200M : Occasional Dropouts

I am having an issue where my internet will completely disconnect for a few minutes before coming back on. It's not a Wi-Fi issue, this happens on ethernet as well.

Here is the quality monitor for today for example:



My router diagnostics seem fine when the internet is working but I cannot connect to the hub when the internet goes down! The only time I can connect is when it starts working again at which point I don't see anything wrong?

Network Log:

Network Log
Time Priority Description
02/06/2020 11:57:28 Warning! RCS Partial Service;
02/06/2020 11:57:28 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;
02/06/2020 11:47:35 Warning! RCS Partial Service;
02/06/2020 11:47:35 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;
02/06/2020 10:42:40 Warning! RCS Partial Service;
02/06/2020 10:42:40 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;

Downstream (as time of writing)

Spoiler: 

Downstream bonded channels
Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID
1 226750000 -5.5 38 256 qam 12
2 218750000 -5.4 38 256 qam 11
3 234750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 13
4 242750000 -5 38 256 qam 14
5 250750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 15
6 258750000 -5.7 38 256 qam 16
7 266750000 -5.5 37 256 qam 17
8 274750000 -5.2 37 256 qam 18
9 282750000 -5.2 37 256 qam 19
10 290750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 20
11 298750000 -4.4 37 256 qam 21
12 306750000 -4.5 38 256 qam 22
13 314750000 -4.9 38 256 qam 23
14 322750000 -5 37 256 qam 24
15 402750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 25
16 410750000 -5.2 37 256 qam 26
17 418750000 -5.5 38 256 qam 27
18 426750000 -5.5 37 256 qam 28
19 434750000 -5.9 37 256 qam 29
20 442750000 -5.7 37 256 qam 30
21 450750000 -5 38 256 qam 31
22 458750000 -5.4 38 256 qam 32
23 466750000 -5.9 38 256 qam 33
24 474750000 -5.9 38 256 qam 34


Downstream bonded channels
Channel Locked Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors
1 Locked 38.6 8856043 149778
2 Locked 38.6 9800638 143196
3 Locked 38.9 7852635 172274
4 Locked 38.9 6869577 188373
5 Locked 38.6 6165782 188109
6 Locked 38.6 5573979 189705
7 Locked 37.6 5089631 193931
8 Locked 37.6 4458840 181755
9 Locked 37.6 3878688 175553
10 Locked 38.6 3399256 195226
11 Locked 37.6 2954171 180687
12 Locked 38.6 2702673 175144
13 Locked 38.6 2380748 179654
14 Locked 37.6 2108333 184726
15 Locked 38.6 777601 177797
16 Locked 37.6 723773 175467
17 Locked 38.6 720457 191588
18 Locked 37.6 672098 188515
19 Locked 37.6 657686 172155
20 Locked 37.6 5433643 240267
21 Locked 38.6 1306595 187414
22 Locked 38.6 872456 190773
23 Locked 38.6 533692 181172
24 Locked 38.6 421343 175629

Any insights/advice before I phone VM? I want to be as prepared as possible (and I have restarted the router multiple times)

[General Maximus]

Something is terribly wrong and I amazed your connection is working at all. You have got hundreds of thousands of post rs errors on every channel. I don't know whether that is indicative of a fault on VM's end or yours. If it is happening on VMs end everyone is fooked. Tne SNR on the downstream channel is ok, what are your power levels like on the upstream?

Without seeing your upstream power levels I am going to take a stab in the dark and say that there is noise on the line which is causing the shub to ramp up the upstream power and when it is getting too high the shub is resetting itself to try again which is why you are losing your connection for a few mins. I think a tap point change is in order and will improve your downstream power levels as well.

Eeeek...

Upsteam:

Upstream bonded channels
Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID
1 32599942 3.45 5120 64 qam 3
2 46200000 3.55 5120 64 qam 1
3 25800015 3.425 5120 64 qam 4
4 39400000 3.5 5120 64 qam 2


Upstream bonded channels
Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts
1 ATDMA 0 0 0 0
2 ATDMA 0 0 0 0
3 ATDMA 0 0 0 0
4 ATDMA 0 0 0 0

[General Maximus]

Too low. Upstream power is the shub's responsibility but I don't know whether a new shub will fix it or whether your tap point needs moving in the cabinet (or both). You can do one of two things. Normally I would want to get a tech out to see what he thinks and you have got the peace of mind the problem will be resolved. He can give you a new shub or move the tap point. The problem is that in the current climate I don't know what tech visits are like, if they are still doing them and how long a delay there is going to be if they are operating at reduced staffing levels. If they tell you it is going to be 2-3 weeks and you feel the intermittent disruption is intolerable, I would ask for a new shub to be sent out. It will be next day delivery and you can hook it up in a few mins and you'll know instantly whether the problem is fixed or not. If it isn't then you can revert to the tech visit for further investigation.

Phoned VM and they want me to do a router reset before anything else - said downstream was fine - so I am going to do that tonight as connected to a VPN right now. I hate having to phone VM for this stuff.

[Pierre]

I loved Occasional Dropouts, I got their 3rd album.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Damien

Phoned VM and they want me to do a router reset before anything else - said downstream was fine - so I am going to do that tonight as connected to a VPN right now. I hate having to phone VM for this stuff.

Setup a Think broadband graph, let's see how bad that looks.

Also log into the hub and reset those errors to 0 so we can see how quickly they climb.

[General Maximus]

Originally Posted by Damien

Phoned VM and they want me to do a router reset before anything else

reboot or a factory reset? It will have rebooted every time you have a drop out and it tries to re-establish the connection. Factory reset would be interesting although I don't see why it would help. I assume it is in modem mode atm if you have got a vpn setup on a proper router? I am still itching towards the shub being at fault. If noise was an issue you would have seen the modulation drop on the upstream channels all the way back down to qam16.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by Damien

I am having an issue where my internet will completely disconnect for a few minutes before coming back on. It's not a Wi-Fi issue, this happens on ethernet as well.

Here is the quality monitor for today for example:

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

My router diagnostics seem fine when the internet is working but I cannot connect to the hub when the internet goes down! The only time I can connect is when it starts working again at which point I don't see anything wrong?

Network Log:

Network Log
Time Priority Description
02/06/2020 11:57:28 Warning! RCS Partial Service;
02/06/2020 11:57:28 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;
02/06/2020 11:47:35 Warning! RCS Partial Service;
02/06/2020 11:47:35 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;
02/06/2020 10:42:40 Warning! RCS Partial Service;
02/06/2020 10:42:40 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;

Downstream (as time of writing)

Spoiler: 

Downstream bonded channels
Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID
1 226750000 -5.5 38 256 qam 12
2 218750000 -5.4 38 256 qam 11
3 234750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 13
4 242750000 -5 38 256 qam 14
5 250750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 15
6 258750000 -5.7 38 256 qam 16
7 266750000 -5.5 37 256 qam 17
8 274750000 -5.2 37 256 qam 18
9 282750000 -5.2 37 256 qam 19
10 290750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 20
11 298750000 -4.4 37 256 qam 21
12 306750000 -4.5 38 256 qam 22
13 314750000 -4.9 38 256 qam 23
14 322750000 -5 37 256 qam 24
15 402750000 -5.2 38 256 qam 25
16 410750000 -5.2 37 256 qam 26
17 418750000 -5.5 38 256 qam 27
18 426750000 -5.5 37 256 qam 28
19 434750000 -5.9 37 256 qam 29
20 442750000 -5.7 37 256 qam 30
21 450750000 -5 38 256 qam 31
22 458750000 -5.4 38 256 qam 32
23 466750000 -5.9 38 256 qam 33
24 474750000 -5.9 38 256 qam 34


Downstream bonded channels
Channel Locked Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors
1 Locked 38.6 8856043 149778
2 Locked 38.6 9800638 143196
3 Locked 38.9 7852635 172274
4 Locked 38.9 6869577 188373
5 Locked 38.6 6165782 188109
6 Locked 38.6 5573979 189705
7 Locked 37.6 5089631 193931
8 Locked 37.6 4458840 181755
9 Locked 37.6 3878688 175553
10 Locked 38.6 3399256 195226
11 Locked 37.6 2954171 180687
12 Locked 38.6 2702673 175144
13 Locked 38.6 2380748 179654
14 Locked 37.6 2108333 184726
15 Locked 38.6 777601 177797
16 Locked 37.6 723773 175467
17 Locked 38.6 720457 191588
18 Locked 37.6 672098 188515
19 Locked 37.6 657686 172155
20 Locked 37.6 5433643 240267
21 Locked 38.6 1306595 187414
22 Locked 38.6 872456 190773
23 Locked 38.6 533692 181172
24 Locked 38.6 421343 175629

Any insights/advice before I phone VM? I want to be as prepared as possible (and I have restarted the router multiple times)

If you have a inline FPA (Forward Path Attentuator) between the Hub 3.0 and your (white?) coax cable then trying removing it? If it is a 6dB FPA then you would be in the right area for downstream power i.e. -2 to +7dB.

If you do not have a FPA fitted then you would need a Engineer to visit to fix this .. not sure if the upstream settings are ok though

BTW, a FPA looks like this:

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

Setup a Think broadband graph, let's see how bad that looks.

Also log into the hub and reset those errors to 0 so we can see how quickly they climb.

Opps I had one at the start of the thread but it's gone. Here we go, since the factory reset:

So unsurprisingly the factory reset didn't work.

---------- Post added at 22:23 ---------- Previous post was at 22:22 ----------

Originally Posted by General Maximus

reboot or a factory reset? It will have rebooted every time you have a drop out and it tries to re-establish the connection. Factory reset would be interesting although I don't see why it would help. I assume it is in modem mode atm if you have got a vpn setup on a proper router? I am still itching towards the shub being at fault. If noise was an issue you would have seen the modulation drop on the upstream channels all the way back down to qam16.

Nah, I meant I connect to a VPN elsewhere and I didn't want to restart my internet and drop off it for a time.

[General Maximus]

still seeing red, doubt it fared well overnight

[SnoopZ]

Stick a post on the VM forums then you don't need to phone up, may take a week for a response though.

Everytime I get though they don't seem to care about that broadband monitor showing dropped packets and say the status on the modern is fine.

---------- Post added at 12:02 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------

Got through to someone who knew what they were doing. Spotted the dropouts and booked an engineer

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by Damien

Everytime I get though they don't seem to care about that broadband monitor showing dropped packets and say the status on the modern is fine.

---------- Post added at 12:02 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------

Got through to someone who knew what they were doing. Spotted the dropouts and booked an engineer

Did you check if you had a FPA fitted and if so, did removing it change anything?

Nah didn't have anything fitted.

Look at what happened after 2pm!