No TV & No Internet...

[WelshPaul]

I called faults this morning at 8am because i have had high power levels on my modem for weeks and they were getting higher.

Downstream power levels peaked around -7.2

and my up stream power level had risen to 61.0

I gather this was the reason for slow loading pages, speed issues and a few disconnections. I finally managed to get a call out for tomorrow 12 - 4pm.

However at 2.20pm today i have lost broadband service and my TV service and as such only my phoneline works, my modem light just blinks and my v+ box says LD20.

Anyone confirm if this is just a fault with me or is it everyone in the SA1 area?

[SnoopZ]

This link will help you, although your upstream looks too high.

https://my.virginmedia.com/service-s...97970CC5427719

[WelshPaul]

Thanks snoopz however i already tried that and it says everything is ok.

I posted here as i have read at times they do not always update their status with faults so thought it was worth a try.

I have had major problems with upstream power levels in the past, had repulls, house rewired three times however still the same. I was told they cannot do anything about the upstream power levels and that their meters do not even test it only the downstream levels? (this was over a year ago)

Guess i'll be without service for weeks again till it just happens to start working again unless things have changed.

[jb66]

61db is way too high, a tech should be sent with no hassle from call center. The meters do not measure upstream but that's the techs problem. I diagnose it by using my test stb and my test tv. I connect it from the cab and see what my upstream is, if its bad I contact networks, if its good i move on. I then test it at the end of the drop with my box and tv, if its bad replace the drop, if its good i move inside then house until I find the fault

[WelshPaul]

Thanks for the reply, i guess it's a case of wait and see.

My cab is one of those little one's and it's been damaged for years, last time they came out i had six guy's scratching their heads. One was shaking the cab while the other measured power levels at my home and this caused my power levels to spike all over the place, it has way to many connections too they can't even fit the lid on the thing as there are so many cables.

Two of my neighbours have left cable as they suffered the same as me at the same time, you would think that three homes all connected to the same cab with the same faults at the same time would make them realise where or what the problem could be! (VM would not treat it as a combined fault so we had to report it seperate, none of the engineers were aware of the other property faults.)

I have a funny feeling a new connection has been made at the cab and the problem is going to return, saying that i may be making a mountain out of a mole hill.

[WelshPaul]

bored so i just logged in to my modem:

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Not Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 0
Downstream Frequency : 642000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : unknown
Downstream Symbol Rate : Unknown
Downstream Interleave Depth : Other
Downstream Receive Power Level : -24.0 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 47.7 dB

Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Not Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 0
Upstream Frequency : 0 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 0 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 8.3 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 0

What on earth could cause that?

Originally Posted by jb66

The meters do not measure upstream but that's the techs problem. I diagnose it by using my test stb and my test tv. I connect it from the cab and see what my upstream is

Not having a go at but that is just un professional on VM's part, the issue i had last time was that my downstream power level was almost zero if not zero but my upstream varied from 61dbvm - 69dbmv. Trying to explain to customer support as well as the tech's was almost impossible for me! When the modem was connected at 61dbvm it remained connected but with poor performance however if it goes above 63dbvm it normally disconnected for hours at a time until it settled at 61dbvm again.

I just wish VM would fix my cab and my upstream power levels once and for all. :s

[Peter_]

If your downstream is Downstream Receive Power Level : -24.0 dBmV then you need a technician and your modem should not show upstream above 61dBmV by default so you need to call support.

[WelshPaul]

Update:

Just had a tech out, turns out the tap on the cab had snapped. change to new tap still no joy but he got there.

Back up and running howerver:

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 2
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : -1.3 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 39.6 dB

looks ok to me but:

Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 1
Upstream Frequency : 25800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 60.5 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

And the Return power on my v+ box shows: 60dBmV

So my upstream power levels are still too high. The guy did say he would pass it on to networks and that they would be out sometime today but i'm not feeling to hopefull.

[Peter_]

That is the usual way and you may not even see the Networks guy as he will either fix it or get it raised to be fixed.

[WelshPaul]

Originally Posted by Masque

That is the usual way and you may not even see the Networks guy as he will either fix it or get it raised to be fixed.

Thanks for explaining that, i'm just getting a little fed up to be honest as i have had this issue for over two years now.

My neighbours have jumped ship after having the same issues/down times as me. It works fine but once it goes over 61dBmV i lose internet and vod for mins/hours at a time until the power level drops to 61 or less.

In all fairness this guy took and intrest and knew his stuff so fingers crossed.

His signal meter stated i have excellent signal and all my connectors and cables are new so he did not waste time going down that route thank god, i'll keep an eye on it and will update this thread sooner with any luck rather than later with an outcome.

[WelshPaul]

Ok the update:

As promised a network engineer knocked my door yesterday afternoon and tested the cab and the upstream power level was showing as 50.5dBmV but was 61dBmV at my end on both the tv and broadband.

He attached some test equiptment and called someone to run diagnostics and they picked up high spikes. (yay they believe me now after 2 years of complaining)

He asked me to be patient as they would monitor all mac's on my cab and find out if the problem was their end or mine and that they would call back tomorrow.

This morning my tv and broadband went funny so i thought hmm they must be doing something and sure enough it's fixed.

The network engineer called back earlier to inform me they had been monitoring everyone connected to the cab and that they too had high upstream power levels in the 60's although they were not appearing to suffer disconnections like me. ( i know this is not true because both my neighbours left vm as they had the same issues as me but hey i guess the information he had is based on the information gained while monitoring them only.)

Here are my levels now:

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 2
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 1.5 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 40.6 dB

and:

Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 34000000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 46.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

My vod works first time everytime and is almost instant for the first time ever and my broadband speeds and page loading times are spot on.

took over two years to get there but yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!

And all because i actually had an engineer who would listen to me and esculate my issue, thank you so much that man.

Turns out the fault was not on the cab but further down the line, he did mention transmission or something?

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by WelshPaul

Ok the update:

As promised a network engineer knocked my door yesterday afternoon and tested the cab and the upstream power level was showing as 50.5dBmV but was 61dBmV at my end on both the tv and broadband.

He attached some test equiptment and called someone to run diagnostics and they picked up high spikes. (yay they believe me now after 2 years of complaining)

He asked me to be patient as they would monitor all mac's on my cab and find out if the problem was their end or mine and that they would call back tomorrow.

This morning my tv and broadband went funny so i thought hmm they must be doing something and sure enough it's fixed.

The network engineer called back earlier to inform me they had been monitoring everyone connected to the cab and that they too had high upstream power levels in the 60's although they were not appearing to suffer disconnections like me. ( i know this is not true because both my neighbours left vm as they had the same issues as me but hey i guess the information he had is based on the information gained while monitoring them only.)

Here are my levels now:



and:



My vod works first time everytime and is almost instant for the first time ever and my broadband speeds and page loading times are spot on.

took over two years to get there but yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!

And all because i actually had an engineer who would listen to me and esculate my issue, thank you so much that man.

Turns out the fault was not on the cab but further down the line, he did mention transmission or something?

Nice one... thanks for updating