dBmV 41.5 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 5 55616000 Kbits/sec 306750000 Hz 13.6 dBmV 41.3 dB Hybrid
Locked QAM256 6 55616000 Kbits/sec 314750000 Hz 13.2 dBmV 41.0 dB Hybrid

Rang at least 3 times and every time refused an engineer for my high power levels because they are due to "a problem in my area". I'm not an expert so I don't know if this could be true.

My lastest tbb monitor:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share-large/0f1e7dc15e05f02a6a4a13b1633a889a-22-01-2012.png

[garmcqui]

yes, your downstream power levels are too high. You can either arrange an engineer visit over on the Virgin Community forums, or go on eBay and get yourself one of these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Technetix-10dB-Forward-Path-Attenuator-FLD5W-65-860-FPA-10-/170753790944?pt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&hash=item27c1b813e0

This would bring your power levels down to around 3 or 4 dBmV and may sort out some of your problems mate...

[Chrysalis]

thats not a power level issue. Either noise or congestion.

[benc1]

So when they fix the over utilisation problem will I still have the high power levels?

[garmcqui]

I'm not saying that his issues are caused by power levels, but they're still too high regardless.

They're 2 separate issues.