Those BLINKIN lights - Southampton Outage?

[admars]

Looks like my problem was related to the billing changes, not a Soton thing!
When I lived at my parents (5 years ago) the broadvand was in my name (phone and TV in dad's)
I moved out, took broadband with me.
Today I phoned up customer services, 45 min phone call with tech support, was told some-one had the same mac address as me! The woman then said do you know mr x y, i said yes, that's my dad, and confirmed by giving her address, and phone number. She said they'd send me a new modem, as that was easier than my dad cancelling his internet, even though I explained he doesn't have internet!

Spoke to my dad earlier, he said 2 days ago, he got a bill, which was £25 more than normal, so phoned up virgin to query it, they told him extra £25 was for his internet! he told them he doesn't have internet, so they cancelled it, thus cancelling my broadband!

So I phoned them up again, on phone for nearly 1 hr again, and woman says it's a fault so will take 72 hours to fix

[admars]

new modem turned up yesterday, plugged it in last night, phoned them up activate it (on the premium rate number, but you get it refunded) and internet is working again

one problem is email doesn't work if I log in to webmail it goes straight to an options screen to configure forwarding etc, if I try to pop my mail, it won't let me, says I'm not allowed to! Couldn't get through to tech support last night, so used the emails support form, hopefully that's not a waste of time.

[admars]

got an email this afternoon saying I should phone up the free 150 number, as there is a problem with my account. So I phone that up, am told they can't help me, as they can only deal with billing problems, can't see my broadband username details, so I phoned up tech support, who were very apologetic, and helpful, explained that my accounts had got disabled, the chap re enabled them and asked me to check all 3 email accounts I have via webmail while he waited, and they all worked, but what a palava

[paul nolan]

I'm still getting blinking on and off.... it's less frequent than it has been but it's still happening.

I found (perhaps coincidentally) that how changing how tightly the Coax is screwed into the F Splitter sometimes helps the V+ and the cable modem find an IP

I've tried swapping over my F-Splitter and replacing the Coax but that's not done the trick.

I'm now wondering if it's signal levels. The Green Box is right outside the house and when the V+ and seperate modem were installed they had a 10 db attenuator into the V+ and a 6 db attenuator into the modem.

looking atthe "technical stuff" page on the V+ I get the following signal related readings:-

SNR: 32.0 dB, 32.0 dB, 29.0 dB
AGC: -14 dBmV, -14 dBmV, -15 dBmV
Return Power: 58 dBmv

and the following on the Modem

Downstream Receive Power Level : -3.1 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 39.0 dB
Upstream transmit Power Level : 60.0 dBmV

are these levels about right? too high? too low?

[ceedee]

IANAtech but I think your Upstream power level is too high.
If nobody offers advice to the contrary, I'd recommend you contact Tech Support via the dedicated newsgroup (between 8am-10pm) and ask them to check.
I suspect they'll want to arrange a tech visit.

Good luck!
Need help getting onto VM's Tech Support newsgroup?

As ceedee has said, your upstream power level is way too high, you need a tech out.

Originally Posted by paul nolan

I'm still getting blinking on and off.... it's less frequent than it has been but it's still happening.

I found (perhaps coincidentally) that how changing how tightly the Coax is screwed into the F Splitter sometimes helps the V+ and the cable modem find an IP

I've tried swapping over my F-Splitter and replacing the Coax but that's not done the trick.

I'm now wondering if it's signal levels. The Green Box is right outside the house and when the V+ and seperate modem were installed they had a 10 db attenuator into the V+ and a 6 db attenuator into the modem.

looking atthe "technical stuff" page on the V+ I get the following signal related readings:-

SNR: 32.0 dB, 32.0 dB, 29.0 dB
AGC: -14 dBmV, -14 dBmV, -15 dBmV
Return Power: 58 dBmv

and the following on the Modem

Downstream Receive Power Level : -3.1 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 39.0 dB
Upstream transmit Power Level : 60.0 dBmV

are these levels about right? too high? too low?

Power levels are way to high you do need to call Tech Support about them if you can wait till sunday 1st June you can call free from a virgin landline on 151.

[paul nolan]

gaaaaah....

had techs out yesterday who removed the attenuators, lowering the signal by 10db for the V+ and 6db for the Modem. giving me a resonable upstream signal of 52-53ish

the 'net worked fine over night.... until at 13:50 I noticed those damn blinkin lights again.

looking at the settings on the V+ menu I currently have an upstream power of 0 db.

what makes it worse is the engineer said the box outside my house is completely oversubscribed to an extent that he put in a request for a cab box audit and possible to site a second box next to the first.

I'm on the Mother in Laws computer at the moment (tiscali)..... is there anyway of getting back onto the VM newsgroups from here?

Originally Posted by paul nolan

I'm on the Mother in Laws computer at the moment (tiscali)..... is there anyway of getting back onto the VM newsgroups from here?

sorry, you can only access the virginmedia newsgroups from a VM connection ..

[Zanny]

Anyone else in Southampton only getting 1 meg speed? been like it a good hour now

[Marku]

southampton here, i keep getting disconnected when im downloading or uploading on torrent.

[admars]

SO15, internet was working before I went to work this morning, hasn't been working since I got home, middle light flashing on Pace STB, again

[southwell]

Basingstoke tempramental since 6pm.

[admars]

still not working so phoned the server status number, no probs in this are, website says no probs, so phoned 151free number, spoke to some-one who said my signal levels are too low, so they are sending an engineer out tomorrow morning!

Interestingly he said that I may find that between now and then I may find I have intermittant connectivity, but should still let the engineer come and do his checks. Put the phone down, and as if by magic the ready light stops blinking, goes solid, and internet works again

[admars]

Virgin man came and went , checked signal levels on STB and on modem, both were fine.

He did tell me that there are loads of problems to do with an amp in the cabinet for so15 area. He asked if I had problems with the tv guide, I said yes, and my dad who also lives in so15 moaned to me about the tv guide not working on his stb sometimes.

he said they've been expecting new part for a while, and he said he has been told it should be fixed by Thursday, apologised that that wasn't much help, but if problem is no better next weekend, I should ring up again.

He said he had another 6 tickets to do today, all most probably same problem.