View Full Version : Horror in HA9....
Hi to all im a newb to the forum. Ive read alot of the posts on quite a few different forums but this seems by far the most informed and useful for cable users that ive come across. Hence i thought i'd share my shocker with you. Im on L - 10MB
Im in Wembley Ha9 9** Im in my 4th year as a cable customer and have had a preverbial "mare" since day 1.
At first i was on 1MB via a STB and was able to get done what i needed as in email and messenger but the speeds were awful come 6pm to 3/4am. As low as 10kbps for most of the time and all weekend too. I thought naively if i went up in package this might help alleiviate the problem but i was sadly mistaken. Within 2 years theyd exchanged my STB at least 7 times! It took them 3 years to even admit that my area is shockingly over-subscribed. Around 9 months ago i went for a modem to see if that would help, but no. They kept giving me dates for the UBR upgrades that they couldnt keep. first was last October, then mid-December then it finally appears they carried out the work within the last 2 weeks... HURRAH :D I had a whole 36/48 hours off reasonable speeds at all times (around 300-600kbps after 6pm woot).
In well over 3 yers Ive had something you could say was approaching the advertised service for all of 2 days....
But i just knew it couldnt last... A slow and steady degradation of the service ensued and ive been suffering an ever increasing amount of packet loss to the point now where i cant do zilch online and im lucky if this post sticks. Theyve raised a service issue number for the router at the exchange in Finchley (there are 7 exchanges closer to me geographically....). Im really losing it. Theyve been discounting for the crap service but at least i could run games as i sometimes had time off during the day but no i cant do anything losing 30-60% of packets.. Anyone else in my area on here or a techie who can explain why i cant be switched to a closer exchange?
Ignitionnet
02-03-2009, 22:58
Distance from the 'exchange' doesn't affect cable in any way. Sure you're connected to Finchley? I'd have thought you'd be connected to Harrow.
When you click the 'connection' tab here you'll see something like:
cpc1-papw1-2-cust173.cmbg.cable.ntl.com
What does it say, make sure you remove the number after the word 'cust'.
graf_von_anonym
02-03-2009, 23:17
It's rare, but not impossible for oversubscription to affect you for that kind of time. The 50Mb rollout has brought a lot of capacity onto the network so that could have fixed it. That said, it may be that the oversubscription is coincidental:
Signal levels could be an issue too. Throwing that kind of quantity of modem at a problem is almost always indicative of a missed issue locally. In my experience anyway. If you were to log in to the modem's configuration page [192.168.100.1] through your browser, and post your upstream and downstream power levels, as well as your SNR that would be helpful. You could copy and paste the whole lot, but usually only those three numbers are necessary and an Admin would have to remove the MAC and so on anyway.
Distance from the 'exchange' doesn't affect cable in any way. Sure you're connected to Finchley? I'd have thought you'd be connected to Harrow.
When you click the 'connection' tab here you'll see something like:
cpc1-papw1-2-cust173.cmbg.cable.ntl.com
What does it say, make sure you remove the number after the word 'cust'.
913622 FINC cmts10 modem finch router 10 cable 5/1 - is the detail i was given by UK technical support with regard to the problem. excuse me but where would i find connection detail you refer to above?
By the way, the following exchanges are all closer to me geographically: Kingsbury - hendon - harlesden - wembley - colindale - north wembley and probably harrow too.
Thanks in advance
moaningmags
02-03-2009, 23:31
Connection Information
You appear to be on a Virgin Media Connection
Your IP address is 82.XX.X.XXX
Host 82-XX-X-XXX.cable.ubr01.uddi.blueyonder.co.uk
From clicking the Connection tab at the top of the page.
Ignitionnet
02-03-2009, 23:32
Oki.
Distance from the exchange is irrelevant to your service, and you can't be moved unfortunately as you follow a cable route there.
cpc1-barn10-0-0-custxxx.brnt.cable.ntl.com
I dont know how this relates to finchley but hey-ho what do i know...
Just so demoralised now... im in contract but its a 2-way thing. Theres such a thing as a reasonable service limit which has never been kept to by ntl/virgin.
I could easily tell them to come collect their gear and be done with them, but i think i would like to cause them some acute embaressment beforehand with the aid of ofcom/watchdogs/consumer interest organisations and possibly trading standards.
That shows you are connected to a Barnet UBR.
That shows you are connected to a Barnet UBR.
Well that just about sums it up in a nutshell.
Virgin dont even know where im connected! that places another 5 or 6 exchanges closer to me on top of the current 7 i thought it was. surely at some point this is having an affect and why not just the exchange in kingsbury just a mile up the road?
Those are BT exchanges I expect, not VM.
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 4
Downstream Frequency : 586750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 6952 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps12Increment17
Downstream Receive Power Level : 3.1 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 38.3 dB
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 34000000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 43.5 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2
With regard to the exchanges, i checked all of them as cable exchanges on samknows.com and all were VM enabled. though whether they use them im not sure
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/cable-league.php?filter_field=region_name&page=0&type=virgin&filter_value=london
moaningmags
02-03-2009, 23:56
Those levels are fine.
Those levels are fine.
ive used every possible thing i can do, im hard wired via RJ45 to a realtek 10/100 card, D/Led the latest drivers for it, TCPoptimised, cleaned my pc everywhich way possible, re-installing windows twice.... Given every aid possible to enable a reasonable connection...
Those exchanges listed are BT exchanges NOT VM hubsites. read the bit at the top on the page for that link
Please note that the data on this site is organised by BT telephone exchange. This does not correlate well to the way cable services are deployed. For an accurate check cable broadband availability, use the the availability checker!
They mean this link http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/misc.php?do=connection
Which is displayed as Connection (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/misc.php?do=connection) at the top of the page.
graf_von_anonym
03-03-2009, 03:34
The Virgin Media network doesn't route through BT telephone exchanges. The best analogy I can think of is the difference between tube stations and bus stops. Each of them will give you public transport, but they aren't routed in the same way, so they don't interact in the same way with local geography. Virgin Media's connections come from one point per large area because their transmission length is longer, UBR to Node to Cabinet is a good few miles. BT's are more widely distributed because they've got a shorter transmission length, over copper wire. So the technical explanation for why you're not connected to a closer exchange is because you aren't connected through an exchange, because the networks work differently.
That's all an aside. You say you're seeing packet loss? Could you ping bbc.co.uk or some other known good website using this command? ping -n 100 bbc.co.uk
That'll do it 100 times. How many packets are lost?
Furthermore, do you use any file-sharing software? If you download two files simultaneously from gamefiles.virginmedia.com what transfer rates do you get?
I havent run any p2p or filesharing program for months and even when i did it wasnt for movies.
Ping stats for bbc.co.uk 212.583.224.138
Packets Sent = 123, Received = 86, Lost = 37 (30% loss) average ms = 10
Ping stats for google.co.uk 72.14.221.104
Packets SEnt = 181, Received = 129, Lost = 52 (28% loss) average ms = 28
Someone at VM tech support said doing ping -t may be seen as ping flooding the server and/or seen as a DOS attack which would lead to packet loss been shown. But i also use Dan Elwell's Broadband Speed Test which also tests packet loss to UK, EU & US servers and whereas for all the time my speed was crippled i had practically no packet loss. Now my speed is vastly improved but with enormous packet loss. I'd much rather have the rubbish speed rather than the way it is now.
Someone at VM tech support said doing ping -t may be seen as ping flooding the server and/or seen as a DOS attack which would lead to packet loss been shown.
Thats just B/S.
Your results are bad, is your cable modem direct into your PC ?
yep RJ45 straight from modem to NIC. I couldnt get the link to work for gamefiles.virginmedia.com
*update* just spoke to tech AGAIN Apparently its high FEC errors causing the problem which means its very hard to fault trace as it could be anywhere! It appears theres a few nodes affected so around 200 homes have the same issue. The issue is nearly 2 weeks old and theres no fix resolution date.
Woe is me sob sniff
Stabhappy
03-03-2009, 13:39
Atleast you know it's getting tracked down.
Ignitionnet
03-03-2009, 14:08
To fix that issue if it's noise they have to go to the headend and disconnect the return path of each of the affected nodes in turn until the noise stops affecting the area.
Then they have to go in turn into the field and onto that node and disconnect / filter the return path of each of the coaxial trunk cables going into it until the noise stops.
Then if nothing obviously wrong they have to follow that trunk and filter / disconnect the return path on each cabinet hanging off it until the noise stops.
Then if nothing obvious they have to filter / disconnect each tap in that cabinet until the noise stops.
Then if nothing obvious on that tap they have to disconnect / filter each subscriber connection on that tap until the noise stops.
Then they find the home connected to that drop on the tap and go find out what the noise is and either have the customer sort it or sort the drop connection.
Takes a while!
Just completed 2 x 100ping test and no packets lost 30 mins apart! Looks like issue resolved :)
Also these speedtest results
Date 03/03/09 14:01:50
Speed Down 9606.26 Kbps ( 9.4 Mbps )
Speed Up 456.99 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )
Port 80
Server speedtest1.thinkbroadband.com
Just hope it sticks now
graf_von_anonym
03-03-2009, 17:11
Well, as is usually the case, it'll be fixed until it breaks. Glad to hear it's working better though.
Hahaha I had a sneaking feeling it was too good to true. The speeds were fine then it would stop dead. Great service for an hour then the packet loss starts again. But i guess it means that they must be working on it now.....
*update*
It looks like this problem will run now til they roll out 20/50MB in my area. There is still massive over-utilisation and it turns out that the cable network in my area is one of the oldest in existence. It needs a total re-build. Timescales are been talked of are around 6 months :erm::shocked:
Theyre gonna give me a full credit for every month this issue continues for, so at least i can use that money to fund a PAYG mobile BB deal til this is eventually resolved.
I just hope that all those in my area who are connected to the same UBR will get themselves the same credits and not pay for what is in Virgins own terms is an "unusable" service.
dcclanuk
10-03-2009, 11:34
cpc1-barn10-0-0-custxxx.brnt.cable.ntl.com
I dont know how this relates to finchley but hey-ho what do i know...
You live near Preston Manor High School by any chance;)
Anyway, I am in Wembley too, HA0, and I used to have the same cpc1-barn thingy as you, so I thought how comes I haven't got the problems that you are mentioning!?
So I click on the Connection tab and I see:
cpc3-finc12-0-*-cust***.*-*.cable.virginmedia.com
So I guess that is where the Finchley part comes in, but I do not know WHEN this changed, but the only thing I can think of is that because my area was most likely oversubscribed, they must have moved me onto the Finchley, because I was definately on the Barnet UBR!!!
P.S. I didn't bother complaining at the slow speeds at night, since when I had complained about it before a few times, I was told that it was my computer at fault even though the slow speeds were at night and not during the day:dunce:
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