View Full Version : London/se london latency issues
There was a fault on Monday 17th August when the broadband/TV in the whole of SE London/Croydon/Bromley/Kent area went intermittent.
It effected both the internet and TV services. It was closed approximately 2 hours later stating that the fault was a faulty power unit and that it had been replaced and resolved.
Since this issue I have experienced the same intermittent connection and massive lagspikes on the internet so streaming media/games is impossible.. and it is also effecting the TV as the on demand service also freezes every few minutes.
Virgin Media have opened a fault reference for me on monday and responded via email... with a standard response that they will investigate... I have received nothing further. Even contacting their dedicated fault line for 50mb subscribers gets no result apart from "yes there is an issue and we will raise a fault"...
I have not yet seen any fault raised on the status page and I feel as though I'm being given the runaround because at no point have they asked to arrange for an engineer visit (which they usually do).
I had a similar problem just about 1 year ago where it took 10 days to fix.... 9 of those days were waiting for an engineer to be free on the schedule to visit and investigate.
Its ridiculous. The indian callcentre are a total waste of time reading fault checks from a card/list on a screen.
Anyone else in the London/SE London area with massive latency issues and random disconnections?????
webcrawler2050
19-08-2009, 11:42
Hello there,
Some basic tests to provide to the tech.
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/94/33653957-simple-self-test-steps-will-assist.html#post34852254
These results, should proof the point to the VM tech.
Yeah I have been a Virgin Media customer (or Blueyonder) since 512k back in 2001 so I have already provided ping test results, traceroute and I have also spoken to a tech about power levels with upstream/downstream.
I have done numerous speedtests on www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk as requested and I get results anywhere between 25Mb and 33Mb downstream and a constant 1.6Mb upstream.
I know that the upstream is fine as 1.6Mb is the cap for my 50Mb connection and as the upstream is working without any issue I have suggested to the tech that the problem is with the Virgin network.... obviously they pay no attention to this.
What an amazing co-incidence that it started after the network fault on Monday eh???
I must admit I did used to like the old Blueyonder helpdesk who would work with you to resolve the issue and being a network engineer myself I can help out quite a bit more.
My problem is the timely response and fault raising by Virgin Media helpdesk... even though they advised me of an issue in the area yesterday evening when I called them... they still have not updated the status page to show that incident and any updates. Which leads me to believe they were just trying to get rid of me off the phone.
The Internet is working.. intermittently... so if 75% of people in my area are just web browsing... they may not see latency spikes or will just keep pressing refresh until the site comes up... which it will.
The rest of us using streaming media are the ones having problems because we can't do it with the existing latency spikes....
The spikes are hitting 700ms to the www.bbc.co.uk server every 30 seconds or so.. and on occasion it is timing out.
A 700ms spike on what is a normally 10ms/11ms response is amplified when the server you are using is normally 100ms response..... so then it is raised high enough to disconnect you from any streaming media service.
webcrawler2050
19-08-2009, 12:13
Yeah I have been a Virgin Media customer (or Blueyonder) since 512k back in 2001 so I have already provided ping test results, traceroute and I have also spoken to a tech about power levels with upstream/downstream.
I have done numerous speedtests on www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk as requested and I get results anywhere between 25Mb and 33Mb downstream and a constant 1.6Mb upstream.
I know that the upstream is fine as 1.6Mb is the cap for my 50Mb connection and as the upstream is working without any issue I have suggested to the tech that the problem is with the Virgin network.... obviously they pay no attention to this.
What an amazing co-incidence that it started after the network fault on Monday eh???
I must admit I did used to like the old Blueyonder helpdesk who would work with you to resolve the issue and being a network engineer myself I can help out quite a bit more.
My problem is the timely response and fault raising by Virgin Media helpdesk... even though they advised me of an issue in the area yesterday evening when I called them... they still have not updated the status page to show that incident and any updates. Which leads me to believe they were just trying to get rid of me off the phone.
The Internet is working.. intermittently... so if 75% of people in my area are just web browsing... they may not see latency spikes or will just keep pressing refresh until the site comes up... which it will.
The rest of us using streaming media are the ones having problems because we can't do it with the existing latency spikes....
The spikes are hitting 700ms to the www.bbc.co.uk server every 30 seconds or so.. and on occasion it is timing out.
A 700ms spike on what is a normally 10ms/11ms response is amplified when the server you are using is normally 100ms response..... so then it is raised high enough to disconnect you from any streaming media service.
How are you connected to the VM kit? Wifi? Ethernet? Etc..
Have you reboot your VM Modem?
Could you also go to 192.168.100.1 and paste the upstream and downstream power levels. Please don't post your MAC address.
Well I am currently at work so I cannot do anything at the moment... I was just wanting to know if anyone else in the SE London/Croydon area also has latency and disconnection issues.
As for my connections..
I am connected from the Virgin Media 50mb modem to a VM supplied Netgear N 300mb Router. Then connected via CAT5 to my network card (I do not use WiFi on my main machine... only my laptop).
I have also connected directly into the VM Modem (to remove the Netgear router from the connection).
I have rebooted the modem AND router numerous times either on my own decision or at the request of VM helpdesk techs.
The check light is on.. the power light is on.. the upstream and downstream lights are flashing (as normal) and the CONNECTION LIGHT (the little PC picture) is also flashing.
webcrawler2050
19-08-2009, 12:22
Okay, when you get back - power levels will be great help.
I will check them when I get home this evening.
I was told that they were within working levels by the tech..
webcrawler2050
19-08-2009, 12:55
I will check them when I get home this evening.
I was told that they were within working levels by the tech..
It's best to be 100% sure - ruling out, simple things, like Wifi interfearance, etc etc, will give you ammunition to fire at the tech when you ring them, which also means, they can focus on other issues, i.e UBR overloaded etc.
azcomposer
19-08-2009, 13:16
Stevenage had an outage on Monday (well, started Sunday evening), and the callcentre didn't know about this.
Had an engineer today to check things out, and he found some stuff which hadn't been done at the installation a few weeks ago.
But he did say that the outage was not known to the callcentre...
It is unlikely that a UBR overload would cause spikes in latency. It would be a constant throughput downgrade caused by packetloss.. My problem is that streaming media services connect for approx 30 seconds with good latency... then the spikes causes a disconnection due to the latency hitting 4000ms or more.
Also Stevenage is totally the opposite side of London to me and is actually part of a different area of responsibility for Virgin Medias network teams.
azcomposer
19-08-2009, 15:30
It is unlikely that a UBR overload would cause spikes in latency. It would be a constant throughput downgrade caused by packetloss.. My problem is that streaming media services connect for approx 30 seconds with good latency... then the spikes causes a disconnection due to the latency hitting 4000ms or more.
Also Stevenage is totally the opposite side of London to me and is actually part of a different area of responsibility for Virgin Medias network teams.
No, I was simply saying Stevenage had an outage which the callcentre didn't know about. Annoying though, as I thought it was something at me end (router in particular, followed by dongle/NIC)...
Ok Downstream is:
Frequency 299000000 307000000 315000000 N/A
Lock Status
(QAM Lock/FEC Sync/MPEG Lock) Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y Y/Y/Y N/N/N
Channel Id 60 61 62 N/A
Modulation 256QAM 256QAM 256QAM N/A
Symbol Rate
(Msym/sec) 6.952 6.952 6.952 N/A
Interleave Depth I=12
J=17 I=12
J=17 I=12
J=17 N/A
Power Level
(dBmV) 5.45 5.24 5.60 N/A
RxMER
(dB) 36.17 36.17 36.39 N/A
Correctable
Codewords 19 18 15 N/A
Uncorrectable
Codewords 282 253 265 N/A
UPstream is:
Channel Type 1.0 N/A N/A N/A
Channel ID 3 N/A N/A N/A
Frequency
(Hz) 25808000 N/A N/A N/A
Ranging Status Success N/A N/A N/A
Modulation 16QAM N/A N/A N/A
Symbol Rate
(KSym/sec) 2560 N/A N/A N/A
Mini-Slot Size 2 N/A N/A N/A
Power Level
(dBmV) 47.00 N/A N/A N/A
T1 Timeouts 0
T2 Timeouts 0 0 0 0
T3 Timeouts 0 0 0 0
T4 Timeouts 0 0 0 0
Its still giving major latency spikes when using any streaming media
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Again the helpdesk is doing exactly the same cr4p.. reboot modem... what lights are on..
What a load of rubbish they are..
Now I have to wait 5 days for an engineer to visit my house and then tell me exactly what I already know..... there is a network fault either in the local area or on my local cab..
The most annoying thing is that 2 months ago I booked a media ticket for Blizzcon. Now my wife won't get to see the LIVE Ozzy Ozborne gig at the end of it on Saturday night.
orionuk2009
21-08-2009, 05:39
Hi Nygma,
I am also in croydon have had the same slowdowns connection issues on 50mb since i had it installed in Feb,I have had 6 engineers out so far the engineers to be honest are completey clueless to what the issue is some have tried to say it may some kind of fair use policey etc,But it isn`t i have spoken to virgin about it there is a new clause in the 50mb contract know stateing if they feel the line is being over used they will contact you first regarding the issue so dont listen if they try palming that off.
But its been months know and i have been chaseing them since feb,I have been in contact with a guy who lives in leeds that also suffers the same problems.
The service is unstable it bounces up and down all the time know when it does go bad downloading will slow down to below 10mb you can not surf web pages or use any other internet related software/hardware unless you stop the download.
So don`t worry you are not on your own but there is not going to be a quick fix for it.
Well I have been on 50mb since May and it has been faultless... fast downloads... no lagspikes.. no problems having 5 webpages up... downloading files and having 1 PC and 1 iMac playing online games all at the same time.
I upgraded to 50mb BECAUSE it has no limit on use. I beta test a lot of games .. some of which are 15gb downloads.... A fair use policy does not exist on 50mb so I wouldnt accept that explanation.
When engineers turn up at my house I slip into converstation that I am a network engineer and that I turned down a job at NTL a couple of years ago (and yes its true... the pay offered was too low)... they tend to chat a bit about NTL.. how good it was back when there were Blueyonder engineers and separate NTL engineers.... bit of rivalry etc etc...
They realise I know what Im talking about and they tend not to bullsh1t me....
When they go down to the cab... if they don't need me to watch any equipment at my house.. I go with them.
This has happened before.... the frustrating part isnt the engineer... because I make sure I have things set up so that they can see not only that there IS a problem but when the problem occurs and how.
Once they see that... its usually fixed within an hour.
At the moment there has been another CR0 fault reported yesterday evening... closed this morning at 0730.... unfortunately it didnt help my issue when they replaced a faulty optical card.
I'm actually happy with what engineers do when they get here.... its just the helpdesk and the WAIT for the engineer that I hate because any suggestion they have between me reporting it... and the arrival of the engineer is a total waste of my time.
orionuk2009
22-08-2009, 00:16
We must be on different ubrs and the issue know seem`s to be happening on the one you are connected to. I am on ubr 17 If you dont know what one you are on www.ipchicken.com be intrested to see if we are on different ubrs
If you dont know what one you are on www.ipchicken.com (http://www.ipchicken.com) be intrested to see if we are on different ubrs
Or click 'Connection' at the top of this page ;)
Well.. finally fixed... not perfect as my speed has dropped from a steady 47mb to 39/40mb.
It took them 5 days after I reported it to register a fault in the area despite having 7 faults over the space of a week in that same area.
They automatically cancelled my engineers visit (which I was immensely annoyed about) and I was told is was a "junction box" fault... which as a network engineer I know is highly unlikely to cause the problem I was getting.
They did a temporary fix on monday and an emergency unscheduled outage on tuesday for a more permanent repair.
Seems to be working fine now....
The UK based helpdesks are friendly, understanding and they actually listen.... One of them even admitted that they get lots of calls on Monday mornings.... I said I wasnt surprised because the overseas helpdesk looks after it at the weekend.
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