Not getting the speed im paying for

[DC_FC79]

I do a speed test at least once a week and the speed i get isnt what im paying for(paying for 10mb and currently get about 5), i take it the speed would be dependant on the time of day im using it and how many subscribers are also online at the same time. Its a bit weird as my mate who lives round the corner is on the same package and he gets a faster speed than me. Is there anything i can do to rectify it apart from giving support a call, ive tried doing a test when connected to the router and a direct connection and theres not much difference. Its only a recent thing though as i did used to get close to 10mb eg 7, 8, 9.

Ive just done a speed test on a computer connected to the router by homeplugs and my result is (http://www.speedtest.net/result/915800063.png)

and this is (http://www.speedtest.net/result/915833057.png) the speed when connected to the router

dotn know if its ay help but this is the speed when the pc is connected directly to the modem

[AbyssUnderground]

Please post your signal levels. Go to http://192.168.100.1 and login with root as the username and password. Post the signal levels for downstream, upstream and the SNR levels. Do not post any MAC address or IP address details. We can help you diagnose from that.

[DC_FC79]

downstream

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 3
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 10.5 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 40.0 dB

Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 1
Upstream Frequency : 18800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 35.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

what would the SNR levels be ?

thanks

[AbyssUnderground]

OK your downstream is out of spec as it is too high. It should be between -5 and +5 dBmV. Upstream is also slightly too low, it should be above 40dBmV but it may be OK on some platforms.
SNR is perfect.

Call Virgin and ask for an engineer to fix the signal levels. It won't cost you anything except you'll have to wait for the engineer.

[pip08456]

downstream


Downstream Receive Power Level : 10.5 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 40.0 dB



what would the SNR levels be ?

thanks

Your D/s power level is on the high side and needs adjusting by an engineer.

SNR is Signal to Noise Ratio anything above 35 is OK

[DC_FC79]

OK your upstream is out of spec as it is too high. It should be between -5 and +5 dBmV. Upstream is also slightly too low, it should be above 40dBmV but it may be OK on some platforms.
SNR is perfect.

Call Virgin and ask for an engineer to fix the signal levels. It won't cost you anything except you'll have to wait for the engineer.

how does the upstream get high like that

thanks pip and abyss

[AbyssUnderground]

Sorry for the first I meant downstream.

[pip08456]

Just noticed your upsrteam modulation is QPSK which could be indicative of a line fault.

[DC_FC79]

Sorry for the first I meant downstream.

no problem,

ill have to give virgin a call this week sometime

[Peter_]

Your D/s power level is on the high side and needs adjusting by an engineer.

SNR is Signal to Noise Ratio anything above 35 is OK
The Downstream and Upstream could be related due to the QPSK you mention in your other post so a call to support is in order.

[DC_FC79]

The Downstream and Upstream could be related due to the QPSK you mention in your other post so a call to support is in order.

so when i call would i mention the signal levels are low and they need to be changed

[Peter_]

so when i call would i mention the signal levels are low and they need to be changed
Tell them the issue and they will run diagnostics on the connection and take it from there.;)

[DC_FC79]

Tell them the issue and they will run diagnostics on the connection and take it from there.;)

thanks

[Peter_]

thanks
Keep us updated.;)

[DC_FC79]

Keep us updated.;)

will do

[pabs]

Just noticed your upsrteam modulation is QPSK which could be indicative of a line fault.

What does QPSK mean please? Is it bad as I have that on my upstream modulation. . .

[pip08456]

What does QPSK mean please? Is it bad as I have that on my upstream modulation. . .

You may end up more confused but here goes without going into detail (I'll leave that to Igni).

QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying)

QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)

In simple terms both are the the way the signal is sent.

A reasonable analogy is the difference between AM and FM radio (or perhaps FM and DAB)

QAM is the standard used by VM (and others) however there will be times when you will be reverted back to QSPK which can be indicative of a problem.

If however everything is working OK don't worry about it, it may only be temporary whilst work is ongoing in your area.

[pabs]

You may end up more confused but here goes without going into detail (I'll leave that to Igni).

QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying)

QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)

In simple terms both are the the way the signal is sent.

A reasonable analogy is the difference between AM and FM radio (or perhaps FM and DAB)

QAM is the standard used by VM (and others) however there will be times when you will be reverted back to QSPK which can be indicative of a problem.

If however everything is working OK don't worry about it, it may only be temporary whilst work is ongoing in your area.

Thanks for letting me know.:)

[Scrubbs]

just to jump on the bandwagon, is "DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response " anything to worry about.
I got it from the modem?log

[AbyssUnderground]

Nope, just ignore the logs. You'll see lots of errors in there that are nothing to worry about. Only worry if your connection is flaky or down completely.

[DC_FC79]

A bit of a weird 1 this, i spoke to support earlier and i explained i wasnt getting the speed and such. He took me through various steps eg do a test when connected to the router ad 1 with the modem connected to the PC with resetting the modem.

Restart the pc and start up in safe mode with networking and do a speed test and as the test result was higher he said "oh there must be a program thats eating your bandwidth, h asked me to open up msconfig and click on the startup tab and them programs there are what starts when the computer starts, so use trial and error and untick each 1 then restart and do a speed test to find which program was eating bandwidth.

Ive unticked some programs in msconfig and restarted the pc, done a new speed test and its no better

only 3 in startup that are left are 3 system 32 files

it wouldnt be stuff in services that would be causing the slowdown

[martyh]

A bit of a weird 1 this, i spoke to support earlier and i explained i wasnt getting the speed and such. He took me through various steps eg do a test when connected to the router ad 1 with the modem connected to the PC with resetting the modem.

Restart the pc and start up in safe mode with networking and do a speed test and as the test result was higher he said "oh there must be a program thats eating your bandwidth, h asked me to open up msconfig and click on the startup tab and them programs there are what starts when the computer starts, so use trial and error and untick each 1 then restart and do a speed test to find which program was eating bandwidth.

Ive unticked some programs in msconfig and restarted the pc, done a new speed test and its no better

only 3 in startup that are left are 3 system 32 files

it wouldnt be stuff in services that would be causing the slowdown

i had a very similar situation to yours a few years back when i was on 10 meg ,i was also told that i had a program that was eating the bandwidth ,i argued the toss with cs but decided to humor them and went through the process of trial and error to find the program ,turned out to be the av program (norton 2008)

[DC_FC79]

i had a very similar situation to yours a few years back when i was on 10 meg ,i was also told that i had a program that was eating the bandwidth ,i argued the toss with cs but decided to humor them and went through the process of trial and error to find the program ,turned out to be the av program (norton 2008)

mmm im running avast,

maybe ill try another AV and see what happens

thanks

[philwhite100]

I have just seen that when i try this 2GB Test for 50Mbps customers (on 100Mbps conn.): i get a steady 1.8 MB/sec on my 50 meg connection.

[martyh]

mmm im running avast,

maybe ill try another AV and see what happens

i would just disable it if pos then try a speed test from here (http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/blueyondergames/) ,if you start downloading 3-4 large files you can work out your DL speed much more accurate than from speedtest.net ,do 2 tests 1 connected direct to the modem the other from the router this will eliminate or confirm router problems

[DC_FC79]

i would just disable it if pos then try a speed test from here (http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/blueyondergames/) ,if you start downloading 3-4 large files you can work out your DL speed much more accurate than from speedtest.net ,do 2 tests 1 connected direct to the modem the other from the router this will eliminate or confirm router problems

how do i work out the speed then

i did tests on the modem and others posted saying some of the results were off

[Peter_]

how do i work out the speed then

i did tests on the modem and others posted saying some of the results were off
Full instructions here and look for large games such as Battlefield 2142, BFMEdemoenglish final demo, CNC3, Company of Heroes and Dark Messiah all at least 40 down from the top of the list.

http://www.virginmedia.com/testmyspeed/manual.php

[DC_FC79]

Full instructions here and look for large games such as Battlefield 2142, BFMEdemoenglish final demo, CNC3, Company of Heroes and Dark Messiah all at least 40 down from the top of the list.

http://www.virginmedia.com/testmyspeed/manual.php

thanks

[gadgit]

I'm having problems with my speed as well. running around 1-2 meg, should be ten.

I'm not blaming anyone at this stage, but have a friend who is a puta wizz kid!

He has the same problem? looked at mine, said his is just the same??
He emailed virgin to try to find out wht the problem could be. No answer??

He says other people he knows have the same problem, very slow. They will not answer emails on this problem.

I'm struggling to run youtube videos, which just keep stopping and starting.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not bursting with anger just yet, but dissappointed that so many people are suddenly having this problem who understand computors, but can't put it right.

In the morning its fine, which just says to me that its a numbers thing in the afternoon, and If someone just said this was the problem, and they are looking to improve things later I would be happy with that. I'm unhappy that it just seems that they are the victims of their own success, which is good in a way..........But just tell us eh !

Or get the company to say the system is fine and that its all our computors that are at fault.

Either way, i don't mind..................I just want to know........i'm not moving to another supplier yet.

gadgit.

[Hugh]

gadgit, are you getting 1MB, or 1Mb? (as 1MB is 8Mb).

[Sephiroth]

downstream

Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 3
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 10.5 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 40.0 dB

Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 1
Upstream Frequency : 18800000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 35.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

what would the SNR levels be ?

thanks

I can't see where this thread is going! Nobody's asked for your event log, so there's no correlation of your stats with reported events.

Generally speaking, your downstream is considered to be too high and could overdrive your modem's amplifier. That would possibly cause uncorrectable data errors which would have to be re-requested from the download site, so slowing you up. That said, there are cases (including my son's) where 10+ dBmv is no provblem, especially if it's always been that high without prior problems.

What would cause high DS power? Usually one of three causes:

1/
You're close to the street box and you were not given an attenuator when you signed up or were installed.

2/
The nearest amplifier is playing up or incorrectly set. These things don't just happen, IMO.

3/
A VM engineer has moved the position of your street cabinet tap to a lower attenuation frame. He could have swapped you to solve someone else's problem.

Your Upstream is fine at 35 DbmV. The consensus range is between 35 dBmv and 50, not exceeding 55 dBmv because you are then really struggling to communicate with the other end. I ran for years at 29 dBmv without problem. But your event log would show if there was a problem communicating with the VM end.

QPSK is not indicative of a problem. It means that your packing density is 2 bits per symbol allowing greater tolerance for upstream noise that at 16QAM (which more densely packed at 4 bits per symbol).

So, to come back on track, I'd suggest posting your full stats agai and the full event log at a time when you're experiencing problems (not just after a re-boot which tells us nothing).

HTH.

[gadgit]

varies between 1-2 Mb, the smaller number, but should be 10 Mb.

sorry about that!! didn't understand I had it wrong.

I'm not good with computors, my friend builds them and updates things for me, so I presume he knows what he's doing? but I do realise that computors are complicated and he could have missed something.

however, he works at the Gene centre underground with some very clever people, so i'm not going to tell him and his mates who all have a problem, that he doesn't know what he doing?

Are you going to tell me that Virgin do not have a problem with their speeds at the moment/

thanks.

gadgit.

---------- Post added at 09:50 ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 ----------

just run a standard test.

Result..Download speed 2.68Mbs

upload speed 0.46Mbs

Ping...17ms

please understand I'm a normal punter here! so go easy on me.

thanks

gadgit.

[Peter_]

varies between 1-2 Mb, the smaller number, but should be 10 Mb.

sorry about that!! didn't understand I had it wrong.

I'm not good with computors, my friend builds them and updates things for me, so I presume he knows what he's doing? but I do realise that computors are complicated and he could have missed something.

however, he works at the Gene centre underground with some very clever people, so i'm not going to tell him and his mates who all have a problem, that he doesn't know what he doing?

Are you going to tell me that Virgin do not have a problem with their speeds at the moment/

thanks.

gadgit.

---------- Post added at 09:50 ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 ----------

just run a standard test.

Result..Download speed 2.68Mbs

upload speed 0.46Mbs

Ping...17ms

please understand I'm a normal punter here! so go easy on me.

thanks

gadgit.
Try this Speed test in this link http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35074373-post27.html

[DC_FC79]

Well ive taken the advice from technical support and looked at programs starting on startup and there were 3 which were system 32 files so ive disabled them, restarted and done a test and its back to where it should be.

[Sephiroth]

DC

It might help others if you tell us which ones you disabled. And is it still OK a couple of hours later?

[DC_FC79]

DC

It might help others if you tell us which ones you disabled. And is it still OK a couple of hours later?


they were igfxtray (to do with intel graphics, )
hkcmd (keyboard hot keys)
ctfmon (to do with ms word/office)

I could have disabled 1 at a time, restarted then done a speed test but i didnt as i wanted to get it sorted so i cant say which 1 it specifically was,

just another question ive followed the instructions about downloading 4 various files over 400Mb and add the figures together, well ive downloaded the files but im a bit flumaxed when trying to work out the answer,

the figures added together come to 1455 so multiply by 8 gives me 11640so what would that be in seconds then

[kwikbreaks]

Yeah right - that will have freed up at least 0.01% of your cpu and memory. If it is working well now it's because something else has changed too.

[Sephiroth]

You've got to get the b (bits) and B (Bytes) right. Files are referred to in Bytes for size purposes. You haven't told us what you aggregated, but assuming it's Bytes/second then multiply by 8 to get bits per second = 11640 bits/second. Now that seems unlikely to me.

More likely you've aggregated KBytes per second which means 11640 * 1000 = 11.64 Mbits per second. So that's OK then for a 10Mbps line.

Next, the startup items you disabled. They're OK to disable, usually. But I don't see how they would have made any difference. Your original post compared Homeplug with Router. I can do tests 30 minutes part and get wildly differing results, either way round (I have Homeplug too).

I'd still be worried about your power level if it hasn't always been at that level and decent speeds. In the winter, that'll rise possibly to as high as 15 dBmv which is not good. That should be seen to. Are you near your street cabinet?

[gadgit]

Right............

I've managed to get through to someone at Virgin, who has tested my set up ??

Tested the speed, with me, and seen that its pathetic.

I'm being sent a new modem, and been given a phone number to ring when it arrives to activate the thing. I'm still ok with this and not thrown the baby out of the pram just yet!!

She has indicated ( nice girl from india ??) that due to my modem being 7-8 years old, it does not appear to be good enough to handle 10Mb

I just hope she is right.......
I'll let you all know the moment it arrives whether a boost to the system appears!!!!!
I'm just praying it works.
gadgit.

[gadgit]

Latest news is, the new modem is now up and running.
speed now average around 5-6 Mb......time 16.00.....vast improvement !!!!!
I'll expect better than that in the mornings.
And I'm now happy.

[DC_FC79]

I can't see where this thread is going! Nobody's asked for your event log, so there's no correlation of your stats with reported events.

Generally speaking, your downstream is considered to be too high and could overdrive your modem's amplifier. That would possibly cause uncorrectable data errors which would have to be re-requested from the download site, so slowing you up. That said, there are cases (including my son's) where 10+ dBmv is no provblem, especially if it's always been that high without prior problems.

What would cause high DS power? Usually one of three causes:

1/
You're close to the street box and you were not given an attenuator when you signed up or were installed.

2/
The nearest amplifier is playing up or incorrectly set. These things don't just happen, IMO.

3/
A VM engineer has moved the position of your street cabinet tap to a lower attenuation frame. He could have swapped you to solve someone else's problem.

Your Upstream is fine at 35 DbmV. The consensus range is between 35 dBmv and 50, not exceeding 55 dBmv because you are then really struggling to communicate with the other end. I ran for years at 29 dBmv without problem. But your event log would show if there was a problem communicating with the VM end.

QPSK is not indicative of a problem. It means that your packing density is 2 bits per symbol allowing greater tolerance for upstream noise that at 16QAM (which more densely packed at 4 bits per symbol).

So, to come back on track, I'd suggest posting your full stats agai and the full event log at a time when you're experiencing problems (not just after a re-boot which tells us nothing).

HTH.


my event log

First Time Last Time Priority Description
Sun Sep 12 18:17:03 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:03 2010 Information (7) The s/w filename specified in the config file is the same as ...
Sun Sep 12 18:17:03 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:03 2010 Information (7) A software upgrade filename was specified in the config file.
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) Authorized
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) Registration complete!
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) We registered with a DOCSIS 1.1 config file!
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) Received a REG-RSP message from the CMTS...
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) Sending a REG-REQ to the CMTS...
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) CableModem SNMP configure complete
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) IP init completed ok
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) CableModem TFTP init ok
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Information (7) CableModem DHCP client init ok
Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Sun Sep 12 18:17:02 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) MAP w/initial maintenance region received
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Downstream sync ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Beginning initial ranging...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) downstream time sync acquired...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Downstream sync ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) starting ds time sync acquisition...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Locked on the downstream. Waiting for UCDs...
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Downstream lock ok
Time Not Established Time Not Established Information (7) Sync Start
Fri Sep 03 17:50:02 2010 Fri Sep 03 17:50:02 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Fri Sep 03 17:45:33 2010 Fri Sep 03 17:45:33 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Thu Sep 02 23:37:19 2010 Thu Sep 02 23:37:19 2010 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Wed Sep 01 17:32:42 2010 Wed Sep 01 17:32:42 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Tue Aug 31 22:44:41 2010 Tue Aug 31 22:44:41 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Thu Aug 26 12:01:29 2010 Thu Aug 26 12:01:29 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Thu Aug 26 11:49:20 2010 Thu Aug 26 11:49:20 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Thu Aug 26 07:26:24 2010 Thu Aug 26 07:26:24 2010 Critical (3) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response.
Time Not Established Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out

---------- Post added at 19:52 ---------- Previous post was at 19:23 ----------

You've got to get the b (bits) and B (Bytes) right. Files are referred to in Bytes for size purposes. You haven't told us what you aggregated, but assuming it's Bytes/second then multiply by 8 to get bits per second = 11640 bits/second. Now that seems unlikely to me.

More likely you've aggregated KBytes per second which means 11640 * 1000 = 11.64 Mbits per second. So that's OK then for a 10Mbps line.

Next, the startup items you disabled. They're OK to disable, usually. But I don't see how they would have made any difference. Your original post compared Homeplug with Router. I can do tests 30 minutes part and get wildly differing results, either way round (I have Homeplug too).

I'd still be worried about your power level if it hasn't always been at that level and decent speeds. In the winter, that'll rise possibly to as high as 15 dBmv which is not good. That should be seen to. Are you near your street cabinet?

well disabling the startup items worked when i did the speed testsright after i disabled the items and then a few hours later the speed tests were abck to normal, i dotn see how they would have made a difference but i was stumped at what else to try,

theres 2 cabinets within walking distance so not entirely sure which 1 im on although i do have an idea which 1 it is,

when i mentioned using homeplug i meant i used it as getting a second speed test result on a second computer,

speed test (http://www.speedtest.net/result/950612373.png) in firefox on the pc running xp when connected to the router

speed test (http://www.speedtest.net/result/950601169.png) done on computer running windows 7 in firefox and a second 1 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28008378@N08/4983781578/)using opera

ill do that thing with downloading files again and see what answer i get,

im running anti virus and malwarebytes to see if they can find anything, im just flumaxed as to why its affecting 1 computer

thanks

ps ive just done a speed test on my android phone via the wireless connection and i get 7mpbs d/load and .54 upload, so it must be the windows xp computer, only thing i can try is a complete reinstall but thats a last resort

[DC_FC79]

Just to add, recently changed anti virus from microsoft security essentials to avira and its now much better, ill keep an eye on it though