Guys I really could use some help with my service :o(

[sniper007]

Hi all. I used to be with NTL and have been with Virgin for years. I have been on broadband size L package or equivalent package since 2002. Never had a problem. My 10mb has always been solid and consistent. Other day I got upgraded to 20mb. For the first 24 hours it was ok. Then the speeds dropped. I've tried all different speed test sites including downloading from Virgin test servers as recommended by support line and speeds vary from 2mb to 12mb sometimes it goes up to about 18mb. Now, all yesterday it was at 20mb.

I phoned support and they said that they can see that my area has had very high network utilization since midday today, which I agree with. I'm now worried my area is oversubcribed, but surely I would have noticed this on 10mb? Or not? He said it should improve after peak time, but I'm writing this now at 21:45 and it's not.

Anyway, I have some concerns about what to do as I have just upgraded and entered a new 12 month contract but I want to opt out if I don't get the speed reliably. Can someone tell me if this is likely to be a one off, oversubscribed area or an issue with my line? Details below.

Currently as I type this I am getting 6mbps and I am NOT being capped. I am also connected directly to the modem. If I download 2 files at once from reliable test sites I get for example 400kbps and 600kbps on each. Other day I would get 1.2mbps on each file respectively or about 2.4mbps on one. My upstream seems to stay fairly constant at 0.7mbps which is fine. My ping used to be much better as well, it's now sometimes twice as much latency.




Ex NTL
Area: GU12
Modem is the little black one with 256 on the back

Cable Modem : DOCSIS 1.0/1.1/2.0 Compliant MAC Address : XXXXXXXXXXXXX Serial Number : XXXXXXXXXXX Boot Code Version : 1.1.2c Software Version : 2.111.1002 Hardware Version : 1.9



Item
Status
Comments Acquire a Downstream Channel
402750000 Hz
Locked Connectivity State
OK
Operational Boot State
OK
Operational



Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 7
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 2.2 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 41.8 dB

Cable Modem Upstream Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 34000000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QAM16
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 52.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2




C:\>tracert bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms XXXXXXXXXX
2 23 ms 17 ms 35 ms glfd-XXXXXXXXX.network.virginmedia.net XXXXXXXXXXX
3 22 ms 30 ms 32 ms glfd-XXXXXXXXXX.network.virginmedia.net XXXXXXXXXXXX
4 20 ms 9 ms 18 ms glfd-XXXXXXXXXX.network.virginmedia.net XXXXXXXXXXXXX
5 40 ms 23 ms 14 ms redb-ic-XXXXXXX.network.virginmedia.net XXXXXXXXXXXXX
6 61 ms 59 ms 64 ms 212.58.239.249
7 29 ms 23 ms 27 ms 212.58.238.133
8 50 ms 33 ms 12 ms virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]

Trace complete.




C:\>ping bbc.co.uk

Pinging bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 212.58.224.138: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=119
Reply from 212.58.224.138: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=119
Reply from 212.58.224.138: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=119
Reply from 212.58.224.138: bytes=32 time=36ms TTL=119

Ping statistics for 212.58.224.138:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 19ms, Maximum = 47ms, Average = 35ms




(apologies if I stared out too much info in traceroute, but I wanted to be careful about Ips etc. If you need more tell me.


Thanks guys, appreciate the help.

[sniper007]

This morning things are back to normal currently so this looks like it might be an over subscription thing with high usage over the weekend?

monday 08th march

10am
speedtest london 19.79mb 23ms
speedtest milton k 18.87mb 9ms
speedtest manchest 19.57mb 10ms
cable forum 19.01mb
ping google.com 34ms 23ms 19ms 20ms
ping bbc.co.uk 10ms 9ms 9ms 10ms
file downloads totaling 2.4mb down average

[Welshchris]

Could have been a number of things, over subscription or an outage affecting the connection.

Just keep a diary if u can see what times and dates u have issues if it happens regular and see if theres a pattern.

[pip08456]

TBF you were told by support that it was a high utilisation problem at the time. Just hope they keep n eye on it an if necessary do the required upgrades if it continues.

Could be a flash in the pan but doubtful.

[sniper007]

Cheers guys. Are my power levels ok etc? I just checked again now 16:45 and it's happily flying along at around 20mbps. Will keep an eye on it.....

[sniper007]

Hi all. I'll keep this short and sweet. Basically I've been with VM for years and never had a problem. Upgraded to 20mb a few weeks ago and that's when my problems started. I now am concerned that I have just started a new 12 month contract and might not be able to get out. I just made another call to support tonight and got through to a lady that went through the usual checks. She spent a while talking to "networks" and said that they would be monitoring my area for 24 hours and will fix it if they find an issue.

I phoned a week ago as well and the guy said there was high network utilization in my area and that it may go down and to keep an eye on it for a few days and call back if it's a problem.

I'm getting a bit miffed with this. I don't want to pay for a service I am not getting and just want it to be solid like it was.

Currently I am getting about 1.9mbps down with occasional timeouts. It's not my power levels as they checked that and she said she could not see a problem there. I started to list all my stats in THIS OTHER THREAD if you want detailed info.

I currently have a ticket open with support number is 2455289


If any of you guys on here that have VM staff or contacts can look into this for me then I would be eternally grateful as I want to get this sorted. I don't want to move to sky as I like VM and my package. But I will be forced to if this continues.


Many many thanks in advance for help.

[Rob]

Threads merged, no need for two on the same issue.

[Ignitionnet]

People may be able to assist with things like part refunds for degraded service but if there's a ticket open there's nothing that can be done to get things resolved quicker and no amount of contacts will be able to get the remedial work done faster I'm afraid.

[sniper007]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

People may be able to assist with things like part refunds for degraded service but if there's a ticket open there's nothing that can be done to get things resolved quicker and no amount of contacts will be able to get the remedial work done faster I'm afraid.

Well I've seen some threads on here where by VM staff or Cable forum people have stepped in and assisted people with problems they are having with their service by looking into it for them. I'm only asking. I'm not even that bothered about part refunds, I just want it to either work at 20mb, or if it doesn't get me off of my new contract and put me back on 10mb and make that be solid and 10mb all the time.
If I go back to 10mb, would I be more likely to find these same problems now with even 10mb? Ir is this likely to be an issue only for me since running 20mb?

[sniper007]

I raised this as an issue on newsgroups (first time I have needed to use them) and they have looked into it and admitted there is load and that they will monitor it. Then tonight they post back after me reporting speeds of about 6mbps (should be 20) saying that:

"The load has not yet reached a level that will allow us to raise this as an issue."

I'm going to have to phone retentions tomorrow and start talks of cancellation costs and if there is a way to just keep the TV and at what cost to me etc. I really really don't want to go to ADSL and/or Sky but it's not looking good at all. Really had enough.

[Ben B]

Originally Posted by sniper007

I raised this as an issue on newsgroups (first time I have needed to use them) and they have looked into it and admitted there is load and that they will monitor it. Then tonight they post back after me reporting speeds of about 6mbps (should be 20) saying that:

"The load has not yet reached a level that will allow us to raise this as an issue."

I'm going to have to phone retentions tomorrow and start talks of cancellation costs and if there is a way to just keep the TV and at what cost to me etc. I really really don't want to go to ADSL and/or Sky but it's not looking good at all. Really had enough.

Surely you are out of contract now since you reverted to 10mb??

[sniper007]

I have not reverted to 10mb yet. It has been more than 7 days but less than 28 days. Can I still revert back to 10mb? Are they likely to then be funny about me getting my old retention deal back and up the cost to a "new customer" as well?
The thing is, if I go back to 10mb, at peak times in the evening the speed is just going to be even worse surely. i.e. Say 20mb I would get 5mb. 10mb might mean I get 2.5mb.

BenB any thoughts how I can get this escalated and fixed? Realistically, are we really talking never since it looks like a general over subscription thing?

[sniper007]

Just to update this issue. I have a thread on virgin media support forums and had an issue open on newsgroups. Same response every few days is "I can see high load on your area and if it worsens it will be looked into". Same everytime. It can't get any worse, it's already bad enough. Poor service. I'm not happy.

[sniper007]

Anyone any thoughts?

[Chrysalis]

my own diagnosis is the area is congested, I will use that word instead of another word.

the tell tale signs are the jitter on the tracert and pings, whether or not its downstream or upstream I dont know, someone like ignition will be able to tell you more on that.

a quick route to get the ceo office involved is emailing the ceo firstname.lastname@virginmedia.co.uk, I did that yesterday and got a call back after an hour.