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da_vone
23-01-2012, 13:48
For the last few day as well as within this month i've been getting what i call "hit and miss" internet.

It basically comes and goes whenever it feels like. Having voiced my frustrations last Friday the chap asked for my power levels which were: Down Stream (Locked) -8.8 and Up stream (Unlocked) 0.0 [this is when it was NOT working-all the lights were flashing green].

The chap said the power levels were too low and said an engineer will come out today however upon calling virgin today they said it was an area fault and that the engineer wont come to my property but fix the area fault.

This mysterious (B10) area fault keeps on happening. They never say what the fault is, as i have called with the same issue before.

When it is working the power levels are as follows Down stream (locked) -9.8 and Up Stream (Locked) 41.0. Lights are (blue, green, green)

The account holder pays the bills all the time every time. When the service is working its really brilliant and so one would expect to get near enough continuous service. however i have been let down quite a bit due to loss of service. Fair enough they have credited for the times of loss of service but how can i make sure that my net is always on.

Is there anything i can do when when my net goes down and all the lights are flashing green? i have done what they say take it out of the plug put it back in reboot etc, also unscrewed the white cable and put that back in too. Your suggestions are most welcome.

thenry
23-01-2012, 14:09
check your area via this link > https://my.virginmedia.com/faults/service-status

VM are in the process of upgrading the network which includes green cabinets, have you noticed any workmen by the cabinets lately?

could you post a full print screen please of your power levels when the internets connected..

192.168.100.1
login (default: username: admin - password: changeme
advanced settings below the 3 red boxes
to your left click on connection
printscreen and upload

da_vone
23-01-2012, 14:19
Alright there Thenry. Thanks for your reply. That link was helpful it does say there is a broadband issue which should be fixed by 5pm today so i've got my fingers crossed.

Ok you asked for power levels so i shall give you 2 of them

20/01/2012: http://imgur.com/Wrzt3

23/01/2012: http://imgur.com/1TU8W

Cheers.

thenry
23-01-2012, 14:28
down levels are low. have you got an attenuator fitted anywhere, before the cable feed goes into the SuperHub, or a splitter ?

da_vone
23-01-2012, 16:03
Hi Again,

Yes i do have a thing down stairs that splits the cable wire up. There is a white cable box fitted in the front room, from which the cable wire runs from and into the middle room. The middle room is where the cable wire splits. One line goes into my set top box [which is in the middle room] and one line goes upstairs to my superhub. This splitter thing was installed about 10 years ago (approx) when we first got 512k broadband from Telewest.

i have attached a picture: http://imgur.com/X9Rj7

As you can see there is some paint on the outside, Could this be causing the problem?

thenry
23-01-2012, 16:14
See how you get on in the evening. Check if the faults been cleared via the link above. If its cleared call VM again and get a tech booked to sort the power levels out.

Have your power levels always been that low? Have you had problems prior to this?

da_vone
23-01-2012, 16:30
Hi Again. i hope you read my post just above yours. being a complete tech novice i didn't really know anything about power levels until it was mentioned to me by the virgin media guy and yourself.

The internet runs pretty well hence ive been with Telewest/Virgin media for so long. its just especially this month and towards half way through December 2011 i began to see the net just drop all of a sudden. sometimes it would come back up like after an hour [or even sooner] or not at all and then in the morning id find everything is ok and then after a few days it would come and go etc.

Here is another power reading taken at 16:25: http://imgur.com/6QpB4

I have noticed the Downstream number is always in the negatives, is it supposed to be in this region?

thenry
23-01-2012, 16:44
Its fine if they go into - but theres a limit which yours has past. I'm surprised your online now to be honest, those level can easily stop the SH grabbing and keeping hold of the connection which it seems to be doing

Peter_
23-01-2012, 16:47
Its fine if they go into - but theres a limit which yours has past. I'm surprised your online now to be honest, those level can easily stop the SH grabbing and keeping hold of the connection which it seems to be doing
They are high but not excessive and will probably need a technician to adjust them, I have seen higher with the customer still online.

da_vone
23-01-2012, 17:07
Thank for the replies gents.

Ive checked the status link and it shows the broadband to have a green tick so they must have sorted out the area issue

When i call virgin and they ask if my internet is working i would say yes, so wont they then turn round and say in some manner "if its working why are you calling us"

in light of this can i say that ive been chatting on cable forums and the consensus is that my power levels are high and thus need to be adjusted or my internet will drop again as it has been doing so.

pabscars
23-01-2012, 17:14
If you don't get the help you need when you call back, i.e. an engineer visit, then hang up and redial choosing the "thinking of leaving us" option.

This should pretty much guarantee you getting through to an English speaking agent, that should be able to sort it out for you. It certainly can't hurt to volunteer information that you've been reliably informed that your power levels are out of normal operating perameters.

thenry
23-01-2012, 17:20
Now that its gone green reboot your SuperHub and have a look if your levels have improved. if they havent call VM and tell them your power levels are low and your internet keeps dropping.. Ask for a tech to come round to fix it. If you still dont get joy getting a booking ask to be transfered to customer relations and complain. Infact call them first > call 150 > option 5 > option 2 thinking of leaving..they will sort out a booking asap

The Installer
23-01-2012, 17:20
They are high but not excessive and will probably need a technician to adjust them, I have seen higher with the customer still online.

The downstream power levels are low, not high ! :erm:


As mentioned you will require a tech out to sort those downstream power levels for you. They should be about 10dB higher than you have at present, this would then give you a level of 0 - +1dB which would be pretty much spot on.

da_vone
23-01-2012, 17:34
Thanks A lot of your replies Gents

Here's an updated power reading taken at 17:30: http://imgur.com/uKFfG

It pretty much looks the same as before still in -10.

I am going to get onto Virgin and see how it goes.

Update: i called 150 and they say "we can see you are experiencing a problem with your broadband in the areas of B10 [and other's] (even though it shows everything thing to be rosy on the service status web link). it goes onto say engineers are working on it, to get it fixed. I know if i carry on waiting to chat "one of our team" i will have to wait 20 mins and speak to an Indian individual. As i am not getting other other options, i am going to give it bash tomorrow and i shall let you all know how it goes.

The Installer
23-01-2012, 17:42
Yep still 10dB down on where it should be ;)

thenry
23-01-2012, 17:54
DaVone the thinking of leaving option will get you through to agents in the uk. Their open until 8pm i think. Hang on in their they might even offer you something nice, complain!

da_vone
23-01-2012, 18:14
DaVone the thinking of leaving option will get you through to agents in the uk. Their open until 8pm i think. Hang on in their they might even offer you something nice, complain!

I was trying to get to the "thinking of leaving option" but i am still getting the the same old we know your experiencing problems and so it isn't giving me that option yet. hopefully i will hit them tomorrow.

thenry
23-01-2012, 18:27
So no options.

Google virgin media community forum and post everything there with 'urgent attention no internet' in the thread title.

da_vone
24-01-2012, 12:56
Hi All

Finally got through to a "homie" aka UK individual, [what do you know via option 5 in less than a minute, thanks for that guys] explained the issue and then put me through to UK Support, i did have to wait 23 mins but the friendly Liverpudlian chap said there was a cue.

This support seems much more better as the this chap was able to take my door number and my postcode and confirm low power level himself. Last time the Indian individual asked me to find out what the power levels were.

He also said that when there is an area fault engineers destined to properties in that area can get canceled to tend to the area fault but this shouldn't really happen. i guess it was just my bad.

Well my net is holding albeit still with low power levels: http://imgur.com/jwVGF

I will be expecting an engineer early Friday morning and the chap also took my number so that the engineer can call half an hour before he arrive. Hopefully i will have good news by then.

Mick Fisher
24-01-2012, 13:12
If, and it is a big if, I ever manage to get the Indian Hindrance Desk to send an engineer, it always gets cancelled the next day. It seems India specialise in sending out new modems. :rolleyes:

da_vone
27-01-2012, 09:06
The engineer chap came early this morning and had a look at my power level and found them to be a little low. And so i shall paraphrase as best as possible about what he did.

The engineer went out to the cabinet and said my line was at the bottom. i did say that about 3 or four months ago there was a lot of activity on my street were engineers were working on the cabinet and the engineer said that it must have been a cabinet refurbishment/maintenance thing. he said that my line was not moved up as other were [and was just put back in its original position] hence why i was getting the low power levels, as my line was near the bottom of the cabinet. so after the engineer moved my line up i was getting these readings

http://i.imgur.com/Iqp3H.jpg

These look a bit more better than before and hopefully my net will be stable once more. I appreciate everyone taking the time out to reply to this post.

sabe525
27-01-2012, 11:41
Check out: Trouble connecting? Burnley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It appears that Virgin Media are keeping people in the dark!
It’s an intermittent outage, no guarantee that fault will be fixed by 1st February. I was advised to contact customer services if I have any problems after 1st. I’m only a novice but I found this website useful: www.pingtest.net (it provides a record of your connection problems etc)

thenry
27-01-2012, 12:39
Upstream is low