VirginMedia Hub 3 issues over ethernet

VirginMedia Hub 3 issues over ethernet

Author
Discussion

NoIP

Original Poster:

559 posts

83 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
I've been a happy VM customer for a long time, right back to the NTL days and apart from a very occasional outage I've never had any reason to complain.

I've been on the 50Mb (70Mb these days) internet service via a Superhub 2AC for some years now and up until recently it all worked absolutely fine. A few weeks ago I was experiencing some short outages up to a couple of minutes in duration and more recently they've become longer - 1 day was a 20 min outage then earlier this week there was an outage of 90 mins and another 20 min outage the following day. On all these 3 recent occasions I spoke to tech support who assured me it was a fault with my equipment as there were no reported faults on the network (usual story then.. ).

An "engineer" came out of Thursday, saw that I was still running a 2AC, told me that was now obsolete technology and could no longer keep up with the network demand so "that's what fries them" (really? rolleyes) and quickly swapped it for a new Hub 3, assuring me that this would fix the issue(s).

Predictably, it has not. Well, perhaps more accurately: I haven't experienced a prolonged outage since it was installed but I'm now experiencing a different bunch of problems, specifically the connectivity over ethernet which is how my main PC is connected. Youtube videos will no longer play without coming to an abrupt halt part way through accompanied by the "buffering" circle. The only way I can continue watching the video is by physically reloading the page and moving the time bar to where it stopped. If I disconnect the ethernet cable and connect wirelessly the videos all run fine without any interruption. To rule out it being a driver or some issue specific to my main PC I've also tried the same with my 2 laptops connecting them via ethernet and the issue persists.

I'm also experiencing a noticeable delay in web page loading where more often than not it will sit there trying to connect, then a 'could not connect - check your DNS settings' page will briefly appear for a split second before the actual requested page loads. I'm not getting this issue when loading the same pages from a different non-cached machine over wifi, it is something specific when connected over ethernet. I should mention that the white bar light on the front of the Hub 3 remains lit, indicating that according to itself there is no issue.

I never suffered any of these issues with my 2AC hub. I have been running ThinkBroadband's Broadband Quality Monitor tool and the graph is in good order with no evidence of any packet loss or other issues. There are no entries in the router network error log either. When doing speed tests I am consistently receiving my prescribed amount.

Some internet research on the issue reveals a lot of people having the same 'wireless fine - ethernet not' issues. Many report problems with the router not assigning DHCP addresses, others report a complete failure of the ethernet ports on the router itself despite the green light still being on to indicate it's working fine. There was also this issue about ethernet not working at all in modem mode only but mine is in router mode for the wireless connectivity from my laptops. I have tried different ethernet cables but it's made no difference and I have tried using different ports on the router also to no avail.

As it will be a complete waste of my time and energy ringing VM "tech support", are any of you techie types familiar with this issue and know what causes it and what to do to fix it please? I don't fancy my chances trying to get my old 2AC back and given that I had (different) problems with that it won't necessarily solve anything.

Thanks frown

megaphone

10,694 posts

250 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
There is a statistics page or similar available in the SH. You need to log into it on your browser, then enter the password that should be on the bottom of the SH. See what the stats say.

Have you checked the cable coming from the street? Are there any joints? These could be getting wet or are corroded.

bristolracer

5,528 posts

148 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
I think in the admin settings of the router you can allocate some fixed ip s.
Maybe try this and see if it would help?

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
NoIP said:
An "engineer" came out of Thursday, saw that I was still running a 2AC, told me that was now obsolete technology and could no longer keep up with the network demand so "that's what fries them" (really? rolleyes) and quickly swapped it for a new Hub 3, assuring me that this would fix the issue(s).
I'm still on the original superhub 1 so I suspect a little BS from the engineer (up to 100Mbps only) If you are paying for > 100Mbps then you do need at least a superhub 2 or 3. The youtube issue may be a re-occurrence of the Virgin server caching bug (ironically Virgin servers used to cache youtube videos to reduce bandwidth problems - but ended up causing more problems as they couldn't provide the bandwidth from their servers to return the cached videos - solution was to circumvent virgin by changing your dns server) .
Drop your question onto Virgin community forums as you are not alone........

NoIP

Original Poster:

559 posts

83 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
megaphone said:
There is a statistics page or similar available in the SH. You need to log into it on your browser, then enter the password that should be on the bottom of the SH. See what the stats say.

Have you checked the cable coming from the street? Are there any joints? These could be getting wet or are corroded.
https://imgur.com/a/omRoI
https://imgur.com/a/cwTyY
https://imgur.com/a/F704K

Do you see any problems?

There is no visible cabling at all. The green box is right outside my house and the connection where it comes in the house is in good order.


bristolracer said:
I think in the admin settings of the router you can allocate some fixed ip s.
Maybe try this and see if it would help?
Beyond my techie knowledge I'm afriad. Here is my DHCP setting page :

https://imgur.com/a/dpG7t
https://imgur.com/a/UaGUC


jinx said:
Drop your question onto Virgin community forums as you are not alone........
Yes I am very familiar with the VM "community" forums. They are even more useless than Bangalore. How it works is this : you put post up with problems experienced and then receive silence for 2-3 weeks before a member of VM staff replies "hi, sorry to hear of your problems. I have checked your account and can't see any issues. I'm assuming the issue has now been resolved but if not please reply and we'll look into it". So you reply saying it hasn't and then your thread goes back down to the bottom of the pile again and is forgotten about, or, if you're lucky you'll get another reply from them in 3 weeks saying exactly the same as above.

Someone said I could check if there's a DNS issue by doing a cmd line test using "nslookup" to a few different sites including google and if google is quicker then that indicates an issue? All over my head really but if you think it has merit please tell me what I need to type to perform the checks, thanks.


Edited by NoIP on Monday 24th July 18:44

98elise

26,376 posts

160 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
I had loads of problems with the SH3 and it was only resolved by moving to a new ISP.

Their off shore support is dire, and they cannot deal with anything other than changing the channel or another settings on your router, then getting you to do a speed check.

If the same thing happens minutes latter then it's treated as an entirely seperate issue to be fixed by the same method.

After months of the same issues I gave up the will to live.

You will also get random calls asking if your service is ok, and when you explain that's it's piss poor, they will try to sell you an upgrade as a fix.

Like you they blamed my kit on occasions, but had no answer as to why it worked fine on the original hub, with less than half the bandwidth.

They also refused to replace the hub unless I signed up for another year with them.

Edited by 98elise on Monday 24th July 20:51

tali1

5,265 posts

200 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
98elise said:
I had loads of problems with the SH3 and it was only resolved by moving to a new ISP.

Their off shore support is dire, and they cannot deal with anything other than changing the channel or another settings on your router, then getting you to do a speed check.

If the same thing happens minutes latter then it's treated as an entirely seperate issue to be fixed by the same method.

After months of the same issues I gave up the will to live.

You will also get random calls asking if your service is ok, and when you explain that's it's piss poor, they will try to sell you an upgrade as a fix.
The procedure is keep calling 150 to report fault .After 3rd call you get to speak to someone who tries to fix over phone.If that doesn't work , they send engineer.
The engineer seemed to fix the fault but i got drops after few days , so another engineer was sent to fix cabling -that seems to have fixed it - so far.

starmonkey

293 posts

188 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/21/virgin_me...

SH3 chipset has a low level bug in the hardware - may not even be fixable via firmware. It's been going on for ages now frown

You may have a different problem but the SH3 can cause problems when stressed.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
98elise said:
I had loads of problems with the SH3 and it was only resolved by moving to a new ISP.

Their off shore support is dire, and they cannot deal with anything other than changing the channel or another settings on your router, then getting you to do a speed check.

If the same thing happens minutes latter then it's treated as an entirely seperate issue to be fixed by the same method.

After months of the same issues I gave up the will to live.

You will also get random calls asking if your service is ok, and when you explain that's it's piss poor, they will try to sell you an upgrade as a fix.

Like you they blamed my kit on occasions, but had no answer as to why it worked fine on the original hub, with less than half the bandwidth.

They also refused to replace the hub unless I signed up for another year with them.

Edited by 98elise on Monday 24th July 20:51
To be fair yours was a wireless problem, not Ethernet. The Ethernet service is usually very good.

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Before i got my server and managed switch, I used a Raspberry pi to perform all of my DNS and DHCP duties and disabled the function in the VM router.

the router truly is shockingly bad with a distinct lack of functionality

http://www.andrewoberstar.com/blog/2012/12/30/rasp...

Internal domain names are truly fantastic ( avahi daemon ) if you have more than a few devices on your network. as it means you dont have to bother with static IP's, even for servers as you can just call them by name instead of IP.

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
98elise said:
I had loads of problems with the SH3 and it was only resolved by moving to a new ISP.

Their off shore support is dire, and they cannot deal with anything other than changing the channel or another settings on your router, then getting you to do a speed check.

If the same thing happens minutes latter then it's treated as an entirely seperate issue to be fixed by the same method.

After months of the same issues I gave up the will to live.

You will also get random calls asking if your service is ok, and when you explain that's it's piss poor, they will try to sell you an upgrade as a fix.

Like you they blamed my kit on occasions, but had no answer as to why it worked fine on the original hub, with less than half the bandwidth.

They also refused to replace the hub unless I signed up for another year with them.

Edited by 98elise on Monday 24th July 20:51
I am in EXACTLY the same situation and have the exact same experience.
Im not as of this weekend finally out of contract, and VM can go and do one for all i care.

they are useless, and the slimy call centre staff are always trying to get you to agree to things that will add another 12 months to your contract.

I have a superhub one, and they absolutely will not upgrade it despite the fact that ive had it replaced about 7 times due to the damn thing crashing and locking up constantly as soon as you send a decent amount of traffic through it for a few mins.

It got to the point that i couldn't even truest their equipment to allow me to run rsync backups across the network overnight without a full lockup requiring a hard reset... nevermind all the family backups over vpn/wan from the mobile devices .

VM.. AVOID AVOID AVOID



NoIP

Original Poster:

559 posts

83 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
OK. A lot of tech jargon but is there anything practical I can do to fix this? Nearly always getting page loads hang with "resolving site...." along the bottom, promptly followed by an error page "could not resolve DNS" and then instantly loading the requested page. No such issues if I disconnect the ethernet cable and run it wirelessly but I don't want to do that long term.

The quality monitor tool I've been running is not showing any packet losses or any indication of problems.

Changing to BT or a LLU is not an option as my line tops out at about 12 Mbps and I had far more problems with BTs wet string copper than I've ever had with VM.

Will the previous nslookup suggestion tell me anything useful about the problem? I don't understand the technicalities.

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
easy option, switch the router into modem only mode, and buy a decent one from amazon/pcworld.

NoIP

Original Poster:

559 posts

83 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
SystemParanoia said:
easy option, switch the router into modem only mode, and buy a decent one from amazon/pcworld.
Would that definitely solve the problem do you think? I am concerned about this <well documented issue> affecting modem mode use and from a cursory glance of the VM community forums there is no shortage of complaints about the ports on the Hub 3 randomly stopping working. If I were to purchase a separate router I'd still have to connect it to one of the ports on the Hub. ?

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
NoIP said:
SystemParanoia said:
easy option, switch the router into modem only mode, and buy a decent one from amazon/pcworld.
Would that definitely solve the problem do you think? I am concerned about this <well documented issue> affecting modem mode use and from a cursory glance of the VM community forums there is no shortage of complaints about the ports on the Hub 3 randomly stopping working. If I were to purchase a separate router I'd still have to connect it to one of the ports on the Hub. ?
that situation is a farce! no it wouldn't help that.

I dont run my SH2 in modem mode, but then i have it isolated in its own vlan on the WAN side of my network, and have turned off almost all of its functionality to unsuccessfully prevent crashes and lockups.

Smarter and more skillful people than me have tried and failed to get VM's crappy hardware to behave...

your only hope is for https://www.gigaclear.com/ to come to your town
or to try another ADSL variation.

As for me, ive bruteforced the WPA2 keys on all the WIFI networks around my home and ill be using them all for my own personal use from now on in round-robin format

NoIP

Original Poster:

559 posts

83 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
frown

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
NoIP said:
frown
Like you, Ive been a long time fan of VM, been with them since they were called BlueYonder and i was a mere lad in school fragging my way through Counterstrike and Unrealtournament GOTY edition on 56.6k ... their 1/2mb service was a game changer for me!

Now i struggle to say a good word about them.. dont even get me started on the slow-as-hell Tivo boxes!!

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
quotequote all
NoIP said:
frown
Try this

98elise

26,376 posts

160 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
quotequote all
tali1 said:
98elise said:
I had loads of problems with the SH3 and it was only resolved by moving to a new ISP.

Their off shore support is dire, and they cannot deal with anything other than changing the channel or another settings on your router, then getting you to do a speed check.

If the same thing happens minutes latter then it's treated as an entirely seperate issue to be fixed by the same method.

After months of the same issues I gave up the will to live.

You will also get random calls asking if your service is ok, and when you explain that's it's piss poor, they will try to sell you an upgrade as a fix.
The procedure is keep calling 150 to report fault .After 3rd call you get to speak to someone who tries to fix over phone.If that doesn't work , they send engineer.
The engineer seemed to fix the fault but i got drops after few days , so another engineer was sent to fix cabling -that seems to have fixed it - so far.
I probably called them 20 times with the same issue, I always got through to the off shore call center, and they always read from the same script. I only got the offer of an engineer when I called to cancel. He couldn't fix it, and virgin would not replace the router without me signing up to a new contract.

All the issues occurred immediately after SH3 was installed. Virgin have blamed:

1. my neighbors WiFi interfering (detached house and I can only pick up one other wifi in a different channel).
2. problems with my devices (offered to put me in touch with a 3rd party to "fix" my devices).
3. needing their "award winning" antivirus (good luck installing that on my chromecasts and TV's and work PC).
4. too many devices connected and 50Mb not being enough (funny how an previous ancient router and 20Mb was fine).

If you change or upgrade anything in an IT system and it fails to work afterwards, then you first look at what you changed. That's how every professional IT provider works. If you are a customer of VM they will blame you and your equipment.



dmsims

6,452 posts

266 months

Tuesday 25th July 2017
quotequote all
1. Get the 2AC back

2. Put that in modem mode

3. Install Asus (or other) router

The Hub 3 is a POS