Strange routing issue/slow web acces/no xbox live!

[hyte1]

Hello,

Since Friday I have been experiencing very slow loading of webpages, they either load very slowly or not at all. Occasionally the pages loads ok. I have ruled out all kit my end and phoned tech support on Saturday. Spoke to a very helpful chap who went through the usual troubleshooting and left me with a temporary solution of using webcache.virginmedia.com:8080 as my proxy. He said to use this for a 'while' as something was updating?

While in the main this has been ok, I'm unable to login to xbox live and more importantly login to the backend of a website I run as it uses a non standard port to access the cpanel. The VM proxy doesn't seem to like this as I get error "Firefox is configured to use a proxy server that is refusing connections."

Removing the proxy leave me with the same slow web access as I had friday. (slow being pages taking 2-3 minutes to load or not at all)

I know I really need to ring VM back up but feel this is going to be difficult to troubleshoot over the phone and I fear getting took around the houses over and over troubleshooting again.

A few bits of info:

Ping test's are fine with no packet loss

Speedtest.net shows me getting 11.4 Mbps download and 0.72 Mbps upstream.

FTP access to my website server is working intermittantly although getting connection timed out every few minutes at best.

I have ruled out my router by plugging direct into cable modem. I have also ruled out my laptop (WinXP) by taking it to a friends and using his (also VM) internet. I also have a PC with Windows7 which is experiencing the same problem.

The chap on the phone checked the modem downstream info but just in case here is a copy:

Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 30
Downstream Frequency : 307000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : -1.4 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 38.7 dB

Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 7
Upstream Frequency : 47400000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QAM16
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 48.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

Any thoughts or information on possible causes would be greatly appriciated.

Many Thanks

Chris.

[scone2]

I've been having the same problem since Friday too - with particular sites usually, bbc, flickr, halifax.co.uk. I too have ruled out all of my kit. I managed to convince the guy from Virgin who came out to replace my TV box to replace the modem too, but no difference! If I browse using a neighbours virgin connection it's fine (with his permission of course), also if I use an IP blocker, that improves things considerably (pretty much sorts it). Could you try using the 'hidemyip' free trial (Google it) and let me know if it works for you? And where are you in the UK? I'm in Saltburn (midd ubr). If we can pin this down to being an IP blacklisting or routing problem that would be something (but weird.....?)

EDIT: using the Virgin proxy works too. Wonder what the tech guy meant by 'something is updating?'

PARANOID EDIT : You don't, like myself, use (an SSL connection to) Newsgroups to download, ahem, tons of Linux distros and other legit stuff, do you?

[hyte1]

Hmm, I'm also in the Saltburn area. Interesting. I'm at work now but I'll try what you've mentioned and post back with results, also going to try force a new IP address to see if that helps. I'll probably ring VM up again if it's still playing up.

I'm not a heavy user at all - don't do big downloads or anything like that. Maybe the odd rapidshare once a week maybe at most but I don't use p2p or newsgroups.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

---------- Post added at 12:21 ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 ----------

It seems were not alone in this area:

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...ad/td-p/100491

[nridgway]

Hi,

I've had the same problem, I rang up 150 and went through to 'I'm thinking of leaving' dept and logged a fault with them are giving me a ring back at 4.30pm. I'm in TS11 area - it might be worth a few people ringing up and logging the fault to see some action on it.

Neil.

[harryc05]

same here! i rung and apparently its a problem with some of the main servers

[nridgway]

Hi,

I had my phone call at 4.30, he said all there systems are fine. He ran a traceroute to a few sites but there wasn't anything wrong with them.

He has booked an engineer to call in on Friday morning to check everything to see if it was ok - he said it could be a faulty modem.

I'll post back to let everyone know he outcome.

On a side note he said there was 4 technical support personell for the whole of virgin media.

Neil

[scone2]

Originally Posted by nridgway

Hi,

I had my phone call at 4.30, he said all there systems are fine. He ran a traceroute to a few sites but there wasn't anything wrong with them.

He has booked an engineer to call in on Friday morning to check everything to see if it was ok - he said it could be a faulty modem.

I'll post back to let everyone know he outcome.

On a side note he said there was 4 technical support personell for the whole of virgin media.

Neil

It's not your modem - I got a new one on Monday because of this problem. I even showed the engineer the sites not loading (still) through the new modem, and he said (words to the effect of) it must be your PC then , all signal levels are fine, blah-de-blah....

[hyte1]

Tried 3 times to call VM on 150 last night, first time on hold for 12 minutes and then line went dead. 2nd time the guy went silent on me and then hung up. 3rd time line went dead after 26 minutes of being on hold. I gave up. Not good enough, not sure what to do now, I need it fixing to administer my website!! Damn.

One thing I did notice was when ringing the support before you get put through to the call centre a recorded message says something like "sorry your having a problem in the TS22 area, its being looked into and will be fixed asap" Seems a bit strange as I'm not TS22 (thats billingham area I think) I'm TS12. Hopefully they meant TS12 and I'll wake up to find it fixed tomorrow.

[raindog]

I am also having the same issue, and also live in Saltburn (TS12). As with Hyte1, I also heard the TS22 message.

I rang Tuesday night and went through the long wait for an engineer, who then was helpful and we went through excluding the router, etc, but ran out of time. Rang back last night, got cut off after waiting ages, then after second long wait got through to someone who said they were busy and could they ring me back after 10:30pm. I declined (no a late person), but this is poor service. Virgin claim they have no problems at their end.

I have tried 3 different laptops and PCs, connected straight to the modem, tried 2 different browsers, but still no difference. I am not a heavy downloader, so cannot imagine my IP is subject to restrictions.

Of the sites I do get, weirdly YouTube works for streaming videos. Virgin's own site does not load, and BBC is very slow if at all.

Mark.

[ramtech]

You are not the only 1's i live in marske TS11 area and to have the same problem i have not had a very good connection since i upgraded to 50meg 4 weeks ago but since last week have had this strange problem.

After spending a few days changing routers abd cables and connections only to still have the same fault, finally rand virgin and got hung up on twice(1 scottish guy asked if my connection was through a router i said yes its in your router u supplyed he said we dont help if its through a router it will be your equipment thats faulty and hung up)

i had 2 engineers round for 4 hours yesterday finlly said they did not have a clue what was causing it and never seen the fault before and left going to ring me on friday to see if its fixed it's self.....:-(

the only way i can view most pages including this forum is through there proxy server....webcache.virginmedia.com:8080

Thanks virginmedia

[hyte1]

OK, wish me luck, I'm going to call VM again tonight will post back with an update. Through VM's proxy server of course :-)

[Chrysalis]

same here but in leics, slow loading of mainstream sites such as bbc.co.uk on 2 different VM connections in leics.

on the connection at home it is resolved by going via proxy.

[hyte1]

Update - tried calling VM last night with no luck (hung up - very frustrating) Tried again this morning, (non english call centre) who took me around the houses for 1 hour 20 mins before telling me there was nothing he could do, it was my "security" software blocking the gateway??? Tried to argue otherwise but he was having non of it. Rang up 150 and selected the change my package option and spoke to the local call centre. A very helpful chap has arranged for an engineer to visit tomorrow (routine I think, can't see how it works through the proxy if theres a fault my end) so we will take it from there.

Issue still the same this morning, FTP connections to my server wouldn't connect, and 90% of the time unable to load any website. Some such as www.halifax.co.uk never load at all. Xbox live the same - unable to connect.

Looks like this is going to be a long drawn out issue to get resolved :-(

[nridgway]

Just an update - and engineer came this morning and said he has been dealing with this problem all week in the area (sounds like Marske and Saltburn) He said they are logging each problem (the more the log the quicker get solved), he said he's also logged a major ticket for this so it should get sorted out soon.

He seemed to know his technical stuff and had a few minutes trying different things on my computer, he doen't think it was a DNS problem but thinks packets of data are getting corrupted when browsing.

He also said that Saltburn have the same problem and another network problem as well which is getting sorted.

He said as its raised as a major ticket now it should be sorted out in 24 hours.

[pip08456]

Don't hold your breath