Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Can someone please help me out? I am new on the forum but i have been lurking for a while!.

Anyway, i am on VM 150mbps and the speed is OK i generally get a consistent speed. However the issue i have is constant disconnections. Its been going on for a year almost. VM engineers been out 5 times. I only have the internet package but i do have a old box which i use for freeview channels.

So when the engineers came out they have replaced EVERYTHING from the outside wall of the house to new cabling inside the house. They have upgraded my router twice (once a refurb) and lastly a superhub 3 (or whatever the latest one is called). I use a ASUS router so the superhub is in modem mode. I have a coax splitter which i've also replaced 3 times to rule out this as the problem. I have removed splitter completely thus removing the tv box..etc. Problem STILL occurs. I have removed my ASUS router and used the superhub as the router, problem STILL occurs. I have upgraded cabling inside my house from cheapo coax to RG6 cabling. The cabling from the router/splitter is a maximum of 3 metres.

After getting endless engineers out, listening to random excuses and spending lots of money on cabling, connectors, splitters. I then spent more money and decided to get a yellow brick power booster as i was told my power levels were a little low. So now i can adjust power levels to my taste. But upstream levels tend to be on the high side peaking at 56dbmv sometimes, which i can't seem to adjust at all.

The internet cut outs are so frustrating!. I don't know what to do next. I believe i've changed everything and tested everything. Its GOT TO BE a problem at the VM box on the street but virgin won't do anything about it, they say the power levels and internet is stable and fine every time they arrive (which it is). Some days it lasts a week or 2 without any cut out. Since i bought the yellow brick its improved dramatically but still not right. Before i installed the yellow brick i got disconnections DAILY. It could be a couple weeks without a cut out then in 1 day it happens 10 times with the yellow brick, so much improved but still not right. I am thinking of getting a attenuator to lower the upstream power levels, but i need further advice from any experts out there?.

Yesterday when the internet cut out i quickly checked power levels..etc and this is what i got:

http://imgur.com/x60Xd7Y

http://imgur.com/oKCjMMv

I do not want to call VM again they are useless. I rather either sort it myself or cancel with them. The price keeps going up twice a year but the quality of the service is getting worse!.

Right now here is my power levels...

http://imgur.com/SEMwP7J

http://imgur.com/ylex42J

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Welcome to the forum.

Your down power is in spec but the RXMER is bad. Upstream power is too high for QAM64 to be reliable. At 56dbmv even QPSK could struggle.

I know it's a pain with the call centre but it really needs a tech visit. Try first thing to get a UK CS.

They really need to address the high upstream power to start with. A while ago mine was like this and the connection was really flakey. The previous tech visits have been wasted time as they haven't actually addressed the real problem of the taps in the cabinet.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/05/19.jpg

That looks like an SNR fault (the RxMER is very low, which is the give-away), which can happen without there being anything wrong with your setup. I get SNR fault's now and again, but normally my power levels and SNR are totally fine. So this shouldn't be happening all the time.


If high upstream power was the only problem you have then I would have said you need something like an Active Return Amplifier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxarSx0rQ9M

You may need a coax re-pull if the cable from outside your property to the cabinet is not good enough.

Your RxMER should be above 34.5 dB for a decent quality signal. The Hub 3 is doing a good job holding on at 33 dB.

Attenuators won't fix your upstream. Most attenuators are for correcting the downstream.

Your upstream level could be improved by changing the tap at the cabinet, but I'm not sure that's going to help. It won't change the downstream SNR and your upstream SNR could be low too.

Btw, your modem would support a higher downstream power up to +10 dBmV totally fine. Usually the downstream and upstream are related and work in opposite directions. However with your problems who knows. The upstream power is high because the CMTS can't hear the modem, so the modem is increasing power to be heard.

The upstream power limit for two 64 QAM channels is 54 dBmV. So those channels should work until the power maxes out. Ideally you want the upstream power in the 35-49 range, as they may drift a bit and you want a bit of leeway.

If the current tech's haven't solved it, the principal tech should be called.

Hope that helps.

You may get better advice from one of the cable tech's on here.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Agreeing with your general thrust. My take is that if the upstream power issue is sorted on the cab tap, this will up the DS power helping the RXMER (SNR) and then a local FPA to get the DS power right.

There again I'm no expert here. Just a passing engineer.:)

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Yes, to FPA after changing tap, though probably not needed with his levels, but...

No, the RxMER won't be changed by modifying the downstream or upstream power levels.

Unless it's a faulty tap causing the SNR problems in the first place.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

My take is that if the SNR is a local problem then upping the DS power at the cab (by the tap change to correct the up stream power) aught to improve the SNR. The FPA suggestion is just to bring this into the ideal range for the modem.

But what do I know.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

If you increase signal power, noise increases by the same amount. So the SNR ratio (ratio of Signal to Noise) is exactly the same.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Depends where the noise is getting in. ;)

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Yes, but that's unknown right now. We shouldn't guess where the problem lays and instead guide the OP to getting a better quality field technician who has better diagnostic ability.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Agreed. But if the noise was a general issue more customers would be affected?

And this would raise the issue at VM high command.

Either way the OP needs a senior tech visit and investigation of the issues.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

I wouldn't be putting your own amplifiers in, that one you've fitted could be causing all sorts of issues

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Yes but 33 dB RxMER is well within VM's thresholds. So they will think that's fine. Hence the cable techs seeing no problem.

Other people may not have the same problem with upstream power as they'll be on a different tap.

Agreed.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Thanks all for the valued information.

How does one get a senior tech to come out?, i've spoken to CS in the UK once and they're the ones that ordered me a fresh superhub.

I have just cranked up the yellow brick to see if the RxMER changes if at all.

DOWNSTREAM
Power Level (dBmV)10.97-11.52 - 10.88 - 10.60 - 9.92 - 10.52- 11.09-10.72
RxMER (dB) 37.09 -37.94-37.09-37.09-37.09-37.09-37.09-37.09

UPSTREAM:
Power Level (dBmV) 52.00 N/A N/A 56.00

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Yes, or doing DIY coax.

---------- Post added at 19:50 ---------- Previous post was at 19:48 ----------

Right, so take that thing out and let's see what the levels are like without it.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

You could also be amplifying any issues and putting them back out on the network. And if you've got a 56db upstream with the amplifier in, either that amp isn't doing much or its gonna be non existent.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Use a non-standard amplifier and coax setup leaking noise onto the network and he'll come and hunt you down!

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Yellow brick, splitter, tv box, coax cabling all removed. Only coax going directly into superhub right now.

DOWNSTREAM:
Power Level (dBmV) -1.25 -1.77 -1.44 -0.88 -0.93 -1.30 -1.34 -1.72
RxMER (dB) 36.39 36.17 36.17 36.39 36.84 36.84 36.39 36.39


UPSTREAM:
Power Level (dBmV) 45.50 N/A N/A 44.50

Just yellow brick removed:

DOWNSTREAM:
Power Level (dBmV) -5.24 -5.82 -5.34 -4.90 -4.82 -5.02 -5.17 -5.32
RxMER (dB) 35.42 34.77 35.08 35.42 35.97 35.78 35.60 35.42

UPSTREAM:
Power Level (dBmV) 49.00 N/A N/A 48.00

EVERYTHING connected up again:

DOWNSTREAM:
Power Level (dBmV) 9.89 9.80 9.55 10.15 9.81 9.44 9.79 9.12
RxMER (dB) 35.97 36.39 35.97 36.17 36.39 36.39 36.17 35.97

UPSTREAM:
Power Level (dBmV) 49.00 N/A N/A 48.00


I was advised to get this yellow brick from a few people, without the yellow brick the power levels did fall to -9dbmv at times. Which i thought was the reason for the disconnections. The disconnections was happening almost every day till i bought and fitted the yellow brick. Now it happens every now and again (once or twice per week tops). So the figures above all seem OK do they not?. This is what happens when a engineer comes out, they find no fault.


Told vm cs in UK i tried the amp, he said nothing. This guy claimed he was senior.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Senior techs do not exist, they were all demoted to just "tech"

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Even if they did exist, asking the indian call centre to send one wouldn't work. Pretty sure of it.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Indeed. Asking them if the sky is blue would probably result in a request for access to your hub to "tweak" your wifi settings.

---------- Post added at 01:49 ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 ----------

Well it has been over 3 years since I had a PT, or even a tech for my residential broadband. So I may be a little out of date on the job titles.

---------- Post added at 02:13 ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 ----------

The above levels look good. Smack in the middle of the range for both downstream and upstream. Which is where you want them.

Looks worse than the first set, with downstream power that is borderline and lower SNR.

Downstream will be 3 dBmV lower because of the splitter.

It's worse to have low downstream power than high downstream power. So I personally wouldn't want my downstream at those levels, even though theoretically it's just about in spec. You're inviting lots of post-rs errors.

You just need the tap changed at the cabinet to get the downstream higher.

You're just pushing up the downstream power with the yellow brick, but not affecting the upstream. Which is the opposite of what you want. The yellow brick has to go!

No. What probably happened was that some engineer made a change in the network which caused your downstream power to drop, or maybe there was/is a temporary/intermittent fault.

Your old set top box could be the problem. If it's babbling noise.

It's also possible a tech just swapped your tap at the cabinet so he could connect a new neighbour up.

Instead of getting the problem fixed the normal way you've made things worse.

---------- Post added at 02:30 ---------- Previous post was at 02:13 ----------

p.s. Looking back at your original low SNR values around 32/33 dB...

Make sure all coax connections are tight with a plastic spanner. Finger tight may not be good enough. It's possible to cause your own SNR fault if not. Which can happen intermittently.

---------- Post added at 04:03 ---------- Previous post was at 02:30 ----------

3 years ago it took me 2 additional tech's after the installer (who left the levels out of spec) to get my levels right. The second tech was very friendly and knew what he was doing. It was no issue for him to change the tap. Just explain the situation that you get low downstream power levels sometimes and drop outs and would he mind..

JB will no doubt cringe at such advice.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

*if the OP lives in an area with different tap values :)

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

It's a lot more of a problem to have a high upstream than a low downstream....

---------- Post added at 07:47 ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 ----------

Ahh sorry I thought you were comparing low downstream and high upstream, my mistake

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

STOP. ****ING. ABOUT. WITH. THE. CONNECTION.

Phone the god-damned CS agents and tell them that you have a fault. They will send a tech out to fix it, because that's what tech's are for.

Everything you're doing is just a colossal waste of time and liable to do more harm than good.

Bite the bullet, put your big boy pants on and phone vm.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

I have called them around 7 times about this problem. Engineers have been out 5 times. Also i was getting disconnections numerous times per day and every other day before hand. Since i've swapped a few things over and added the brick i now get a odd disconnection or 2 per week. Surely thats helped the problem rather than making it worse?.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

For now, but I suspect all you've done is masked the real issue. 2 disconnections a week means there's still a problem somewhere.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

Yes i have certainly masked it, or quietened it down a bit. The problem IS definitely nothing to do with any equipment in my house or on the wall of my house. I doubt its the cabling from the cabinet to my house. More likely the cabinet itself with the problem on the tap. If i call out a engineer again, i will get another contractor who told me they must close calls down as fixed because they have a certain amount of calls to close every day. The job cannot be reopened within 7 days if so the contractor loses that original call he had closed. The engineers are also masking the problem for this reason. How do i get a senior engineer out? ok i know someone said senior engineers on paper do not exist, but there will be a engineer more knowledgeable than others as with any company in this type of industry. I used to be in IT and same principle applies.


Engineers to me seem scared to go to the cabinet. I remember when i was working in IT that i had similar problems and BT were too scared to go to the exchange, at the time BT agreed after numerous visits from cowboys to send a senior engineer that was working on the Olympic stadium at the time. He sorted it within 10 minutes.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

your stats with everything disconnected are perfect and reflect what I get all the time. You should keep things this way and then ring VM when they go out of whack so they can have a look their end and see what has changed which could cause it.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

The problem is, when it disconnects, it happens for a few minutes. By the time i speak with VM CS its working again.

Re: Frustrating virgin media internet cut outs....
 

the problem you are going to have is that if it is an intermittent fault which is being caused centrally (i.e. not your equipment) then you need a lot of customers to notice their connection going down and ring in in order for one of the tech bods to connect the dots and realise what is happening. Alternatively if you do get a tech come round again, explain it to him and ask him if he could escalate it to networks and see if they can run some sort of diagnostic and see what faults have been logged which would cause the disconnects (spiking power levels).