Really bad/slow Internet, and very rude c/service, any advice plz?

[D.Casey]

Hi guys, can anybody offer me advice on what I can possibly do next (other than move to another provider as I live too far from a BT exchange).

I live cleethorpes/Grimsby (dn35 post code).

My problem is my connection speed, I pay for a 20mb line & from 6pm onwards im getting really high pings & a speed of less than 2mb (eventually droping to about 0.5mb) where it remains until about 1am.

Ive phoned vm helpline on 4 occasions (after 6pm) and they just keep telling me 2 things.

1)The test they are doing from their end shows my modem is recieving the 20mb I pay for.

2)Im being traffic managed (they think but cannot verify).


I explain to them im the only person that uses my connection and I work until 5pm (for the police) so theres been no internet activity whatsoever... so how can I be getting traffic managed? then they just say we'll put you through to the accounts department and you can ask them... I then get put on hold for 20+mins before being cut off totally.
I phone back and ask about my problem again and just get the same treatment.

Ive had this problem for about 2 weeks now :(

Even now at 11.20pm im only getting 0.9mb speed on the 20mb line.

1 thing I have noticed is that 90% of the time when my speed drops really low im getting a 10-15% packet loss, yet before 6pm and after 1am theres no packet loss... I explained this to the lady who I rang up at VM and they said it was part of the traffic managememt and was normal.


Some details:

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 6
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : -2.4 dBmV
Downstream SNR :

Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 25800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QAM16
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 48.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

Modem model : E08C007 (not wireless)


1 last question, my direct neighbour downloads movies/torrents pretty much 24/7, could the traffic shapeing software be getting me confused with him? I asked the lady on the vm line and she said it was impossible.

Thankyou for reading & in advance for any help/advice given.

[xspeedyx]

First off dont ring tsc they aint that good after 5pm, you need to post this on the newsgroups, you most likely have a overloaded UBR, your modem level are fine really.

As for your neigbour as far as I aware the UBR wouldnt get you mixed up as u have a different mac address and ip address however if they was piggybacking of ur system thnen yes that could make you have a slow and crap connection and also put you under stm which from what I can see you have not been STM'd

[whydoIneedatech]

You did not post your SNR please recheck your modem

Plus we can check if you are being traffic managed as it will show on our online tools or they can get a 2nd Line Tech to verify it for us.

We can also run the speedtest that I have put in this post below.

Post what modem you have and your power levels from your config pages of your modem. The should be a sticker on the bottom saying what model.

Open a browser and in the address bar put> 192.168.100.1 password and username are both root if required.

What I want you to post is the Downstream and the Upstream and the SNR plus what model the modem is for me thanks.

DO NOT POST YOUR MAC ADDRESS OR SERIAL NUMBER

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are a Virgin Media customer then the best speedtest is from the link below which is from a dedicated server within the Virgin Media network, hence the is no www. before the address.

Have you tried going to this link to check your speeds http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/

click on blueyondergames>demos>then click on at least 2 large files around 400/500 mb and save them to your desktop, and then wait a couple of minutes then write down the transfer rates on the files that are running> times them by 8 and you will get a truer download speed.

i.e : 250kbps X 8 = 2MB, 500kbps X 8 = 4MB, 1250kbps X 8 = 10MB, 2500kbps X 8 = 20MB

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UK Tech Support is available up to 8pm.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tech Support is open 24/7 on the numbers below.

For help with your TV or Phone and for Broadband Technical Support:

Call Product Support/Faults on 151 option 3 from your Virgin Media Phone. It's absolutely free.

Or call 0845 454 1111 from any other phone line.

[Tarantella]

I recommend not replying to rude customer service people in kind else they might probably cut you off and demand an apology.

[D.Casey]

Thankyou for your replys, tonights just the same unfortunately.
Arrived home from work & speed on the 20mb line is back down between 1 & 2mb, pings quite high too.

Modem says

Modem model : E08C007

Ntl : 250 >then the mac addy.

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 6
Downstream Frequency : 403000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : -2.8 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 38.6 dB

Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 2
Upstream Frequency : 22200000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 48.5 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2


Ive tested at all the speedsites I can think of, speedtest.net, broadband.max, the zdnet 1 the call centre guy suggested, the blueyonder game trials downloads. Irish speedtest aswell ... all are roughly the same between 1 & 2mb,
183kb/sec is what im currently getting on the vm dedicated server download.

Ill give the newsgroups a try over the weekend too.

If I ping ntl.com it seems quite high (normally it used to be around 18-25) now I get:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/09/55.jpg

No packet loss tonight that I can see.

I asked my neighbour what he's been getting (hes on a 4mb line) & says he's been fine all day & has been d/loading games/movies since 8am.

Thankyou very much for your help & advice.

Edit> Sorry forgot to add, the BB speed came back to the 20mb at 2am last night.

[homealone]

I just saw your edit, it sounds very much like an oversubscription problem, as there doesn't seem to be much wrong with your levels.

Best thing I can suggest is to post your problem in the support newsgroup & they may be able to check if your UBR is congested ?

what do you get from the 'connection' link in the forum top toolbar - mine is

cpc3-grim1-0-0-cust***.nott.cable.ntl.com

& I get 20Mb/s with no problems

*** out your customer no. as I have, just in case

[D.Casey]

I just saw your edit, it sounds very much like an oversubscription problem, as there doesn't seem to be much wrong with your levels.

Best thing I can suggest is to post your problem in the support newsgroup & they may be able to check if your UBR is congested ?

Thankyou for the advice ill give it a try.

I notice you live in cleethorpes too, are we by any chance on the same UBR?:

cpc2-grim3-0-0-cust***.nott.cable.ntl.com

I know last August (07) they did relief work on the UBR as it was oversubscribed as they gave me free BB (was pretty much dialup speed) for the 3 months before it took place.

[homealone]

Thankyou for the advice ill give it a try.

I notice you live in cleethorpes too, are we by any chance on the same UBR?:

cpc2-grim3-0-0-cust***.nott.cable.ntl.com

I know last August (07) they did relief work on the UBR as it was oversubscribed as they gave me free BB (was pretty much dialup speed) for the 3 months before it took place.

different ones, by the looks of it - I live near the cemetery & it is pretty quiet round here, so I guess I'm lucky..

- sorry, I know that doesn't help you any...

[D.Casey]

Yeah I think we are on diff 1s, I live almost opporsite the football ground (Grimsby Road, few doors off anns cafe) - quite a busy/big area I think.

Thankyou anyway m8.

[homealone]

Yeah I think we are on diff 1s, I live almost opporsite the football ground (Grimsby Road, few doors off anns cafe) - quite a busy/big area I think.

Thankyou anyway m8.

wish I could help more - it wouldn't surprise me if where you are has a fair number of people with 'dodgy' modems - let us know if you get any useful feedback from the newsgroups :)

[WHISTLED]

I recommend not replying to rude customer service people in kind else they might probably cut you off and demand an apology.
:rolleyes:

[D.Casey]

wish I could help more - it wouldn't surprise me if where you are has a fair number of people with 'dodgy' modems - let us know if you get any useful feedback from the newsgroups :)

Cheers m8 will do :)

I dont really know much about dogdy modems, could you tell me if its possible somebody has my mac address & is using 1 of these modems with it? or is that not how it works. + is there any way I can check it out?

If the above is possible could they be using the modem & VM are thinking its me? hence they keep telling me im being traffic shaped/gone over my limits at 6pm everyday - when I dont get home from work until 5.30pm.

[homealone]

Cheers m8 will do :)

I dont really know much about dogdy modems, could you tell me if its possible somebody has my mac address & is using 1 of these modems with it? or is that not how it works. + is there any way I can check it out?

If the above is possible could they be using the modem & VM are thinking its me? hence they keep telling me im being traffic shaped/gone over my limits at 6pm everyday - when I dont get home from work until 5.30pm.

I don't really know a lot about it, so I'm possibly wrong, but as far as I know it may be possible that your modem mac has been cloned - however traffic shaping 'should' only reduce your speed to 5Mb/s on a 20Mb/s connection & it sounds like you are getting worse performance than that.

- I'd guess (and it is only a guess) that cloned modems may be an issue on your UBR, but they are causing a general problem of oversubscribing it, rather than a problem associated with your modem mac, in particular??

[moaningmags]

UK tech support is available until 10pm.

[whydoIneedatech]

UK tech support is available until 10pm.
I inadvertently forgot our Scottish colleagues:dunce:

[Ignitionnet]

- I'd guess (and it is only a guess) that cloned modems may be an issue on your UBR, but they are causing a general problem of oversubscribing it, rather than a problem associated with your modem mac, in particular??

If a particular MAC is cloned on the same uBR you'll end up with the real and cloned modem playing ping pong as you can only have one modem with a MAC address online on a particular segment at once so they'll knock each other off as they go on and off line :)

[D.Casey]

I managed to get through to a nice guy that sounded welsh, my gosh it was amazing to be treated nicely & listened too, I wish I could get through to him everytime.

He ruled out that I was being traffic managed which was good to hear & apoligised for the other people who said I was.

He went & talked to his supervisor & they did tests on the UBR & said it was "slightly oversubscribed" & even at the 22% level at peak hours I should be recieving 12/13mb on the 20mb line so he ruled out that.

And bearing in mind the net speed/line stability is fine up until 6pm he said It cant be a problem with the line into my house.

So his advisor has told him to mail me a new modem & it should be here by monday and to go from there.

I am greatfull they are now listening to me, but Im just not sure about the modem being the issue.. as wouldnt my BB be slow/dial up speed (like currently) all the time?

Normally dosnt a technician bring the modem out & check things over?

[whydoIneedatech]

I managed to get through to a nice guy that sounded welsh, my gosh it was amazing to be treated nicely & listened too, I wish I could get through to him everytime.

He ruled out that I was being traffic managed which was good to hear & apoligised for the other people who said I was.

He went & talked to his supervisor & they did tests on the UBR & said it was "slightly oversubscribed" & even at the 22% level at peak hours I should be recieving 12/13mb on the 20mb line so he ruled out that.

And bearing in mind the net speed/line stability is fine up until 6pm he said It cant be a problem with the line into my house.

So his advisor has told him to mail me a new modem & it should be here by monday and to go from there.

I am greatfull they are now listening to me, but Im just not sure about the modem being the issue.. as wouldnt my BB be slow/dial up speed (like currently) all the time?

Normally dosnt a technician bring the modem out & check things over?
No you have been sent a self install modem, when you receive you will connect it up to your existing connection and call a department called Quickstart, who will ask for the MAC address of the new modem and put on your account for you their phone number is 0800 953 9500 do not call 151 as they will have to transfer you to Quickstart.