Terrible speeds, Virgin won't do anything about it. Any suggestions?

qasdfdsaq · 13-01-2009, 22:36

Well the background to this is that I upgraded from 2 meg to 10 meg recently, and since then I've been getting utterly rubbish speeds, especially in the evenings. I'm getting about 1.5mbit/sec on Speedtest.net's tests, and about 0.5mbit/sec on VM's 50 meg speed test. It's OK in the mornings (before 12pm) but from then on it just goes downhill and stays crap until well past midnight.

Code:

Download #5
------------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 10.0 MB (10485760 bytes)
Total time taken      : 162.53 seconds (162531 milliseconds)
Throughput            : 64.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
                      = 0.06 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
                      = 512.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
                      = 0.51 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

Download #6
------------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 10.0 MB (10485760 bytes)
Total time taken      : 155.41 seconds (155409 milliseconds)
Throughput            : 67.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
                      = 0.07 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
                      = 536.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
                      = 0.54 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

Download #7
------------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 10.0 MB (10485760 bytes)
Total time taken      : 143.6 seconds (143601 milliseconds)
Throughput            : 73.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
                      = 0.07 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
                      = 584.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
                      = 0.58 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

Download #8
------------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 10.0 MB (10485760 bytes)
Total time taken      : 163.89 seconds (163894 milliseconds)
Throughput            : 63.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
                      = 0.06 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
                      = 504.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
                      = 0.5 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

I'm definately not STM'd, as can be seen from both the upload speed, and the fact that I get about 3.5mbit/sec with ten concurrent connections. Web browsing is horrendously slow, and downloads usually go at around 0.3-0.5mbit/sec from various sites, including my university whose network has a direct peering with VM.

Traceroute suggests that the congestion is at the most local part of the network:

Code:

 1    <1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
 2    56 ms    57 ms    57 ms  10.123.192.1
 3    52 ms     *      136 ms  62-31-64-41.cable.ubr06.brad.blueyonder.co.uk [6.31.64.41]
 4    40 ms    34 ms    41 ms  lee-bb-b-ge-300-0.network.virginmedia.net [195.12.178.94]
 5    40 ms    38 ms    29 ms  nth-bb-a-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.75.133]
 6    41 ms    42 ms    39 ms  nth-bb-b-ae0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.15.118]
 7    53 ms     *       70 ms  tele-ic-1-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.184.2]

...etc

Last I recall the first hop should be around 6-8ms, and no more than 10ms, but as you can see it's hitting over 50. No difference when the machine is connected directly to the modem and/or when the modem is restarted, etc. etc.

Now, the problem is VM is refusing to do anything about it. They won't speak to me, because I am not the account holder (the landlord's boyfriend is). They won't speak to him, because he doesn't live here and can't be here to test it out on the phone with them. Given that there is definately a problem here, is there anything anyone could suggest to get this damn thing fixed? The problems seem to coincide/alleviate with the students returning to this part of town for the start of term so it would suggest that it's a chronically oversubscribed UBR or something. Why I'm on "cable.ubr06.brad" is beyond me though, I'm in Edinburgh...

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Edit]

Thought I should add, modem's stats seem perfectly fine, though correct me if I'm wrong

Code:

Downstream Channel
The data shown in the table below provides information about the signal  coming from the network to your cable modem.

Downstream Status
      Operational               Channel ID
      0               Downstream Frequency
      331000000 Hz               Modulation
      256QAM               Bit Rate
      10240000 bits/sec               Power Level
      13.9 dBmV               Signal to Noise Ratio
      37.2 dB  Upstream Channel
The data shown in the table below provides information about the signal  being transmitted to the network from your cable modem.  
                   Upstream Status
      Operational               Channel ID
      2               Upstream Frequency
      22200000 Hz               Modulation
      16QAM               Bit Rate
      512000 bits/sec               Power Level
      32.0 dBmV

General Maximus · 13-01-2009, 22:41

check your power levels http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12...al-levels.html and post them, I am sure axegrinder or someone will digest them for you

The other thing you can do is post a message in the newsgroups with the all relevant info of the account holder and hopefully they can fix it remotely for you without any further verification.

Peter_ · 13-01-2009, 23:08

Power Level 13.9 dBmV is to high and will need a call to Technical support to book an engineer visit to get it sorted.

151 option 3 or 0845 454 1111 option 3.

qasdfdsaq · 13-01-2009, 23:11

The connection is stable (no loss, no drops) just slow. The link General Maximum gave says "For this modulation the recommended power range is -6dBmV to +15dBmV with a recommended SNR of 33dB." - I've got 13.9dBmV and 37.2dB SNR - perfect according to that post?

Is quoting this number going to be enough? As I've said, they won't deal with me directly and the account holder doesn't live anywhere near here. I can give him the numbers if VM are likely to do anything about it?

Peter_ · 13-01-2009, 23:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

The connection is stable (no loss, no drops) just slow. The link General Maximum gave says "For this modulation the recommended power range is -6dBmV to +15dBmV with a recommended SNR of 33dB." - I've got 13.9dBmV and 37.2dB SNR - perfect according to that post?

Is quoting this number going to be enough? As I've said, they won't deal with me directly and the account holder doesn't live anywhere near here. I can give him the numbers if VM are likely to do anything about it?

You are an EX Telewest customer so your downstream should be below 12dBmv not above, and as the is a fault if you call Virgin they should still deal with you as you are not trying to change account details just report a fault that needs fixing.

qasdfdsaq · 13-01-2009, 23:25

The linked post says "Both Telewest and ntl", but I'll give it another go in the morning, see if they'll listen this time...

As for the newsgroups, aren't posts made there public? Wouldn't I then be posting the account holder's personal details on a public group?

Stabhappy · 13-01-2009, 23:38

There shouldn't be an issue with reporting a problem as Moldova has stated, think of it as getting a neighbor or relative to contact BT about phone issues.

qasdfdsaq · 14-01-2009, 00:01

OK, I've just spoken to them again, they reluctantly spoke to me after I gave the account holders details. But they did nothing, and claimed there was nothing wrong - and that the modem signal levels are perfectly fine... Any further ideas? :-/

Stabhappy · 14-01-2009, 00:06

Use the newsgroups.

qasdfdsaq · 14-01-2009, 00:19

OK will do. Thanks. What account holder details will I need to post? Name, address, acc no. I assume, anything else?

moaningmags · 14-01-2009, 00:21

Only a username, never post account details or names or addresses.
If they can't find you from your post, they'll ask you to mail your modem mac address to their email address.

qasdfdsaq · 14-01-2009, 10:16

Thanks again. I've posted in the newsgroups, lets see what they say...

Magilla · 14-01-2009, 10:55

I'm in the same boat, speed is consistantly below 512Kb every night with massive packet loss, often below 250Kbs. Has been like this for over 4 months. UBR massively oversubscribed, "the worst I've ever seen" according to the tech from the newsgroups, closely followed by "the upgrade work was not done, cancelled twice, it's not looking good".

That is the sum total of information given by VM. No response to any posts asking why "it's not looking good".

In my experience all emails are simply ignored, I've yet to recieve any response that bears any resemblance to the issues originally highlighted. Phone support is a none starter, they simply refuse to do anything other than put you through to the tech, who then says there's nothing they can do. You just end up going in circles.

Sent a recorded letter of complaint last month (after 3 months of phone and emails), no response as yet (2 days to go), then it's onto the 3rd party complaints proceedure and then Ofcom.

Beyond resorting to the courts there seems little else that the end customer can do.

Ignitionnet · 14-01-2009, 13:26

The modem levels are high but ok - regardless of Telewest or ntl the modems are now the same, as are the tolerances and while above 12dBmV might not be ideal it's satisfactory so long as the SNR is reasonable.

The issue is oversubscription, diagnosable from these bits:

Quote:

It's OK in the mornings (before 12pm) but from then on it just goes downhill and stays crap until well past midnight.

Quote:

2 56 ms 57 ms 57 ms 10.123.192.1

Power levels being marginal will cause slow speeds due to packet loss, and intermittent loss of service rather than a continuous pattern of poor performance during higher loading times tailling off well after peak times.

---------- Post added at 13:26 ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 ----------

Is this your post on the newsgroups OP?

Quote:

Hi Yan,

I'm sorry to hear you're having problems with your connection speed.

Your downstream power level is very high, however as you are still able to
maintain a 10Mb speed at certain times of the day this would not appear to
be causing you any problems. I have taken a look at your local network and
can see that the load on your UBR is very high at times and have passed this
to our network team to investigate. We're sorry for the inconvenience
caused.

EDIT: Never mind I actually read the post in full - it is you. Glad they had some answers.

qasdfdsaq · 15-01-2009, 22:29

Yep, indeed it was me. Thanks for all the tips.

I've got a response over the newsgroups, someone's admitted there's a congestion issue and given me a ref. number, though no news on if/when they'll actually fix it.