Glitches with Zoom

[gjc26]

Hi

So I've been having glitches with Zoom.

OpenReach came in and tweaked things, which brought my connection speed up from about 55mbps to just under 80mbps, but the drop outs and "your internet connection is unstable" issues persist.

I prefer to use my own router, it's a Netgear.

I wonder if there's a setup issue, here are the current settings:

Select Country: UK

Select Internet Service Provider: TalkTalk

Transfer Mode: VDSL (PTM)

DSL Mode: VDSL 2

Multiplexing Method: LLC-BASED

VPI: 8

VCI: 35

Use VLANID: 101

Priority(0~7): 0

MTU: 1500

IGMP Proxying [not disabled]

Support British Telecom (BT) IGMP Proxying [doesn't matter if enabled or disabled still glitches]

Disable SIP ALG [doesn't matter if enabled or disabled still glitches]

I think these are the key ones.

Are these correct, and any more suggestions?

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Thanks for the update. If you're experiencing an issue connecting to VPN then we can try a different firmware. Would you like to try this and if so when would be the best time to update this for you as the router cannot be rebooted during this time?

Thanks

[gjc26]

Hi

Some stats first:

System Up Time 1d 12h02m27s

Standard VDSL2 (G_993_2_ANNEX_ B)

Line Encoding DMT

Link Encapsulation ATM (G_992_3_ANNEX_ K_ATM)

Downstream / Upstream:

Actual Rate [Kbps] Downstream 75223 / Upstream 20000

Maximum Rate [Kbps] Downstream 73776 / Upstream 20000

Noise Margin [dB] Downstream 0.00 / Upstream 6.00

Attenuation [dB] Downstream 12.00 / Upstream 0.00

Power [dBm] Downstream 13.00 / Upstream 0.10

Service Status is showing a Speed to router of 62 Mbps, but speed to device of 67-70Mbps downstream and 17-19Mbps upstream.

So some slightly odd results there, and previously was seeing higher stats on the speed to the router, but this performance to the devices is more like what I was seeing on the Netgear.

I can report on Zoom performance later, only done limited calls so far.

A few things I've noted:

- WIFI range on the Sagemcom seems poorer, a little less robust and holds less well than the Huawei. Could this be to do with Optimisation, or is that something that was fixed in SG4K100136 (the version I'm on, which I think is the newest).

- I seem to be having issues with VPN connections, but I think that's a common thread with this firmware release.

- The Sagemcom doesn't seem to have a guest network?

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Please let us know how you get on 🙂

Thanks

[gjc26]

Hi, thanks for this. Fingers crossed.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi gjc26,

I've ordered a different make and model or router to test with, it should be with you within a couple of working days - please let us know how you get on

Chris

[gjc26]

Hi

The problem with this is that it will 99% likely introduce the glitches back into my calls, which had become unworkable. I'd really prefer not to do that as this is at least one aspect that we've more or less addressed.

As an alternative could I potentially trial another router, maybe the Sagemcom hub? I've read elsewhere in this forum that different exchanges got on better with certain models.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Would it be possible to try the other router again? I'm just curious to see how the sync speed compares. If possible keep the router in the same location to rule this out.

Thanks

[gjc26]

Hi

You may have seen some restarts, I was having some printer connection issues yesterday, which I resolved.

In terms of zoom glitches, I think I do still have these but they are very slight; it's difficult to continuously ask people "did I freeze".

The rest of the below holds true though; my download is at about 59mbps (about 10% down) and my uploads are about 17mbps (again about 10% down). The latter are notably very jumpy on the speed testing; whereas with my Netgear, these would start high (up to 50mbps+), then settle down to about 18-20mbps, on the TT router they start around 20mbps, dip suddenly to sub 10mbps, then bounce up and down before settling on about 17mbps.

My zoom at the other end is still somewhat soft, but again I think this is a symptom of my bandwidth drop (and maybe also the upload instability). Not sure how we can resolve that?

Here are my current stats:

DSL synchronization status: Up

Connection status: Showtime

Upstream line rate (kbit/s): 20000

Downstream line rate (kbit/s): 64220

Maximum upstream rate (kbit/s): 23603

Maximum downstream rate (kbit/s): 77856

Upstream noise safety coefficient (dB): 7.9

Downstream noise safety coefficient (dB): 6.6

Line standard: Vdsl2_ANNEX_B

Upstream line attenuation (dB): 1.8

Downstream line attenuation (dB): 4.7

Upstream output power (dBm): -1.7

Downstream output power (dBm): 13.3

DSL up time: 0 day 14 hours 44 minutes 40 seconds

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I've re-checked the connection stats now and the sync speed looks consistent at the moment. How have you found the connection?

Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

Ok thanks for confirming this. This is probably the re-connections that I can see. I will check back in tomorrow to see how the stats look now that you've swapped over the cable.

Thanks

[gjc26]

Sorry, "jump line" = "jumpy line"

[gjc26]

No worries, it was a bank holiday.

So with my jump line, I decided on Sunday AM to swap out your modem cable (the one from the filter to the router) with mine. This seemed to improve speeds a little and slightly improve the download, but the upload still seems jumpy and lower than before on.

When I checked my service status in the TT dashboard today it said I may have had a problem then it went to a line test. That came back ok a few minutes ago.

Here's my current stats with the cable swapped out since Sunday AM:

Upstream line rate (kbit/s): 20000

Downstream line rate (kbit/s): 64066

Maximum upstream rate (kbit/s): 23499

Maximum downstream rate (kbit/s): 78332

Upstream noise safety coefficient (dB): 7.9

Downstream noise safety coefficient (dB): 6.7

Line standard: Vdsl2_ANNEX_B

Upstream line attenuation (dB): 1.8

Downstream line attenuation (dB): 4.7

Upstream output power (dBm): -1.7

Downstream output power (dBm): 13.7

DSL up time: 1 day 22 hours 46 minutes 45 seconds

Happy to swap back to the other cable, but mine seems slightly better. I could also try swapping out the filter (I'm using the new one, but there were 2 in the box so I could try the other one in case one's a bit iffy).

It was my own Netgear router that I was using this; it was giving better performance other than the glitches in Zoom, which are significant enough to keep me on this new router for now.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I'm sorry for the delay. I can still see some re-connections on the line. Can I just confirm, is your connection dropping or have you been rebooting/switching off the router? Can I just confirm, which router were you using prior to this one? Was it your own router?

Thanks

[gjc26]

Hi

Yesterday turned into one of those days, here's an update.

I had some glitches on Thursday on my Zoom stats, but they didn't really show on screen, so maybe things are starting to level out.

Having some issues with my router being in a different place regarding coverage, I'll have to work that out.

My biggest issue is the speed drop that I've seen, that has happened since putting the new router in. I've seen recordings of my Zoom calls, and I look like I'm in a 1950's soft focus feature film (not due to my settings, I don't have touch up etc on, it's just generally soft focussed).

My speedtest stats were steady but low on Thursday, around 55-60Mbps up, around 16-17Mbps up, but I checked on Friday afternoon, and they are well down in the low to mid 40MBps area, with uploads up to 17Mbps, but they are peaky and jumpy, dropping much lower than this. This was both at a distance and close to the router, and also wired. Today, it seems a bit better, back up to 55-60Mbps, but they are still very jumpy.

Here's the router reporting, the attenuation in particular looks way off the usual:

Upstream line rate (kbit/s): 20000

Downstream line rate (kbit/s): 63717

Maximum upstream rate (kbit/s): 24261

Maximum downstream rate (kbit/s): 77572

Upstream noise safety coefficient (dB): 8.4

Downstream noise safety coefficient (dB): 6.6

Line standard: Vdsl2_ANNEX_B

Upstream line attenuation (dB): 1.8

Downstream line attenuation (dB): 4.6

Upstream output power (dBm): -3.1

Downstream output power (dBm): 13.5

I may restart if I'm able to turn off for about half an hour later and see if it's better, but it's not looking quite right.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

How has the connection been since your last post?

Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

Thanks for confirming and we will check back in with you tomorrow morning to see how the connection compares.

Thanks

[gjc26]

Hi, so I've moved it, and it's using all TT equipment (including your RJ45 cable that I mentioned had slightly lower throughput than mine); I've also plugged in the phone to the filter in case that has any impact. The WIFI's actually a little better with it up there (but it's a bit close for comfort re children's rooms), but once we're done with this I may be able to move things around a little and see how it goes.

It's also given me the chance to turn off the band steering, which was messing up some of my 11AC capable devices (pushing them to BGN (presumably on 2.4G based on that and the channel) and forcing me to use Zoom on a Guest network). 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Ok thank you. Anytime that is best for yourself. Ideally if it's possible to test zoom too while the router is connected directly at the test socket please.

Thanks

[gjc26]

So I can test it like that. Would it be a good idea to do that tomorrow AM; that way I'm guessing you'll get more stats overnight, plus I'm not due to do much more zoom work today?

Since the total internet failure earlier today (which I've not seen before), I've not noticed any specific issues at my end though (there may have been some that I didn't notice), but the connection speed is still down.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

I understand what you are saying but we always suggest testing with the router connected directly to the test socket if possible as extension leads can cause problems, so it's wise to do this before arranging an engineer visit that could potentially incur a charge

Chris