10Mb Virgin Media - Ongoing problems, and now incredibly slow, Upstream now says QPSK

BeLGaRaTh · 09-07-2007, 21:52

As per title, I have had ongoing problems with Virgin 'on the ridiculous' Media ever since I joined them in April with very slow speeds (max of 50k download on a 10Mb connection) and upstream power level was ranging from 54dBmV up to 69dBmV and the the modulation being shown as QAM16 (Virgin admitted this should be 64QAM but wouldn't fix it as there wasn't enough people complaining about it in the area as I am the only one in the cabinet with broadband apparently so they wont fix it).

Anyway last week I was getting no internet connection at all, the tech came out and replaced the modem as he reckoned that was another problem as I had been given a very old modem which couldn't cope with 10Mb, as well as putting an attenuator on the line. Any way all was fine after that for around 2 days, full speed and no disconnections from due to ranging power levels.

Unfortunately on the third day my connection went completely, I tried removing the attenuator and replacing it with no joy, rebooting constantly. I tried to call the new Support number (premium rate now) and couldn't get through, the line just kept dropping. I called regular customer services who advised that as I was a new customer and hadn't been with them for 12mths or more premium rate numbers were barred, I asked how I could get through to faults/support fro broadband as they were now on a premium rate number and all I was advised was that I would have to use a public phone box as they were blocked themselves from redirecting the call to support. I did this (at great expense, £8 for a 3 minute call) and was advised they couldn't help as I wasn't in front of my PC and they were not allowed to call me back.

Disgusted I came back home and spoke to their complaints department who advised that as I was locked into a contract for 12mths and this was their new policy, but advised that they would get me back up and running within a week. (I have had to use my niece's PC and connection for the last week)

Anyway today my connection is back up and running, but it is even slower than it used to be (maximum 20k download even from the gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk site), I checked the modems diagnostic pages and noticed that the upstream modulation is now listed as being QPSK instead of QAM16, I called customer services again who advised that they still were not able to connect me through to support and were unable to advise what QPSK is as they were just there to sell and upgrade accounts.

So basically (damn, just realised I have gone on a bit, but I wanted to get the full story over) is this QPSK the reason why my speeds are very slow? I tried googling but found nothing relevent that I could understand

FYI the details from the modem diagnostic pages are as follows ...

Quote:

Signal
This page provides important information about the status and quality of the communications between your cable modem and the cable modem network.

Downstream Channel
The data shown in the table below provides information about the signal coming from the network to your cable modem.

Downstream Status
Operational

Channel ID
6

Downstream Frequency
331000000 Hz

Modulation
256QAM

Bit Rate
10240000 bits/sec

Power Level
14.3 dBmV

Signal to Noise Ratio
41.5 dB

Upstream Channel
The data shown in the table below provides information about the signal being transmitted to the network from your cable modem.

Upstream Status
Operational

Channel ID
1

Upstream Frequency
18800000 Hz

Modulation
QPSK

Bit Rate
384000 bits/sec

Power Level
57.5 dBmV

My modem is a WebSTAR EPC2100R2 according to the diagnostic pages, however the front of the modem states Scientific Atlanta 2100. Hardware version is 2.1 (I think the other one was version 1.0) and the software version is v2.0.2r1256-060303

Hope someone can help or offer some advice

Nikesh · 09-07-2007, 22:08

I don't think QPSK is the problem as my modem has that under Upstream as well.

BeLGaRaTh · 09-07-2007, 22:12

Thanks for the reply Nikesh, are you on the 10Mb broadband though and do you get full speed?

Druchii · 09-07-2007, 22:48

Your power levels are messed up, the 14.7 is out, as the max should be 10. The 57.5 is al out as warning levels start at about 55.

Get an engineer to check the levels out.

Nikesh · 09-07-2007, 23:29

No, I am not on the 10Mb service. I am on the 4mb service but I would have thought it would be the same?

Incomplete · 10-07-2007, 14:22

Mmmkay.

Your upstream power is poor, probably some upstream channels are running at 16QAM and some at QPSK, and as you are out of spec for 16QAM you have migrated to a QPSK channel. This does not in its' self constitute a fault however your power levels do.

The stuff about how the upstream should be 64QAM is not the case and I suspect the person you were speaking to has no idea what 64QAM or QPSK are, 64QAM is only available using DOCSIS 2 and afaik VM don't use that at present.

You need a service call though. Your upstream transmit power is too high, but your downstream receive power is also a bit high. There's probably a network issue affecting a number of people, that is usually the cause of something like this where Rx and Tx power are both high.

Reading it all the customer service you've received is appauling, to deny customers access to premium rate services because they haven't been with you for a year is absolutely ridiculous if not scandalous and I think whoever you were speaking to doesn't know **** from elbow as if that is the case VM are the only telco operator I know of that does that.

The tech support you have received is banal, there are clear issues in both directions to your modem which need to be worked on, and the tech who came didn't do much of a job. The telephone tech support don't appear to know what they are talking about.

You should have a service call which will probably then be escalated to the networks people to fix.

Hope it gets resolved in a timely matter. One bad customer experience is a lot of £ worth of advertising in the internet age

Acathla · 10-07-2007, 15:15

I hope one of the mods can get in touch with you for more details to pass onto their 'man inside' as the service you have received from VM is beyond belief and needs to be looked at!