PM Upload speeds have died this week....

[allaw]

I am currently on the XL Virgin package (up to 20Mb, I believe)

Since Sunday afternoon, my Download speeds have been dropping from about 20 to 15 between about 3 and 10pm - which is not the end of the world. But Upload speed has dropped to zero at some points in the same period, which renders the internet unusable. As I often work from home using RDA, this is becoming a major issue.

I'm using a 'DOCSIS 1.0/1.1/2.0 Compliant' Modem via a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. (The modem is cabled via the router to my PC)

Inspection of the Modem Configuration Table reveals:

Cable Modem Upstream Upstream Lock : Locked Upstream Channel ID : 34 Upstream Frequency : 35800000 Hz Upstream Modulation : QPSK Upstream Symbol Rate : 5120 Ksym/sec Upstream transmit Power Level : 40.4 dBmV Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 4



The above is pretty meaningless to me, so I would appreciate confirmation that it is 'normal'.



What evidence should I be presenting to Virgin with my rant?

I don't understand the figures but when you are "ranting" don't mention that you use the connection to work from home. it's not going to give you any clout as it's actually against their rules on a residential connection.

I've heard many a person query if saying that will help them but it does them no favours.

just saying.

[Sephiroth]

I do understand the figures! Fabretti is right about mentioning work from home having no clout; reason for that is nothing about your personal circumstances will carry any clout. You are not breaking any of VM's rules by working from home.

It's always best to post the complete downstream, upstream and event log so that any correlations can be seen. You'll be surprised at what the downstream stats can tell you about why upstream is mis-performing.

In your case, the first thing I notice is QPSK modulation. This means that your upstream circuit (shared with others in your locality) is noisy. Normal modulation is 16QAM (4 bits/symbol) and your QPSK is 2 biuts/symbol. Thus the shared resource is sliced in half.

Is the upstream power more or less stable at 40 dBmv? Or does it jump around in 3 dB increments when you refresh the upstream stats page?

[Kushan]

Yeah just to clarify, you can work from home all you want - that's fine. If you're running a business from home, that's different. Still, it's not that it's against their TOS, it's just that it gives you absolutely no higher priority. Got a fault and your business is loosing money because of it? Tough, residential connection, you wait in line like everyone else.

[General Maximus]

Originally Posted by allaw

I'm using a 'DOCSIS 1.0/1.1/2.0 Compliant' Modem via a Linksys WRT54G wireless router.

as an fyi dude you are pretty much at the limit as far as your router capabilities. At some point soon VM are going to want to wang you up to 30mbits and when they do you'll need a new router because you won't get anything more than 25mbits out of your current one. They'll send you a shub as a matter of course because you'll need a docsis3 modem anyways and it is up to you whether you want to bang it in modem mode and buy yourself a newer linksys router (which is what I did and what I recommend doing).

[Dash: CF noob]

XL is up to 60MB so requires a SUPERhub...

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by Dash: CF noob

XL is up to 60MB so requires a SUPERhub...

Anything 30 or above requires DOCSIS 3. Virgin don't hand out Ambit 300's any more (the only standalone DOCSIS3 modem they've ever used commercially), so 30mbit or above requires a Superhub or Superhub 2.

HOWEVER, XL "used" to be 20Mbit but because upping beyond that required new equipment, not everyone has actually moved. If OP calls up virgin, they'll probably send him a hub for free.