Connection issues...advice please

[gdbagley]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, but I've been a casual user of cable forum.

Since Xmas, I've been experiencing slow speeds with my internet connection - sometimes I get a complete outage and have had to ring Virgin to get my SYNC and RDY lights back on - fortunately they often do appear after a while.

Anyway, speed is a big issue, I literally can not load a web page at times. I've removed my router out of the situation and connected directly via ethernet on both my PC and Laptop - but still no different.

I rang Virgin today and they asked me to check the transfer rate for a file from their site - it was 1.6kbps - 14+Hrs for a 50mb file - I'm not even sure it was downloading!

I have ran some ping tests, to google, digitalspy, bbc and virginmedia. A 3 minute standard ping is about 40-50% loss. A 3min ping of 252bytes results in 50-70% loss. Naturally, Virgin are blaming my PC/Laptop/friends laptop/Router/XBox/Ipod - what ever the device is.

Anyway - I managed to ring them when no SYNC/RDY lights were on and the modem was in a series of distress, but this time they said they'd send a new modem out. Will this solve my problem? My downstream/upstream stuff is below:

Type : Ambit ETH/USB Combo Cable Modem
Cable modem : Ambit Cable Modem
IP address : 10.225.140.92
Downstream Receive Power Level : 9.09 dBmv
Downstream SNR : 27.57 dB
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 51.00 dBmv

Downstream Status
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : 256 QAM
Downstream Receive Power Level : 9.00 dBmv
Downstream SNR : 27.80 dB
Cable Modem Status
Upstream Status

Upstream Frequency : 25800000 Hz
Upstream Transmit Power Level : 51.00 dBmv
Cable Modem Status
Downstream Status

The downstream SNR bounces between 26-30...

Does everything look ok, if not, would a new modem fix the problem?

Thanks

[General Maximus]

Your upstream is bordering on too high, keep on eye on it. Get a new modem anyway so you ar rid of the usb and it is ethernet all the way :)

[gdbagley]

Thanks - I don't use USB anyways as it has Ethernet also. It gets really frustrating never knowing if it's going to work or having to wait 5-10 mins for a page - cancel loading, refresh - get a little further - stop - refresh - almost there etc!

What sort of modem will they send? Do they do built-in wireless yet? That would save me having to unplug mine everytime I have to ring them....

[moaningmags]

Your snr is quite low, this causes packet loss and pages taking forever to load.
No built in wireless on any modem from VM.

[Axegrinder]

Upstream is fine, SNR as said above is too low, also your modem is either an ambit 100 or 120 and that is quite an old modem so it would help to have it replaced. The new modem will be an Ambit 256.

[gdbagley]

Thanks moaningmags. Will a new modem fix the low SNR? Or is there a problem elsewhere? What sort of numbers should I be hoping for on the SNR? If the problems aren't fixed with the modem and the SNR is still low, does anyone have any ideas as to how to get Virgin to pull their finger out? Everything is always fine on there end! lol

[chickendippers]

Post the signal levels of your new modem in the virginmedia.support.broadband.cable newsgroup: http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/newsgroups/