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How to diagnose issues with a Virgin Media broadband connection


Steve

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I've had issues with VM recently and so have some of my friends, so maybe this will help someone.

 

Try rebooting your Superhub first.

 

The old "turn it off and turn it on again" trick, lol. It's always the thing you should try first though.

 

Checking the power levels.

 

There's 3 figures to check: -

 

Downstream power

Upstream power

Signal to noise ratio

 

If any of these are out of spec, they're quite likely to be the cause of your issues.

 

To check your power levels, click here: -

 

http://192.168.0.1

 

Click "Router Status" at the top-right, then click on Downstream. You'll see a screen like this: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/tYygn9d.jpg

 

The power level should be between -3 and +8. RxMER (the signal to noise ratio) should be above 34.

 

Another thing to check for on this page is the number of post-RS errors. If damaged packets of data arrive at your router, the Reed Solomon algorithm is used to try and repair them. If that's successful, the pre-RS error counter will go up. When it fails, the post-RS error counter will go up. If your post-RS error count keeps going up it's likely a sign of an issue with your connection, so it's worth resetting the counter to 0, then checking periodically to see if the number rises. My connection has been up for about a week and the post-RS error count is 0, which is exactly what you want to see.

 

Next, you want to go back a page and then click on Upstream. You'll see a page like this: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/JzK4Je2.jpg

 

The power level should be between 31 and 54. If it falls out of this range, then you'll likely start to lose your connection intermittently. If it's too far out of range, you may have no connection at all. This can also be the reason why you lose the interactive services on your TV if VM are your service provider there too.

 

What to do if your power levels are out of spec?

 

If you're having issues with your connection and your power levels are out of spec, you'll need an engineer to come out and make some adjustments. Give VM a call and tell them that your power levels are out of spec, or post on their customer support forums.

 

Monitoring for further issues.

 

One way to monitor your connection is via Think Broadband's broadband quality monitor. What this does is ping your IP with data every few seconds, then it graphs the results. This has no impact on your connection speed, but it can be useful for analysing issues.

 

It's free to use and you can set up a monitor here: -

 

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/monitors.html

 

Here's an example graph showing my connection in the last 24 hours: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/4ISBfPK.png

 

The connection has been in use constantly, so this is a good result. There's no packet loss, no drops in service, and the graph is pretty consistent across the 24 hours.

 

Here's an example of a graph from when I was having issues with my connection: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/7KO66vh.png

 

The red lines coming down from the top indicate that packet loss is occurring. If the lines only come part way down, that usually manifests itself by your connection slowing down or web pages becoming unresponsive or failing to load the first time. If the lines come all the way down, that often signals a complete drop in your connection.

 

Here's an example where I lost my connection entirely for 12 hours or so: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/3bnO6Xf.png

 

High utilisation.

 

High utilisation usually means that the area you live in is over-subscribed and the network just can't cope. One common sign of this is that your connection slows down a lot during peak times. If you have a Think Broadband monitor set up, you'd see the effects of this on the graph as the levels rise up around 5PM when people start getting home from work and using their broadband, then they settle down again after midnight when people are in bed.

 

If you're affected by this, then report it on the VM forums. The staff there will be able to tell you if your area is affected by high utilisation and if so, when work is scheduled to fix this. If you call VM and complain, you can ask to be given a credit on your monthly bill, although you will have to call every month to do this until the situation is resolved.

 

There's more stuff I could go into, but that'll do I reckon. This thread is nerdy enough as it is. :d

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Yeah, it's a real mixed bag. Their forums are a good place to get a decent response, but it can take a few days to get one as it's understaffed. The off shore call centres are terrible, because VM simply haven't trained up the staff properly. I feel bad for the staff because you can usually tell that they're trying to help, but they just don't know what to do a lot of the time.

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yeah i've had call centre staff do all the right things in terms of call you back after dropped calls, offer to call u back after being put on hold so they don't use ur minutes etc, but unfortunately it doesn't really make up for them not having the foggiest about tech support whatsoever, with literally no advice other than 'turn it off and on again' and then 'is the light on the hub blue or green'.

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Cable. It's fibre optic to the cabinet, then coax cable from there to your house.

 

They used to offer ADSL connections as well. I don't think they offer ADSL to new customers anymore, but existing customers can still keep their ADSL connection (for the time being anyway).

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