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View Full Version : Basford UBRs ever getting fixed?


Broken Hope
23-01-2010, 23:02
Had trouble with slow speeds for almost a year now, it's getting silly. Get no meaningful help on the newsgroups and have to put up with crappy speeds at all times of the day, peak/off peak makes no difference.

This is my current download speed from gamefiles.virginmeda.com

Download Failed (1)

Hardly the 20Mb I've been paying for.

Ignitionnet
23-01-2010, 23:23
I would imagine Virgin Media to be the best people to ask this question.

Broken Hope
23-01-2010, 23:35
I've posted yet another thread on the newsgroups, not expecting much to be honest. Also took about 10 minutes for the list of newsgroups to download which didn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Ignitionnet
23-01-2010, 23:45
I've posted yet another thread on the newsgroups, not expecting much to be honest. Also took about 10 minutes for the list of newsgroups to download which didn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Probably overloaded with people whining about Google running the email platform and how they'll be spying on their mail because they are just that interesting and special.

Sephiroth
23-01-2010, 23:54
Had trouble with slow speeds for almost a year now, it's getting silly. Get no meaningful help on the newsgroups and have to put up with crappy speeds at all times of the day, peak/off peak makes no difference.

This is my current download speed from gamefiles.virginmeda.com

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/9711/speedf.png

Hardly the 20Mb I've been paying for.
What's wrong with 6 Mbps in peak time? It's what I would expect and the VM web site tells you that this sort of thing happens at peak times.

Or was this out of peak time?

Broken Hope
24-01-2010, 00:20
What's wrong with 6 Mbps in peak time? It's what I would expect and the VM web site tells you that this sort of thing happens at peak times.

Or was this out of peak time?

It was around 10PM tonight and no 6Mbps on a 20Mb connection is not what I'd expect at that time, not to mention I get between 5-10Mb at pretty much any time of the day, often going down to 1-3Mb.

Sephiroth
24-01-2010, 00:55
It was around 10PM tonight and no 6Mbps on a 20Mb connection is not what I'd expect at that time, not to mention I get between 5-10Mb at pretty much any time of the day, often going down to 1-3Mb.
At peak time you can't expect 20 Mbps or close to. As I said, the VM web site makes it pretty clear - without giving a number. It only takes a couple of others on your tunk to be downloading and you're congested.

Anyway, perhaps the wisdom of this forum can help point you in the right direction. Quite often we can validly suggest a cause for an unstable service based on the data you provide as listed below.

1/
Your modem stats (to include Downstream, Upstream, Operational Config & event log). This is achieved by entering http://192.168.100.1 in your browser and hitting the Login link, supplying credentials "root" and "root". You then click on each of the menu items I've listed and copy the results into your next post (e.g. by cutting & pasting into Notepad.exe and then copying the lot into the post).

2/
Just before modem stats, please do PATHPING www.bbc.co.uk. Pathping takes a few minutes to run and tells us where congestion might be occurring. If you type pathping www.bbc.co.uk > c:\fred.txt at the windows command prompt, then you can use notepad to extract and paste all the information in c:\fred.txt or another location of your choice.

Cheers

caph
24-01-2010, 20:11
Seph, just because you put up with poor 20mb speeds, doesn't mean that others should. Paying for one tier but only achieving speeds for the next tier down is definitely not acceptable. OFCOM have already advised Virgin that they should stop advertising headline speeds in the Basford area while people struggle to even achieve speeds in line with the next tier down. Needless to say they took no notice.

Unfortunately, unless Broken Hope has been moved on to one of the new 50Mb capable units, then it's pointless posting any stats. The problem with the Basford hubsite is down to oversubscription pure and simple on the old UBRs. Virgin have been aware of this for about a year and a half now and have point blank refused to do anything about it apart from move people to a 50Mb unit if they kick up a fuss.

Broken Hope, I take it you are still on one of the old ubrs registering with docsis1.0. Have you tried getting them to move you back to one of the 50Mb capable units? I seem to remember you were moved initially but then they swapped you back. FYI, I was moved to BASF9 on docsis1.1 and I get the full 20Mb at off-peak, dropping to about 17Mb at peak times (EDIT actually I've just speed tested at 19.5kbps).

Sephiroth
24-01-2010, 21:07
Seph, just because you put up with poor 20mb speeds, doesn't mean that others should. Paying for one tier but only achieving speeds for the next tier down is definitely not acceptable. OFCOM have already advised Virgin that they should stop advertising headline speeds in the Basford area while people struggle to even achieve speeds in line with the next tier down. Needless to say they took no notice.
[SEPH]: We shouldn't mix two issues, IMO (FWIW) - or maybe I did first!. If Basford's problems are under VM's control, then your problems are as you describe and need to be fixed by their positive effort. In general terms, 6 Mbps for a 20 Mbps service at peak time is normal and presaged on the VM web pages. That doesn't mean there won't be times when you get close to 20 Mbps - but in a normally populated VM area, 6 Mbps will be no surprise.

Unfortunately, unless Broken Hope has been moved on to one of the new 50Mb capable units, then it's pointless posting any stats. The problem with the Basford hubsite is down to oversubscription pure and simple on the old UBRs. Virgin have been aware of this for about a year and a half now and have point blank refused to do anything about it apart from move people to a 50Mb unit if they kick up a fuss.
[SEPH]: I don't know how many UBRs there are at Basford, so your point may well be important. The 20 Mbps customers should have been moved to the 50 Mbps CMTS and I've no idea where VM are in their re-segmentation. If they move a lot of 10 Mbps customers onto the 50 Mbps CMTSs, then there'll inevitably be snarl-ups there too.

Broken Hope, I take it you are still on one of the old ubrs registering with docsis1.0. Have you tried getting them to move you back to one of the 50Mb capable units? I seem to remember you were moved initially but then they swapped you back. FYI, I was moved to BASF9 on docsis1.1 and I get the full 20Mb at off-peak, dropping to about 17Mb at peak times (EDIT actually I've just speed tested at 19.5kbps).
[SEPH]: That's the value of stats (and pathping). We can see what's provisioned. Also if the OP hits the CONNECTION link at the top of this page, he'll be able to post his CMTS information (removing his customer number first). The 3 file download method of speed test is better than the instantaneous type as it's more likely to cover the changes in congestion over a couple of minutes.


One of your main points is that what might be acceptable to me might not be acceptable to anyone else.

I've got to concede that point, although I think we both agree that the VM statement of "up to" applies to what an individual considers reasonable.

caph
25-01-2010, 14:15
Point taken, however in theory it isn't just up to what an individual considers reasonable, OFCOM have already indicated to VM that someone who only ever achieves speeds of a lower tier should not be paying for the higher tier. In practice, however, you are correct because in general VM just ignore OFCOM (unless an individual takes them to task).

Broken Hope, I'm sure I've mentioned it to you before but if you lodge a complaint with CISAS (it's free and all online) you will be able to specify an amount of compensation you feel you are entitled to and if it is realistic they will order VM to pay it to you. You may also find that you suddenly get fast tracked on to a non-oversubscribed UBR.

Ignitionnet
25-01-2010, 15:07
9 CMTS in Basford.

Depending on how continuous, etc, the congestion is it may or may not be construed as a fault.

Broken Hope - Go to the newsgroups, get a fault reference for this, and ensure that you've logged the fault else CISAS can't help you.

When can you apply to use CISAS?

The time that consumers have to wait before they can apply to use CISAS for independent resolution of their disputes with communications providers has been reduced under new rules introduced by Ofcom. New rules, which came into force on 1 September 2009, mean that consumers are now able to use CISAS eight weeks after making an initial complaint to the communications provider.

So long as you've a reference for the complaint you'll be fine but you must give them the eight weeks from the time of your initial report.

Broken Hope
25-01-2010, 19:03
Seph, just because you put up with poor 20mb speeds, doesn't mean that others should. Paying for one tier but only achieving speeds for the next tier down is definitely not acceptable. OFCOM have already advised Virgin that they should stop advertising headline speeds in the Basford area while people struggle to even achieve speeds in line with the next tier down. Needless to say they took no notice.

Unfortunately, unless Broken Hope has been moved on to one of the new 50Mb capable units, then it's pointless posting any stats. The problem with the Basford hubsite is down to oversubscription pure and simple on the old UBRs. Virgin have been aware of this for about a year and a half now and have point blank refused to do anything about it apart from move people to a 50Mb unit if they kick up a fuss.

Broken Hope, I take it you are still on one of the old ubrs registering with docsis1.0. Have you tried getting them to move you back to one of the 50Mb capable units? I seem to remember you were moved initially but then they swapped you back. FYI, I was moved to BASF9 on docsis1.1 and I get the full 20Mb at off-peak, dropping to about 17Mb at peak times (EDIT actually I've just speed tested at 19.5kbps).

I'm on cpc1-basf1 atm it seems, I'll try asking to be moved to a 50Mb UBR if possible and getting a fault reference so I can complain to the CISAS

Paul
25-01-2010, 19:09
Im on Basford (50M), and only occasionaly noticed any slowdown.

Broken Hope
25-01-2010, 19:14
Im on Basford (50M), and only occasionaly noticed any slowdown.

I'm getting my usual 3-6Mb connection right now, wouldn't mind if it was only occasional slow down but it's all the time.

Broken Hope
25-01-2010, 21:30
They are claiming that whilst load is high it's not sufficiently high enough to raise it as a fault/provide a reference. What am I supposed to do now? This is ridiculous.

Sephiroth
25-01-2010, 22:01
You have to keep at it. Post speed tests from non-peak hours. They'll come round if the evidence is solid, IMO.

caph
25-01-2010, 22:06
Broken Hope, I know that you raised this issue with them several months ago on the newsgroup, or possibly even over a year ago. This counts as your initial complaint. You can still register with CISAS without a fault reference. Just copy and paste all your newsgroup transcripts into one document, you'll need them as your evidence. It doesn't matter if Virgin refuse to acknowledge the problem, that's just counted as a deadlock and it is up to CISAS to decide if there really is a problem, and I can tell you now that if you are constantly getting sub-10Mb speeds and are dropping to 2-3Mb at peak times, they will consider it a problem.

As others have already said, the 50Mb units are fine at the moment in the Basford hubsite, it's just the old docsis 1.0 units, so get the complaint lodged ASAP. VM are obviously going to do nothing until you do. And remember to calculate the number of months you've been paying for the 20Mb tier and multiply that by the advertised difference in price with the next tier down, then put that down as your compensation.

Ignitionnet
26-01-2010, 00:05
Incidentally I had a thought. Basford in common with some other areas on the VM network is home to thieving goits with dodgy modems. These modems don't work on the BSR / uBR10k network but work fine on the legacy equipment.

Chances are they don't want to do a migration to the overlay for some reason and the legacy equipment isn't being upgraded because modem cloners just eat up the bandwidth.

Doesn't excuse anything of course but thought I'd mention it.

Sephiroth
26-01-2010, 00:37
Incidentally I had a thought. Basford in common with some other areas on the VM network is home to thieving goits with dodgy modems. These modems don't work on the BSR / uBR10k network but work fine on the legacy equipment.

Chances are they don't want to do a migration to the overlay for some reason and the legacy equipment isn't being upgraded because modem cloners just eat up the bandwidth.

Doesn't excuse anything of course but thought I'd mention it.
You bored or something? :LOL:

Sputnik_S
26-01-2010, 00:43
Hi Guys, I'm a new VM customer and have had my 20Mbit line installed for a week. The speeds I'm getting are absolutely all over the place. Last Sunday was especially bad, I was getting between 1-2Mbit on Speedtest.net. Even stuff like like Youtube and iPlayer were stopping to buffer every few seconds. It's all over the place again this evening:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2010/01/28.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I'm on the BASF7 UBR here. I'm reading here that the 50Mb lines are on a separate UBR, is it likely to be significantly better? I don't mind paying the premium and sticking with VM as the alternative of having a BT line installed for up to 24Mbit ADSL2 works out around the same.

A random question that someone might know of the top of their heads, can I upgrade to 50Mbit within the 28-day guarantee period without affecting that? If not, I don't really wanna risk it and get stuck with a 12 month contract for a duff connection.

I can post up modem stats if anyone is interested, but it sounds like the situation is Basford is already a done deal! ;)

Sephiroth
26-01-2010, 02:01
Post #13 suggests that 50 Mbps is not problematic.

Just phone 150 and tell them you'd like to upgrade and see what they say. If they make life difficult, ask to be put to retentions; if they're difficult (which I doubt), 24 Mbps is respectable!

Broken Hope
26-01-2010, 08:32
Here's a speed test from 7:30 today, as you can see nothing wrong on my end.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2010/01/27.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I expect things to be horrible again when I get home from work tonight.

Broken Hope
26-01-2010, 20:11
And here's my connection just now.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2010/01/20.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Sputnik_S
26-01-2010, 21:07
It worked fine when I got home:
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2010/01/18.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Now I've got some time to kill with my Xbox, I'll just check the connection is still okay:
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2010/01/19.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Like I say, all over the place! I called them today to upgrade me to 50Mbit, that's happening next week. Didn't affect the 28 day guarantee, the person I spoke to said I could still jack the whole lot in if it didn't work out.

Broken Hope
10-02-2010, 08:38
Not sure if it was due to me complaining or not but this morning I had no internet, I renewed the IP on my router and it was different, I now appear to be on a 50Mb enabled UBR.

cpc4-basf8-2-0-custXXX.know.cable.virginmedia.com