Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Anyone in the west of Edinburgh suffering from poor download and surf speeds tonight?

---------- Post added at 22:17 ---------- Previous post was at 21:55 ----------

Seems to be back at normal speed just after 10pm.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Why are we paying for 10 meg speeds when right now the speeds ae well below?

My UBR had around 720 people downloading last night at this time when the threshold is 320 apparently, and that was because an area was migrated over, but I wonder what the excuse is to-night.

Can't anything be done against those people that continuously leave their computer on all day just downloading which ruins it for others at this time.

I can't think of anything else that you pay for and don't receive without making a song and dance of it.

Imagine if the Virgin Media top brass went to their airport and wanted a ticket for a flight to Italy, they paid for their ticket, the plane then lands in Switzerland and the passengers are told sorry but we have air traffic management and we are not going any further, I'd bet the Virgin Media staff would have something to say about that, and would be far from happy being that they have already paid good money for the service.

Surely Ofcom should be getting involved now as Virgin Media call their services 10, 20, and 50 meg speeds when quite clearly the vast majority of their customers just do not receive whatever the respective internet package speed is, look at Glasgow for instance, they have a thread of their own regarding poor speeds too.

:mad:

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

It's disgusting what they're doing. And surely they're breaking the law by doing this.

I have 20mb, from the Liverpool 7 area, and haven't even come close to my proper upload speed since I got it upgraded 3 weeks ago. My download speed can be good, at times, but terrible for most of the time.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

The new Virgin Media staff clothing should be a stripped shirt with a swag bag plus mask, as they are doing not just daylight robbery but 24/7...................

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I am having speed issues at the moment, can anyone tell me if this downstream info from the modem look normal for a 10 meg package.

Downstream Receive Power Level : 10.4 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 38.3 dB

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

10.4 dBmv is much too high.

Over 5dBmv is abnormal and over 7 will very likely cause problems.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

To be honest, mine has always been 8 to 9, and my speeds have always been great; besides, 3 guys from Virgin have said my modem was working perfectly.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

There is some consensus that if it is working fine and the voltage isn't fluctuating, then there's nothing to fix - for now. So your point is reasonable.

But those values are outside of the general wisdom on the subject - even though DOCSIS allows a wider range to cope with different SNR scenarios and modulations.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I just called 151 and he cut me off.

He gave me his name so I will be reporting him tomorrow.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Report him here and now so that somebody actually takes note. Especoially if one of us has to talk to him, we can say "aren't you the one who cuts people off?".

And put it on the VM forum too.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

He said his name was Roy.

---------- Post added at 23:26 ---------- Previous post was at 23:21 ----------

I was told that my Downstream Receive Power Level was showing as it is below due to high utilisation in my area, but is that right, I thought these levels are for my modem only and not related to the area of other users.

These are my current levels below, will anything below be causing me to receive only 50% download speed?

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 4
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 10.6 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 38.6 dB

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Virgin Media don't offer deffo speeds its upto plus they do cover this is T&C's about evening download speeds. they aren't breaking the law as no ISP can give you full speed all the time if other people are hammering the network.

I understand its not the best getting slow speeds but don't get so down hearted about this it's only the internet theres other things in life to enjoy, reporting them ain't prob going to do much if you have the first name.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I am not getting anywhere near my download speed of 10 meg, and neither are others, we pay for this service, it's not free you know.

According to many on this forum they say anything around more than 5 for the download stream is too high, mine is at 10.4, so I am to sit and do nothing, is that what you mean?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I know but your going on like its the end of the world.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Well I hope your download speed drops over a long period, and we'll see if you have the same attitude.

Instead of rubbishing my complaint you should be trying to help.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

You seem to be getting into some spats, VMboy!

Anyway, like said, 10.6dBmv is not generally recognised as a problem free receive power level based on recorded experiences. In your first post you said that a couple of days ago things were normal after 10 pm. We don't know what your power levels were then.

The receive power level starts from the CMTS at a fixed number - a much higher level than your modem reports. Fibre, cable, junctions, splitters and so on all provide impedance (to keep it simple) and by the time it reaches you it should be a low value - ideally 0dBmv. There are tolerances for integrity depending on how your data is packed (the QAM value) and that physically stretches to +/- 10dBmv.

If your receive power level is always what you've reported, then there is stability in the impedances and the only problem you may ultimately face is a modem that objects to being hit with more than 10 dBmv.

I suppose if you're directly connected to an optical node at the regional hub rather than going through a cabinet, your receive power level could be higher than the normal user; in that case the engineer would fit a forward path attenuator to your modem because it doesn't need 10.6 dBmv to give you a stable service.

Maybe the above explanation rows back somewhat from my earlier "much too high" suggestion. But I think you should get it attenuated and on this occasion it may not be (yet) the cause of your poor experience.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Thanks Sephiroth,

Here is my current modem downstream info, and also my most current speed test being a direct internet connection without going through a proxy.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/69.png

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 4
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 10.4 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 38.6 dB

---------- Post added at 00:54 ---------- Previous post was at 00:46 ----------

Just another test with a direct connection using Firefox.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/70.png

And another going through a proxy that is needed for the anti virus program, notice the speeds are much less.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/71.png

And the modem info at the time.

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 4
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 10.5 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 38.8 dB

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I'm on 20Mbps and these are my readings:

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 31
Downstream Frequency : 443000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : 2.9 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 37.5 dB

Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 4
Upstream Frequency : 45800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QAM16
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 37.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/67.png

So at 01:00 I'm only getting 5.66 Mb/s on the basis of speedtest.net @ Birmingham (and I'm not bothered). So on this occasion we can't pin it down to your high receive power level - but it needs attenuating anyway.

There's work going on in the network. That much is now clear and that's affecting us both.

Oh - and about that proxy server - you surely aren't gonna continue with that AV method?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

But have to for the web scanner to work.

If I am receiving ok speeds why fix if it ain't broke?

I already had to have an attenuator fitted for the TV cable earlier funny enough.

India told me last night that the level wasn't anything to worry about, you believe that?

---------- Post added at 11:13 ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 ----------

Here are my speeds this morning with the same power level minus the proxy.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/68.png

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

You've had my advice in post #16 which is generally what better brainios than me say on this forum.

You need an attenuator IMO but I don't think this was your problem in this instance given the general network malaise.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Ok, but please tell me what difference fitting an attenuator will do, if none then why bother?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

The forward path attenuator will reduce the power entering the cable modem and hence any instability that might arise.

On the if it ain't broke don't fix it basis, you can choose when to report the matter to VM. In any case I'd wait until the current fuss is solved.

FYI up to a fortnight ago, my modem was always showing 29.6 dBmv upstream power. Had I posted that vealue here, I'd have got a "way too low" response. Yet my service has been stable. Now it shows 37.6 dBmv and I've done nothing on my side of the wall box. VM has done something to my circuit or the damp weather has required greater output power.

So you can see where I'm coming from and I do respect the "ain't broke" approach. Just keep your eye on it.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Thanks Mate.

---------- Post added at 13:22 ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 ----------

I am getting these speeds, so nothing much wrong having that power level.

Download Speed: 10023 kbps (1252.9 KB/sec ) Upload Speed: 483 kbps (60.4 KB/sec )

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Can I ask if anyone knows why I get conflicting speed test results by using both the London and Sittingbourne servers.

They apparently are similar in distance, so I can only think it's due to utilisation perhaps.

The result below is London as you can see.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/62.png

And this is the other from Sittingbourne

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/63.png

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Because online speed tests are crap!

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Then please suggest a better and more accurate alternative.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

ftp://ftp.virginmedia.com/blueyonder...h/ifhsetup.exe

Hosted by VM, save that and note the transfer speed.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Crap transfer speeds.

I am certainly thinking of switching companies, Virgin Media are a complete and utter joke!

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

But just one hour earlier in http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12...tch-to-vm.html you were saying that VM were much better than BT Openreach.

So if VM are a complete and utter joke, how would you characterise BT Openreach and why?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I am sure VM have heard all these idle threats before. Pffft.

They aren't too far from you, why not go in there and punch them all in the nose? That'll tell 'em.

Actually, if I decided to go to BeeTee i would suffer a slower leech speed than I'd get on VM while throttled. Real fibre is nowhere near Edinburgh yet. So it's pretend fibre from United Artists/Telewest/ntl:telewest/Virgin Media or copper/aluminium/string from BeeTee.

Maybe if you paid an extra fiver a month and got "L" they might shunt you onto the newer kit (which has its problems too but at least you could leech faster)

:dunce:

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

And.............

I am keeping my reasons to myself thank you very much, as no matter what I say you will undoubtedly criticise me for it.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Depends what you say. If you are to be credible in the advice you're giving to others then you need to be able to follow through. If you're confusing people, then you'll get told.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Ewww :D

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

This thread is more suitable for the problem.

Is it possible for me to have a decent download speed but a poor upload speed at this present moment in time?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Yes it is, but the poor upload conditions will adversely affect your ability to get anything downloaded (including screens). Download won't be great but you may well thin it's OK.

If you can't get your upstream slot (keeping it simple) then there's no ability for any response to occur. For TCP based downloads, you are guaranteed packet delivery and the re-request will get you your next packet.

Gaming send requests are UDP protocol and are discardable. If discarded you lose your place in the game (again keeping it simple).

IMO of course.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Sephiroth,

You're much to cleverer than me on this I can tell you.

---------- Post added at 21:59 ---------- Previous post was at 21:19 ----------

Speeds seem to be back to normal just prior to 10PM

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Now you know why.
From your other thread
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34924839-post41.html

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

... and xocemp is cleverer than me!

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Is that possible, lol, seriously though it's great having you folks around.

:)

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I see the upstream is locked, is this normal?

This QPSK is driving me mad, I am on half capacity upstream because of this.


Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 1
Upstream Frequency : 18800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 46.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

You've not mentioned "Locked" before - it's always been there.

This seems to be a case of telling you too much anout the technology and then you getting straight back to us when one of the things we've explained to you happens.

Your network area seems to have problems and you should get onto VM about it if you haven't already done so.

Also partial stats don't provide us with a good picture. What is happening to your actual internet experience?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Is that a problem?

VM said to me there were no networks problems in my area.

Internet experience, well I find that the download speeds fluctuate all the time, and the upstream is giving me grief like it's never done before.

Btw, I will keep ALL my issues on this thread.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

You've had all the explanations from the very best (xo & BB) plus the usual guff from me.

Your area has problems; you've got an engineer booked as you said earlier. Can we leave it at that for now?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Think his point was are you actually seeing any issues with your service other than on speedtests?

---------- Post added at 18:20 ---------- Previous post was at 18:18 ----------

Erk. xocemp is a steaming turd and I'm a professional Googler who only has 50M so I can Google the answers to questions quicker. We carry off the bovine excrement well though, don't we? ;)

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

You back on the Cognac BB?:beer:

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

No, I got Laphroaig Quarter Cask though I haven't had any. xocemp is still a turd though.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

BB is a rim jaw and is a signed up member of http://wiki.answers.com/ the source of his knowledge ;)
I just make everything up and couldn't tell you the difference between DHCP and DNS.

Did I mention BB also has a thing for small woodland creatures?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

You have no proof that I have ever engaged in felching with beavers and squirrels, I destroyed all the film, and I may point out that due to your carelessness you were the one bearing scars from the experience. I did tell you to tranquilise them first but you knew best.

In other news ASM is not something I'm a huge fan of when used like this. Useful for when using ATDMA and dropping from 64QAM down to 16 or 32QAM with the default QPSK profile as a tertiary (available in 12.3(23)BC7 and later) but used this way it's a sticking plaster for a node that needs to be cleaned up as it has ingress problems.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, xocemp thinks QAM is a small island a little way off the coast of the Philippines

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

*Laughs at the notion of 64QAM for upstream on the VM network*

Can't see DOCSIS 2.0 being deployed though the cards are there MC28, the legacy network is in dire need of some downstream attention.

Broadbandings thinks a shonky DHCP server cause upstream loss.

**the stretch marks around your mouth is proof enough, that and the huge shares you have in bendy straws

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Downstream, frownstream. It's the upstream paths that suck nearly as hard as you do anyways.

I don't think it causes upstream loss, I know it does. You just don't understand.

The stretch marks around my mouth are a scar from combat, and you're just jealous yours can't engulf as readily as mine. Once you've had the Joker operation you'll be fine.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

I had sent an email to support on support@virgin.net, and received a reply from this address ibmrtn_gpbye@ntl.com

Why would that be ntl, I thought they had left that branding?

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Legacy email address that wasn't changed.

You sent an email to the old ADSL support address by the way. May explain the source being ntl.com.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

They might yet have to go back to that branding! :redcard:

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Are you guys still having these issues in Edinburgh? Our issue in glasgow was reportedly fixed last night.

Maybe you guys may have the magic modem I have which has a clock in it and knows when its time to slow down.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Are you still experiencing the same problems?

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/47.png

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

What have I been saying to you VMboy? Its the NTL network and not the telewest network

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Err Edinburgh is ex-Telewest and doesn't go through ex-ntl Glasgow, it joins the core network at Leeds and Manchester?

His issue is a very local one. Trust me you don't see a status change for an upstream channel on a cable modem in Edinburgh from a network issue in Glasgow. His issue was between his home and the ex-Telewest kit in South Gyle Crescent.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Broadbandings is a dill. However, is right.

Re: Edinburgh Slow Speeds
 

Never been called a herb before!

In other news despite the chutney farmer's fairly pointless post above chances are that the ingress onto the network that was causing the Edinburgh issue has been dealt with or is a weekday only thing.