I have a serious problem with my connection and am equally annoyed with it. Every so often (now more often than not) the internet light on my modem goes red and I have to reboot it. It's happening now. I've been told by tech support that this means my username and password are being rejected by the server. One guy elaborated even more and said there's sometimes a mismatch of username and passwords on any one of their many systems and this can cause the rejection. How can there be a mismatch all of a sudden unless somebody is changing it on one of those systems? The thing is, everytime I phone up, they do something and tell me to wait about 30 minutes and then everything's OK. For a while. I'm getting bored with this circle of routine. Does anybody else have the same problem? I'm seriously thinking of cancelling my direct debit and telling them to shove it, even if it is a minimum term contract.
If you do cancel, make sure you request your MAC code (Migration Authorisation Code) before you cancel the direct debit or your contract, as you will need it if you move to another service provider.
I believe that your line is dropping due to signal or router quality and leaving a stale session in either BT's or Virgin's authentication server. Broadly speaking, your ADSL authenticates (passthrough) on a BT server, before then being shunted through to Virgin for the actual user validation. If your line drops uncleanly it'll sometimes leave a "stale session" eg it thinks you're still logged in, and only one login is allowed per username. I'd suggest you check the quality of your microfilter, or perhaps fit a BT NTE5 faceplate filter if your router is currently in your master socket, to see if it pulls up the stability of the line enough to make this no longer an issue.
Thanks for both replies. How do I check the quality of my filter? Also, any recommendations on which faceplate filter to buy, as there seems to be different makes?
I found this article via Google and am having the exact same problem. I'm with Virgin Media too and the Internet light on my modem will go red and my connection will drop. Happens completely randomly, sometimes not at all for a few days and sometimes several times a day. Happened twice tonight and it's very annoying. I thought at first it was a problem with noise on my line and SNR margin dropping too low but everything I've tried (plugging directly into the master socket, new filters etc) has had no affect. Plus my DSL light stays on and my router reports that I'm still in sync with the Exchange when I loose Internet connecivity so I have no doubt now that I'm experiencing the same authentication error that you are Jetfire. Have you managed to get the problem resolved?
No I still get this same problem every now and then. I've even replaced the socket with one that has a built in filter with separate phone and modem ports. (even though there are only two wires) All I can do is simply reboot the modem at the wall or by logging in to it from my PC; it usually reconnects straight away ready for another random drop at some point.
If your using ADSL you need to ask yourself why use Virgin. They obviously can't provide you with a fibre connection which is what they excel at. If they provide ADSL 2 then I stand corrected. ADSL is a shaky tech, the sync can still be unstable without a 'visible' drop of the link. What sync rate do you get what is your dB attenuation & do you get CRC errors or HEC errors?
I joined Virgin at the end of September and the only reason I went with them is because I moved flat from a cabled area to a non-cabled area. Having been with them (or what was originally Telewest) for 7 years and having been very satisifed with the service, I figured their national ADSL and phone line package would be decent so I went for it. Of course now I discover that their ADSL has a pretty poor reputation but I find myself locked into a 12 month contract unless I want to pay £200 or so charge to get out. They do provide ADSL 2+ which is what I'm on and I live close to the exchange so my sync rate is approx 20590 kbps with a line attenuation of 12.0. My SNR margin flutates a lot and can go from between 7 to 8.5 but I gather that's quite low regardless. This is why I originally thought I was experiencing noise on the line and losing connection when my SNR was dropping too low. This may well be the case but I'm thinking now it's actually purely an authentication issue with BT/Virgin. The errors I get are: Call drop because echo not received in time MPOA Link Down netMakeChannDial: err=-3000 rn_p=80541748 The netMakeChannDial error usually repeats several times until eventually I reconnect. I don't get any CRC or HEC errors. Sometimes I reconnect quite quickly and other times it has taken 20 or 30minutes. My fear is that one day is just won't reconnect... I'm considering purchasing a new router to give it a shot because, quite frankly, I'm running out of ideas.
It is up to 20mb ADSL2+ The reason I'm using Virgin is because I still had a minimum term cable contract when I moved so I had to take a new contract to avoid having to pay twice. I don't know how to get all the info you asked for but here is what I found: Code: ADSL Link Downstream Upstream Connection Speed 14375 kbps 1016 kbps Line Attenuation 33.0 db 18.5 db Noise Margin 9.5 db 5.7 db
I will post my ADSL attenuation to make you feel better DSL Connection Link Information Uptime: 9 days, 0:25:47 Modulation: G.992.1 annex A Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 832 Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [GB/GB]: 5.22 / 4.71 Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 14.5 Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.5 / 63.5 SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 12.0 / 10.0 Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0 Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0 Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0 Loss of Link (Remote): 0 Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 32 / 0 FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0 CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 19,744 HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 10,154 Line Profile: Fast Ha I has fast to get super gaming pings despite the suckage
They did reset my password the first time. It made a difference for a while but then the problem occurred again. Have this happened to you? As mentioned previously, I think it just must be some kind of interference dropping my current connection and leaving a stale session. It may or may not approve if transferring to BT; when my current contract ends I might do that.
They reset my password for me on Wednesday and I'm hoping it will fix it. They said they can run a line test and escalate the issue if it doesn't. Thing is, sometimes the connection can be fine for days and other times it can drop very frequently so it's hard to tell right now if the password reset has had any affect. Definitely seems to be some sort of authorisation issue with Virgin. I'm assuming that switching to BT would solve the problem as you're no longer authenticating against Virgin but rather with BT VM told me that the cancellation fee was now capped at £120 which is lower than I thought. If the problem persists, I'm going to serious consider switching even if I have to pay the fee.
I hope it sorts the problem for you; all I can say is that it didn't for me and my connection acts exactly the same way as yours does. I just got a horrible feeling that it'll be the same if I switch to BT.
Yeah, no change They reset my password and it seemed good for a while but then it started acting up again. It now appears they've set me to a new profile at a lower speed with a higher SN Margin to try and stabilise my line but that's not made any difference either. It's all highly annoying and very frustrating. I'm seriously considering switching to BT. If it's an authentication issue with Virgin's software in the Exchange then it should be fixed by changing ISP. Of course, there's that doubt in my mind that I'll go through all the hassle and nothing will change or it will get worse.
