In reply to a post by BuckleZ:

I'm done with DOCSIS

Two FTTP alternate networks are digging two streets away, when they get here, I will jump. The 30 year old cabinets (circa 1991) are failing and despite lots of escalations nobody can replace/resolve.

I've got an update on this saga.

-I have had my lovely VM Engineer go missing. His plan was to downgrade me to 600Mbit and get me on an old Hitron CGNv4 modem (DOCSIS3.0).
-I had to downgrade through Customer Services, they initially refused, so I had to file a complaint, eventually they downgraded me.
-Problem wasn't solved and no new (old) modem, the engineer was gone/missing and not answering my calls, so I called the tech faults department again.
-They sent out another engineer, I explain the whole thing to him, he says "it's the account... you need an account rebuild" so they call me back the following week, tell me I don't need a rebuild and that they will send out a senior engineer. I convince them to try the rebuild anyway.
-The rebuild (new account number) doesn't fix the issue, the promised to call me within a few days to check up but never did.
-I call them again, they send out another engineer.
-This time he spends some time and claims to have a tool to actually monitior packet loss via ethernet cable, but his tool says there are no issues. I tell him his tool is wrong, I've been dealing with this for 8 months now and have all the proof they need. He promised that his manager is going to speak with someone at 'networks'. Later that day at 15:52 the packet loss stops. I have had no communication from them other than that the firmware was updated to 7.2.4.7.9b3-CD and I observed there was 'planned maintenance' in the area the following night.

So far, after 8+ months, it finally appears the issue has been fixed. I just hope it doesn't come back!

Nevermind, turns out the packet loss came back yesterday, I noticed after incoming video/audio was freezing during a video call.

I've had another call with Virgin Media faults department and they're getting very confrontational with me, they say they've run all their 'checks' (no idea what this entails!) and not seeing a problem.

Whereas it was fine for 6 days and now is back to the same old issue, and it's glaringly obvious with PingPlotter and cmd line ping, though they don't seem to want to hear it any more.

Very disappointed.

I think the engineer was just fobbing you off, how on earth would an account rebuild fix a network packet loss issue?

I dont understand the logic as obviously you going to report it back and it just gets bounced to another engineer.

In reply to a post by BuckleZ:

I may go back to Virgin when the XGS-PON products start they've put the new pillar cabinet outside my house. I'm done with DOCSIS

They put the new green "piller" box outside our NTL /VM cabinet about a year ago. I've since seen no sign of VM doing anything. In fact when I had to get a repull (cable sliced during gardening) a few months back, no-one even suggested moving my old ex-NTL to "Fibre".
I'm wouldn't be so sure the new cabs equate to getting an older co-ax replaced by default?

Edited by Adduxi (Thu 17-Aug-23 13:47:32)

Thanks for following my blog the last few months

The story is now partially concluded, after a last and final visit from a competent VMB engineer, they managed to swap to an older Hitron CGNv4 and now the issue of timeouts/packet loss every 6 minutes has ceased. The only downside being, I subscribed to gigabit speeds (and it was 100Mbit upload which is amazing) but now I am 'stuck' on 600Mbit down/60Mbit up with no prospects for upgrading unless they change the equipment they give out.
The fault clearly lies with this Hitron CHITA modem, which is not fit for purpose.

This entire experience has highlighted to me just how disconnected the VM business is between their on-field engineers and tech/customer support, they're probably losing thousands and thousands of hours and £ every day from inefficiencies like this.

The VMB Engineer that visited said my case was assigned to an 'offshore' team, so he had to call the same customer support number I would, stay on hold and then go through security and try to convince the people reading from a script of what he needs them to do. They refused to swap the modem several times saying it's impossible. Eventually he called someone on-shore and we both convinced the Customer Services people to agree to it, but it took 1.5+hours of what should've been a 15 minute visit.

I am hoping a real FTTP provider starts installing on my street, I will switch immediately as I have a 'get out of jail' card now; they were offering me to leave out of contract because they couldn't solve the problem but I pushed them to get me to try the old modem first.

In reply to a post by Saltank:

I am hoping a real FTTP provider starts installing on my street, I will switch immediately as I have a 'get out of jail' card now; they were offering me to leave out of contract because they couldn't solve the problem but I pushed them to get me to try the old modem first.

Its not much better in consumer when on the coax lines. The only time VMB seems half competent is when you have a dedicated line (business premises).

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Saltank:

I am hoping a real FTTP provider starts installing on my street, I will switch immediately as I have a 'get out of jail' card now; they were offering me to leave out of contract because they couldn't solve the problem but I pushed them to get me to try the old modem first.

Its not much better in consumer when on the coax lines. The only time VMB seems half competent is when you have a dedicated line (business premises).

Thankfully as a result of this fault, they ran a brand new cable (at least from the street) so it eliminates any potential noise issues compared to using the building's own internal coax cables.
I'm already starting to get the itch to get gigabit again, so wondering if this Hitron CGNv4 WILL work if I ask them to update it to the gigabit plan or not