Virgin connection issues in Dublin

DumbBrunette

I have a Virgin media box for Internet and TV. The WiFi has always been perfect but in the last few months it's dropping several times a day. Is this a virgin issue, or do I just need a new router?

paulski999

Hi DumbBrunette,

Might be issue on the line, does both TV and internet drop or just Wifi? Try built in diag on your TV box to test, not the best diagnostic tool, but worth a try, might get an error code for VM to check.

Try the following, install Android app Wifi Analyzer on your phone, to check the signal strength, also I assume you have rebooted the router and TV box(es)? It should move signal channels at each reboot, so if the channel is congested (by other nearby routers / devices) which could cause wifi drops, a reboot might help, the app will help you determine this. Otherwise you have to go through the hell of contacting VM support and best of luck with that.. Also check the logs on the VM router for any errors - http://192.168.0.1/?page=settings%2Ftools%2Fnetworkstatus

coylemj

OP, does this happen on one or all of the devices connectd to your Wi-Fi? One thing you could try is to 'forget' the network on one of your devices, then redefine it to that device and see if there is any difference.

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122305919#Comment_122305919

Only affects Internet, not TV. It's not a signal strength issue I think, it happens when signal strength is perfect, in the same room as the router. I have tried regular reboots but it hasn't helped unfortunately.

DumbBrunette

..

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122306772#Comment_122306772

It happens to all devices in the house, some are connected at 2.4ghz and others at 5ghz. That's why I thought it might be a router issue

extra-ordinary_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058356707/virgin-connection-issues-in-dublin

I've had maybe similar, where at random times of the day, the network would lose internet connectivity, affecting all connected devices. Usually resolves itself within 10 minutes.

paulski999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122307246#Comment_122307246

Have you checked the network logs on the router itself? How do you ascertain that the signal is perfect, by being in the same room? Have you tried the app? You could have channel congestion, i.e. you and your neighbours are using the same channel, they could have 50 IOT devices competing with your local devices, so I guess need to look at logs, look at app, reboot when it happens, note what channel(s) works best and log a call with VM.

paulski999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122309490#Comment_122309490

Is it the Hub 3 you have (white router) then I have had temp outages on my network, something I've not noticed on newer Hub 6 (black router) in saying that issue was intermittent and would re-connect after 20/30 seconds on Hub 3.

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122309578#Comment_122309578

It is the Hub 3. The reason I'm confused is that the wifi has been fine for years and never dropped. It's only been happening for the last few months, but nothing has changed in that time - no new devices, no changes to the router, etc. The intermittent drops are annoying as I'm on Teams calls quite a lot.

paulski999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122310858#Comment_122310858

Well things to try are the wifi app, the network logs, reboot of router to use "free" channels, connect your laptop / pc via ethernet cable to rule out wifi. Log a call with VM (pass on network logs)

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313787#Comment_122313787

Thanks, I'm also going to try using 5ghz where possible as I think there are more channels available in that band? So less risk of congestion etc

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313787#Comment_122313787

Got the network logs that coincidence with the wifi dropping. I'm guessing the dropped packet and no ranging response are big red flags?

paulski999

Hiya,

The "No Ranging Response" means the cable modem did not receive a response from the Virgin Media ISP's equipment i.e. the Cable Modem Termination System, or CMTS during the ranging process. Ranging is a process that cable modems use to communicate with the CMTS to establish and maintain a proper connection. A T3 timeout typically occurs if there is noise or signal degradation on the line, or if there is an issue with the ISP's equipment. So its going to be difficult to diagnose..

So in essence the signal between you and VM went down, therefore you need to contact VM (I know its a nightmare) to see what they will do, phone 1908, you will need to capture the logs as per above (copy paste into a doc) to be able to send to them, while one or two drops might be acceptable, you need to be able to show them multiple instances.

Also I would remove your post above as it lists both your router's MAC and ISP's addresses leaving you open to hacking. 😯

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122353938#Comment_122353938

Thanks! I've been trying to avoid contacting VM but I'll have to bite the bullet.

Murt2024

Probably best thing to do is hooks a laptop to your router via ethernet and run a bat file to do a continious ping to 8.8.8.8 and output date and time to a text file if the ping returns a failure.

If its wireless you might need to change the wireless channel, it might be some company in the area has setup some sort of dish on their roof for broadband overloading your airspace or some other dish around the area. I've worked in Broadband support and have seen it before.