Xbox360 lagging online with Virgin Media 50meg

Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone can help with this issue.

For the last few months our connection has been great, getting online with all 4 Xbox360's with no lag, until an engineer disconnected us from the main box outside our home due to maintenance, at first he denied disconnecting us as according to him we were not connected to that unit, according to his paperwork? after checking all the connections in that box, he apologised and informed us that the reason we were not showing up on his work sheet was due to us not having a telephone line with Virgin.

He informed us that as soon as he had finished working on the box, he would connect us back up!

After about 30 mins he knocked our door stating that everything should be working now, so we checked and all the lights on the hub were on and appeared to be ok.

That evening our connection kept dropping out and we had to repeatedly re-set the hub, after two days of this we contacted support and were told that our signal was too high and an engineer would need to visit us.

The engineer visited us and the first thing he did was swap our cable over inside the box, outside our home, then came in and tried to reset our hub, at first he couldn't get it to connect, then after a few tries it worked, then he checked our hub settings via the PC, and said it was a power level causing the issue, he went to his van and added a little silver adapter to our hub.

He then tried to re-boot our hub and it failed again, after another few tries it worked, he then re-checked our settings and said everything was ok!

That evening we tried to get online but none of us could get an open connection, so we reset the hub and it worked, but the lag was terrible, not just my Xbox360 but also the rest of them, so we tried just having one online and there was no change.

We did a couple of speed tests and it all looked ok, so why the lag? we contacted tech support who informed us that we should change our wireless settings, I informed him that we were using Ethernet cables, he said it didn't matter? then after he had us alter some of the settings, we tested the console and we still had lag.

The support guy then said he would need to pass us over to his collegue and with that we were cut off!!!!!!

We got back in touch with support and spoke to a different adviser, this time we were told to alter the settings again, and were informed that they would monitor our line.

We went back onto the Xbox and got lag again? so this time I thought it might be our Xbox360's so I took mine to my neighbours house to try it, and behold no lag!!!

We got back in touch with support and spoke to another guy who took control of our PC and had a look at the settings, he informed us that everything was ok and working, then informed us that we would need to set port forwarding as this was most likely the problem, I informed him that we had 4 Xbox360's connected and he said it would still work? I was under the impression that it would work for one, but due to the all four having a different IP it would not, so I set up Port Triggering, but again no change, still getting lag.

For two night now I have had my xbox on my neighbours connection with no lag, yet I try on mine and I get lag.

I am getting really frustrated as I cannot find a solution to this problem, and every time I contact support I am told there is nothing wrong?

My Broadband Ping

At a guess you are now on a congested part of that part cabinet, rather than your old one which was pretty good.

Or if the engineer was connecting a new customer, perhaps they have changed the congestion on the cabinet, meaning latency is a lot more variable. Generally latency suffers first, then you'll notice downloads being affected.

OMG a reply within 4 mins! this is awesome, I am still waiting for a reply on the Virgin support forums after 48 hours?

What does this latency issue mean? sorry I am a complete noob when it comes to our connection, all I know was it was great but now every console in our house lags.

I did a monitor thing, but don't know how to read it? sorry everyone.

Too much people using the same cabient link at the same time

it hits latency first

So more latency > more lag.

Hi,could you try something for me please


depending on what operating system you are using,if windows based please do this test

go to :

start then run then type 'cmd' then press enter then please type ping virginmedia.co.uk

please remember to put a space between ping and virginmedia.co.uk

then hit enter..

either screen print the results and post them here or could you tell me what the time is in 'ms' please

Edited by djfunkdup (Fri 16-Dec-11 11:15:00)

using your advice the ping was:

Minimum =11ms
Maximum = 40ms
Average = 15ms

No packet loss

The ping to ea.com was

Minimum = 125ms
Maximum = 129ms
Average = 127ms

Np packet loss

To give you some idea of a comparison - using TalkTalk - ie. the one every says is bad
Minimum = 36ms, Maximum = 38ms, Average = 36ms

ea.com
Minimum = 135ms, Maximum = 137ms, Average = 136ms

What I would suggest is repeat the one to virginmedia.co.uk but with the line

ping -t virginmedia.co.uk

This will run forever, until you press CTRL C and then report the averages. Run this when NONE of the Xbox's are connected, and then turn them on one by one, waiting five minutes after you've signed into XBox live on each.

If the latency jumps once one is signed in, the suggestion is that perhaps there is a BIG download queued up on that machine, e.g. a few game demos. Or the BF3 update which was 2GB this week,

latency governs lag in the playing of a game, i.e. gaming uses small packets of data, that have to get across the network quickly, otherwise if they are delayed you end up with a terrible online gaming experience, e.g. your screen shows you shooting another player, but reality they are now on the other side of the room. So server decides that you missed.

Pings should really only vary much if your connection, or the network you are connected to gets very busy with lots of downloads.

Important point, 4 x XBox on the same network if on the slow 10Meg Virgin service is not a good idea, due to the slow upstream and usage limits. Which VM product do you use?

Also a lot depends on the router you are using, as some may struggle to handle the UPnP (opening of ports for games to work over internet) situation. Usual computer rule then applies, turn three of them off, and see if just one xbox games perfectly well.

Also use www.pingtest.net

Does this happen all times of day? Its just that there is a well known issue with Virgin and Xbox live affecting some parts of their network, it makes many games unplayable due to the lag, its being gone on in some parts of their network (not all) most of the year with no resolution, all linked to traffic shaping though hence the ask about what time of day.

Could still be a local problem of course but its worth knowing about that also

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Gaming/Call-of-D... (and similar posts)

I am using the 50meg service with the Super hub VMD480 netgear.

I will try what you have suggested and let you know what happens.

A huge thanks for all the help everyone! it's just got to the point where I am getting confused and frustrated, and every time I contact VM they say nothing is wrong, yet I get this lag on all games all times of the day, yet I didn't get it before they touched the box outside on the road!
I have tried port triggering and forwarding, but this does not change anything, should I try modem mode and plug in a separate router?

Once again, a huge thanks for all the help, it's greatly appreciated!

Modem mode is certainly worth a go, and based on the moans from those using the superhub it may improve things.

With routers they have a small processor and memory, and four XBoxes plus the handling of the modem functionality may be too much for it.

There are more moans about congestion appearing, so it may not be the superhub and just the VM network filling up, as more and more people are now starting Christmas holidays early, or are already off from college, unemployed etc