Got the Virgin Engineer coming?

[bluebrigade]

Due to my very slow 50mb service.(Only getting between 3 and 7mb)

What power levels should I be getting and what questions should I be asking him?

Cheers

[Ignitionnet]

If the speeds are fine it doesn't matter what your power levels are. The point is to get your service working properly not to match it up to some numbers some guy on a forum says you should have so don't worry too much.

[bluebrigade]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

If the speeds are fine it doesn't matter what your power levels are. The point is to get your service working properly not to match it up to some numbers some guy on a forum says you should have so don't worry too much.

Thanks, as you can imagine im not happy with the speed and will also be asking Virgin for some money back for loss of service.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by bluebrigade

Thanks, as you can imagine im not happy with the speed and will also be asking Virgin for some money back for loss of service.

Definitely.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

If the speeds are fine it doesn't matter what your power levels are. The point is to get your service working properly not to match it up to some numbers some guy on a forum says you should have so don't worry too much.

You could have been a bit more helpful. The OP's speeds are NOT fine. And the OP asked what questions should be asked of the engineer.

So, at the risk of getting a sharp response from the acknowledged guru:

1/
The modem levels recommended for 50 Mbps are on a sticky in this forum.

2/
It's important to recognise that slow speed can be cause by many factors, including congestion through over -utilisation or VM nothaving their UBR's optimally balanced across the user estate. But there could also be a circuit fault - lots of correctable codeword errors keeping the modem busy and many packets being re-requested.

3/
You should look at your modem stats and not the RxMER value. If it's below 35 dB and you are modulating 256QAM downstream (the stats tell you), mention it to the engineer. If it's below 33 dB, make sure he gets it to 35 dB.

Hope that helps. I await BBings slam.

[Ignitionnet]

No slam here. The sticky is incorrect though, and I'm just of the opinion that for the non-nerdy audience so long as the service is working well the numbers really don't matter. For Joe Average quoting numbers they don't really understand at a service technician can just confuse the matter more.

My own service is 'out of spec' but works just fine and only drops due to 'other issues' not related to power levels:

Power Level (dBmV) 8.74 8.99 9.03 9.38
Power Level (dBmV) 35.21

I never said his speeds were fine, I said that so long as speeds are fine no point in obsessing over the modem config.

[bluebrigade]

Thanks all.

The upshoot is that my service is still poor and they need to run a new cable from the box at at the end of the street to my house and this is not done until mid feb.

Virgin refunded me a paltry £8!!

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

No slam here. The sticky is incorrect though, and I'm just of the opinion that for the non-nerdy audience so long as the service is working well the numbers really don't matter. For Joe Average quoting numbers they don't really understand at a service technician can just confuse the matter more.

My own service is 'out of spec' but works just fine and only drops due to 'other issues' not related to power levels:

Power Level (dBmV) 8.74 8.99 9.03 9.38
Power Level (dBmV) 35.21

I never said his speeds were fine, I said that so long as speeds are fine no point in obsessing over the modem config.

BBings only has to look at his modem and it won't dare misbehave. Of course, if he blinks first (before the ready light), it might go down (and did, I believe).

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

BBings only has to look at his modem and it won't dare misbehave. Of course, if he blinks first (before the ready light), it might go down (and did, I believe).

Yep - knew it would and it obliged. Was a fault at the hubsite though, wouldn't dare happen too close to me.